Teacher Licensure and Workforce Quality: Insights From the First Wave of COVID-Era Emergency Licenses in Massachusetts

Much recent policy debate focuses on whether states should reduce teacher licensure requirements to ease the burdens of recruiting high-quality teachers. We examine the effectiveness of individuals who entered the teacher workforce in Massachusetts during the pandemic by obtaining an emergency license, which requires only a bachelor’s degree. In 2021–22, newly hired emergency licensed teachers had similar measures of student test score growth as their traditionally licensed peers. However, emergency licensed teachers with the least prior investment in teaching had lower on-the-job performance in English Language Arts and were more likely to leave teaching following the 2021–22 school year. These results encourage the creation of additional flexibility in licensure requirements for those who have demonstrated prior efforts to join the educator pipeline.