Testing Teacher Candidates The Role of Licensure Tests in Improving Teacher Quality (2001) / Chapter Skim
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7. Using Licensure Tests for Accountability
7. Using Licensure Tests for Accountability
Pages 136-146
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From page 136... ...
FOCUSING TEACHER EDUCATION ON IDENTIFIED COMPETENCIES Teacher licensure tests have the potential to influence teacher preparation institutions in several ways. Some assert and the committee agrees that initial licensure tests can have positive effects on teacher education if the tests support states' teaching and learning standards and if performance on them relates to teachers' performance in the classroom (Melnick and Pullin, 2000~.
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From page 137... ...
Alignment between initial licensure tests and state teaching and learning standards is an important prerequisite to coherent developmental systems for teacher preparation, assessment, and support. It is also possible that licensure tests can have negative effects on teacher education.
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From page 138... ...
Additionally, public reporting and accountability requirements were established for states receiving funds authorized by the law and for institutions of higher education with teacher preparation programs enrolling students receiving aid under the HEA. The law has several purposes (see Box 7-1~.
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From page 139... ...
Department of Education by October 7 of each year. Each state report is to rank teacher preparation programs by quartiles on the passing rates of their graduates on licensure tests.
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From page 140... ...
140 TESTING TEACHER CANDIDATES To receive funds under the HEA, states are to develop procedures to identify and assist, through the provision of technical assistance, low-performing programs of teacher preparation in institutions of higher education. As Box 7-2 shows, states are to include in their annual reports a list of any such institutions identified, and any institution so identified must report this designation in its
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From page 141... ...
Title II says that states may use the passing rates of graduates in determining low performance but are not required to do so. The law also says that, if an institution looses state approval or state funding for its teacher preparation program because of low performance, it will lose its eligibility for certain federal funds.
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From page 142... ...
Differences among state testing systems are likely to make comparisons of passing rates misleading; these differences include: · considerable variability among states in the tests required for licensure; · even when tests are the same, states set different passing scores; · states administer tests at different points in teacher education (e.g., before admission, before graduation, after degree conferral) ; and · states attach different stakes to passing (e.g., no passing requirements, passage required for student teaching, passage required for licensure)
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From page 143... ...
Furthermore, differences in the way tests are used by states make it virtually impossible to meaningfully compare passing rates from different licensure tests (National Research Council, 1999~. Passing rates are partially determined by the decisions about teacher candidates that the scores support.
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From page 144... ...
· different entry and exit testing requirements in teacher education, · variability in the procedures used to determine appropriate affiliations for students who attend multiple institutions or who do not identify institutional affiliations, · differences in the numbers of students who retest, and · differential score instability associated with small test-taking pools. Because some teacher candidates take subject matter coursework at different institutions, passing rates on the subject matter tests may not indicate very much about the quality of a teacher preparation program.
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From page 145... ...
CONCLUSION The Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships was enacted to achieve four goals: to improve student achievement; to improve the quality of the current and future teaching forces by improving the preparation of prospective teachers and enhancing professional development activities; to hold institutions of higher education accountable for preparing teachers who have the necessary skills and are highly competent in the academic content areas in which they plan to teach; and to recruit highly qualified individuals, including individuals from other occupations, into the teaching force. Given its analysis of the objectives and requirements of the law, the committee concludes that: · It is reasonable to hold teacher education institutions accountable for the quality of teacher preparation programs.
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From page 146... ...
By themselves, passing rates on licensure tests do not provide adequate information on which to judge the quality of teacher education programs. · Simple comparisons of passing rates across states are misleading.
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