Teacher Testing and National Board Certification

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Revised 10/19/1986

TEACHER TESTING AND NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION

TEACHER TESTING

The teacher competency testing movement is an outgrowth of an earlier movement which required students to meet minimum standards, primarily in basic skills, before being promoted to another grade or before receiving a high school diploma. Disenchantment with the publicity surrounding the dismal scores many prospective high school graduates on these basic skills of tests led the public to question the quality of instruction provided students as well as the competencies of their teachers. One indicator of the public's mood was revealed in the 1979 Gallup Poll survey of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Eighty-five percent of the respondents felt that prospective teachers should be required to pass an exam demonstrating competence in subject areas and that experienced teachers and administrators should be tested every few years to see if they are keeping abreast of new developments in the Interestingly, the 1986 Gallup Poll Survey reaffirms field. these figures. The level of support for competency testing for experienced as well as beginning teachers remains at 85 %. In response to public oplnlon and the various reports calling for educational reform, many states' initial reform proposals were directed at teachers. State boards of education and state legislatures have mandated some form of competency assessment of teachers either before admission into a teacher education program, prior to certification, or both. In addition, a growing number of states and school districts also require prospective teachers to complete an internship program before initial certification is awarded. In 1980 fifteen states required pFospective teachers to pass competency examinations By 1986, that number increased for initial certification. 200%--44 states now require competency exams for new teachers. And three states--Arkansas, Texas and Georgia--have implemented testing programs for experienced teachers. In addition to widely publicized reports on the large numbers of prospective high school graduates failing the basic skills exam and earlier reports on declining test scores on the SAT, public and legislative concern was heightened by equally alarming reports that college students in general, and the more academically able ones in particular, were rejecting teaching as a profession. This is occurring at a time when serious teacher shortages are predicted by 1990 and are already appearing in some school districts in math, science, bilingual and special education.

With fewer qualified students entering the and lesser profession and the predicted teacher shortages by 1990, how will impending crisis? Hopefully, the the nation respond to this standards being proposed now for entry into teacher education programs or for initial certification will not be lowered to increase the supply of licensed teachers.

Problems with Current Assessment Methods

Most educators recognize that current teacher competency tests are woefully inadequate to assess the knowledge and skills Test items do not required to be an effective teacher. encompass a comprehensive understanding of educational theory and practice nor do they assess a candidate's ability to apply knowledge and judgement to real life situations. In her content analysis of a sample test from the National Teacher Examinations Test of Professional Knowledge, Linda Darling-Hammond discovered that less than 10% of the questions required knowledge of theory, research, or facts pertaining to teaching and learning; and that 40% did not have a "right" She also found that the questions relied on a answer. simplistic view of teaching and were not adequate to assess what skilled and knowledgeable teachers should know. Recognizing that certification requirements vary from state to state; that current tests, which require only factual recall and little (if any) professional judgement, do not adequately assess what teachers need to know; and that state licensing bodies tend to raise or lower standards or issue emergency certificates in response to teacher supply and demand, Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers, advanced the idea of a national examination for teachers that would be developed, administered and controlled by the profession. This proposed examination would set a national standard for teachers that would measure competency in 1) subject-matter knowledge above minimum levels, 2) the ability to make and justify instructional decisions, and 3) verbal and mathematical reasoning ability.

NATIONAL BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL TEACHING STANDARDS

An outgrowth of Shanker's call for a national examination for teachers and a major recommendation of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy's Task Force on Teaching as a Profession's report, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, is the proposed creation of a National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. The Board will be a non governmental body organized with a regional and state membership structure. It will be responsible for setting high standards for what teachers need to know and be able to do, and will Highly competent certify teachers who meet that standard.

teachers will comprise the majority membership of the Board; and consist of other education professionals, the balance will public officials, and lay persons. In defining function of the Board, the Carnegie Task the Force provided the following guidelines: A National Board for Professional Teaching Standards should be created to establish standards for high levels of competence the teaching profession, to assess the in qualifications of those seeking board certification, and to grant certificates to those who meet the standards. 1. The Board would grant Teacher's Certificates that attest to a high level of competence. It would also grant Advanced Teacher's Certificates that indicate teaching competence and demonstrated outstanding ability for school leadership. In developing its standards, the Board should determine what teachers need to know and what they should be able to do. The Board should work with institutions engaged in preparing prospective teachers to assist them in preparing candidates for certification. A majority of the members of the National Board should be elected by Board-certified teachers. for Board certification should be able to Candidates choose the means of preparation that best suits their needs. The assessment of candidates for Board certification will require decentralized geographically administration. State or regional organizations of certified teachers should be created by the National Board to oversee Board functions at the regional and state level.

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State licensing authorities, which will continue to be responsible for licensing teachers to practice, should strengthen their standards and involve teachers in designing these new standards.
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Board certification initially would be voluntary. In time, the Board's standards should be incorporated in the structure of state standards. Anticipating the availability of Board-certified teachers, state officials should draft plans to offer districts incentives to hire such teachers in

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appropriate roles, and such distribution of different tax capacity. 3.

to provide for the equitable teachers among districts of

participants in alternate route programs Licensure of should meet a standard that is at least as high as that required of applicants from regular programs.

As post-graduate programs of teacher education are developed, the states and voluntary accreditation organizations should set and vigorously enforce high standards for such programs. Appropriate state authorities should announce a date beyond which emergency licenses to teach will not be granted and licensed teachers will not be permitted to teach "out of subject. " The charge of the Board will be to define the professional knowledge base for teaching and develop standards for the profession based on this knowledge. It will also develop and administer a national assessment for the certification of new teachers and award advanced certificates for those experienced teachers who seek it. This assessment process will not be trivialized by requlrlng only a paper and pencil, multiple choice test currently used in Instead the Board assessment will teacher certification tests. probably include a number of formats to assess general knowledge as well as subject matter and pedagogical knowledge. Teaching skills will be assessed independently or simultaneously with other demonstrations of pedagogical knowledge and skills. Although the Board's certification procedure is in the formative stage, it is proposed that the assessment process will include a variety of formats. For example, essay responses, video presentations, or computer simulations of actual classroom situations could be used and there probably would not be just one right. answer. The purpose of these tests would be to assess the candidates' thought processes and decision-making sills based on known principles of effective practice. Objective tests to measure a teacher's knowledge of subject matter could also be included. The following are the proposed categories of teacher knowledge upon which the national assessment will be based:
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including General/Liberal Education, reading, math, writing, and reasoning. Content occur. knowledge in the domains in

basic

skills

of

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which teaching will

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Content-Specific Pedagogical Knowledge--transformation subject matter knowledge into knowledge for teaching.

of

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General Knowledge Pedagogical Principles and Practice- of pts. effective teaching conce Curricular Knowledge--knowledge of curriculum materials or curricular alternatives for a given course or topic. Understanding Differences. of student Diversity and Individual

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Performance Skills

(including voice,

manner,

poise)

Foundations of Professional Understanding (including history and policy; philosophy and psychology; cultural and cross-cultural factors; professional ethics) . and will be refined as the

These are general categories national assessment is developed.

Another part of the national assessment will be a clinical induction program in which beginning teachers will be given the opportunity to work with experienced teachers and will receive continuous review and assistance throughout the induction period. They will be evaluated on the basis of how well they work with students and their colleagues. An induction program such as this will give new teachers the time and opportunity to learn from experienced teachers. In addition to The certification process will be voluntary. basic certification, those teachers who choose to do so can pursue advanced board certification. The new Board would issue two certificates--a Teacher's Certificate that would establish high entry level standards for beginning teachers and an Advanced Teacher's Certificate that would signify the highest levels of competence as a teacher. It also proposes to develop a code of ethics, maintain a register of Teachers and Advanced Teachers, and establish standards for recertification comparable to those in other professions. The Carnegie Foundation has provided the initial funding for creation of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and for development of a national assessment procedure. The Foundation recognizes that it will be a major task to create and implement an assessment program in a way that will be valid, equitable, economically and politically feasible, professionally responsible, and publicly accountable. Therefore, it has made a ten-year commitment to fund the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy to oversee the entire process.

Controversial Issues Teacher Performance

Throughout been much opposition to the years there has testing teachers Opponents of for certification and licensure. testing argue passing a paper and pencil test does not that accurately predict future classroom performance. We agree. Passing a test should not be the only criterion used for hiring a teacher. But failing the test is sufficient reason not to other qualities matter if the prospective hire someone. No teacher lacks minimal skills.
Minority Representation in the Profession

Another criticism opponents of teacher competency testing is its adverse impact on minority teachers. Studies show make Hispanics, and Native Americans have a much higher that Blacks, failure rate than Whites on the National Teacher Examination and state competency tests. Data show that disproportionate numbers of minorities are being screened out of the teaching profession. In 1970 Blacks made up 12% of the elementary and secondary In 1985 the National Center for Educational teaching force. Statistics reported that Blacks comprised only 8% of the teaching pool and projections indicate that, if pass rates do not improve and the decline in the numbers of black students choosing teaching as a career continue, the percentage of black teachers in this country will shrink to 5% of the teaching force by 1990. Projections for other minorities being well represented in th teaching force are not promising either. To give an idea of how Blacks, Hispanics and native Americans are fairing on certification examinations, some general pass rates for 1984 follow: 43% in Alabama; 26% in California; 36% in Florida, 34% in Georgia and 15% in Louisiana. When you look at pass rate statistics and actual head count, the consequences are more devastating. In 1984 Cole researched the impact of testing policies on Blacks and reported the following: in 1981 approximately 200 black teachers out of In Florida, a total 5,500 were certified--3. 6 percent of the total population of certified teachers. In Louisiana since 1978 state institutions have produced approximately 55 black certified teachers per year. In Texas during the first two testing cycles in 1984, the first year of competency testing for teachers, only 55 black teachers were certified for all 1,200 school districts in the state. In a review of teacher statistics in ten southern states a November, 1985 issue of Education Week found that the number of black teachers had fallen by 6. 4%, while in the same period the number of teachers had grown by 1%. total This decrease in

in the teaching profession is occurring at a time minorities when the American school-age population will soon be more than 30% minority and 23 out of the 25 largest school districts already have Unless a majority of minority students enrolled. an intervention is introduced, as current teachers mechanism grow older and retire, minority teachers--especially Blacl{s and Hispanics--are an "endangered species." AFT believes the education community cannot ignore the fact that teacher competency testing will contribute to an even greater underrepresentation of minorities in the teaching But we must recognize that, in addition to testing, profession. the decline of minorities in the teaching pool is due to several other factors: the poor education of black and Hispanic students in this country at all levels; their declining participation in higher education in general; and, the expanding opportunities for minority professionals in other fields. In order to understand and address the shortage of minority teachers in general, and black teachers in particular, we must plug the leaks in the educational pipeline that is responsible Berryman (1983) cites the following for producing teachers. data that demonstrates the problems within the education pipeline for Blacks: In 1972 black students represented 12.7% of the 18-year-olds, 10.5% of the high school graduates and only 8.7% of college freshman. In 1976, even though they were 12.3% of the 22-year-olds, black students were only 6.5% of the baccalaureate recipients. In 1982, black students were 15.1% of high school enrollment, 11.5% of high school graduates and 10.3% In essence, the further along the of college enrollments. pipeline, the greater the underrepresentation of Blacks in the education system. Another factor contributing to the underrepresentation of minorities in the profession is the drop in the interest of minority undergraduates in education as a major. From 1966 to 1978 there was a 60% decline of black students selecting education as a major compared to a 30% decline for all under Interest in business and health related majors graduates. increased for Blacks, as well as i.l, all students during this period. In the long term the single most ∑ itical way to improve the teaching pool is to develop high school graduates with sufficient skills to perform well in college. A number of successful programs have been developed to attract minority elementary and secondary school students to careers in medicine, math and science and to strengthen their basic academic skills. Some of these exemplary programs could be expanded to include teaching and serve the needs of a broader group of disadvantaged minority students. believes AFT state national, a concerted and local effort levels must be made at the to address issues of

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of minority teachers as an area of recruitment and retention critical shortage. We must actively encourage bright minority students who opportunities available to them to have other There should be programs at the consider teaching as a career. high school and college levels to identify talented minority students who are potential teachers; diagnose their academic strengths and weaknesses; strengthen their general school performance; prepare them for college; and, while in college, prepare them to improve their performance on college-entry and teaching-entry tests. We support scholarships and loan programs at the state, local, and federal levels that designate funds for minorities, and we support targeting teacher recruitment and intern programs at institutions that attract significant numbers of minorities. Programs designed to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession--better salaries, restructured work environments, more career opportunities within teaching--will attract more able minorities and whites to the profession.

AFT POSITIONS CERTIFICATIOH

ON

TEACHER COMPETENCY TESTING AND HATIOHAL BOARD

A natural outgrowth of the movement to test new teachers is the call to test experienced teachers. We support testing new teachers as a screening device to keep those with obvious academic deficiencies out of the profession. However, a more reliable means of evaluating the performance of veteran teachers is by making ongoing classroom observations and developing equitable evaluation systems that give an adequate assessment of a teacher's subject-matter knowledge and instructional skills. Superior teachers should be encouraged; mediocre and poor teachers should be given assistance to help them improve; and those who remain unsatisfactory should be terminated. AFT supports the need to assure continuing competence in the profession. This will not be accomplished by subjecting experienced. teachers to trivial paper and pencil, multiple choice tst. It will only be accomplished by developing a comprehensive program which includes recruiting talented teacher candidates with a liberal arts background and at least one academic major; passing a rigorous examination for initial certification that assesses the knowledge and skills a professional teacher should possess, an induction program which includes a one-year internship under the supervision of an experienced, highly competent teacher; and a residency period with peer assistance and review in which progress would continuously be reviewed and assessed. Successful completion of such a comprehensive induction program provides a quality assurance measure to the public of the competence of new teachers entering the profession. Such quality control procedures build public confidence in teachers and will, in the future, eliminate the public's need to require superficial paper

and pencil competence.

testing

of

experienced teachers as an indicator of

We are concerned about the lack of resources available to predominately Hispanic schools and the historically black and substandard educational opportunities which contribute to inadequate performance by a disproportionate school and test The solution to this problem is not percentage of minorities. to abandon tests or lower standards but tmprove the quality students recei ve. t:::ft The NEA, which has :: of educat ion mi nori ty traditionally spearheaded the anti-testing forces in the past, its position at their 1985 convention and now supports changed competency testing for new teachers. Creation of a National Board for Professional Standards would disarm arguments opposing testing of teachers for certification. A rigorous comprehensive national teachers examination, similar to those required to medicine and law, would involve more than passing a paper and pencil test where a knowledge of test-taking skills is almost as important as content knowledge. Certification by a National Professional Standards Board is a means by which teachers, proven to have achieved a level of expertise, can command salaries competitive with other highly skilled professionals. Board certification justifies giving teachers the direct responsibility for instructional and curriculum decisions, budgetary matters and professional evaluation at the local school site. A national professional standards board will also influence teacher preparation programs around the country.

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