Delivering Well Prepared Teachers Policy
In its standards for preparation of elementary teachers, Arkansas requires teacher preparation programs to address the science of reading. Programs must provide training in "the connection between phonemes and print," as well as decoding unfamiliar words, reading fluently, reading comprehension and motivation.
Arkansas also requires new early and middle childhood teachers to pass a general test in the Praxis II series that covers reading instruction. However, two studies of Praxis reading tests have deemed most tests in this series inadequate for assessing knowledge of scientifically based reading instruction.
Require teacher candidates to pass a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction.
While Arkansas is commended for requiring teacher preparation programs to address the science of reading, the state should also require a rigorous reading assessment tool to ensure that
its elementary teacher candidates are adequately prepared in the science of
reading instruction before entering the classroom. The assessment
should clearly test knowledge and skills related to the science of reading, and
if it is combined with an assessment that also tests general pedagogy or
elementary content, it should report a subscore for the science of reading
specifically. Elementary teachers who do not possess the minimum knowledge in
this area should not be eligible for licensure.
Arkansas asserted that although they are given various names at different institutions, each preparation program is required to address Teaching Reading I, which is instruction for teaching a child to read for the first time, and Teaching Reading II, which is a diagnostic reading course to help teachers diagnose struggling readers and provide scaffolding.
This analysis acknowledges the state's requirement that teacher preparation programs must address the science of reading. Arkansas is urged to adopt a reading assessment that adequately measures these skills.