Assessing Professional Knowledge : Hawaii
Delivering Well Prepared Teachers Policy
Analysis of Hawaii's policies
As of August 1, 2011, Hawaii no longer requires new teachers to pass a pedagogy test in order to attain licensure.
Recommendations for Hawaii
Require that all new teachers pass a pedagogy test.
Hawaii should require that all new teachers meet professional standards through a test of professional knowledge.
State response to our analysis
Hawaii was helpful in providing NCTQ with the facts necessary for this analysis. The state added that it believes that its approved teacher preparation programs assess a teacher candidate's professional knowledge and proficiency in the teaching standards by observation and evaluation rather than in a multiple choice, paper-and-pencil pedagogy examination. For this reason, Hawaii discontinued use of the Praxis PLT on August 1, 2011.
Last word
NCTQ is not suggesting that the only way to measure pedagogical skill is through a multiple choice, paper-and-pencil assessment. Indeed, many states are moving toward performance-based assessments. The key point is that Hawaii is now operating under a "belief" that programs are assessing such knowledge and skills, rather than evidence that teacher candidates are prepared for the classroom.
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Hawaii
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Preparation Programs
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Research rationale
For further information regarding the use of performance assessments and the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC) in California and other states see L. Darling-Hammond, "Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: How Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching" Center for American Progress (2010).
For a perspectives on the issues with teaching dispositions, see W. Damon, "Personality Test: The dispositional dispute in teacher preparation today and what to do about it" in Arresting Insights in Education Vol.2 No. 3 (2005); J. Gershman, "'Disposition' Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College," New York Sun, May 2005.
For evidence on the low passing scores required by states on pedagogy tests, see the U.S. Department of Education's Secretary's Seventh Annual Report on Teacher Quality (2010). Also see K. Walsh "A Candidate-Centered Model for Teacher Preparation and Licensure" in A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom (Hess, Rotherham and Walsh, eds.) (2004)