Delivering Well Prepared Teachers Policy
Verify that commercially available tests of pedagogy actually align with state standards.
Maine should ensure that its selected test of professional knowledge measures the knowledge and skills the state expects new teachers to have.
Maine recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that its statutes and regulations are currently under review, and NCTQ's recommendations for this goal will be considered.
A good pedagogy test
puts teeth in states' professional standards.
In order to ensure that the state is licensing only teachers
who meet its expectations, all standards must be testable. State standards that
cannot be assessed in a practical and cost-effective manner have no value.
Examples of knowledge that can be tested include the basic elements of good
instruction, how to communicate effectively with children, how to use class
time efficiently, effective questioning techniques, establishing smooth
classroom routines, the importance of feedback, engaging parents, the best
methods for teaching reading as well as other subjects, appropriate use of
technology, knowledge of testing and the fundamentals of addressing individual
learning challenges.
States use too many tests to measure new teachers'
professional knowledge that utterly fail to do so, either because the passing score
is set so low that anyone—even those who have not had professional
preparation—can pass or because one can discern the "right" answer on
an item simply by the way it is written.
Performance
assessments are an important step in the right direction.
Increasing numbers of states are adopting performance assessments to evaluate teacher candidates' pedagogy before
an initial license is granted. A
performance assessment can be of much more value than a traditional multiple
choice test. However, states need to make sure that such tests are
technically sound, especially given the significant resources that it takes to
administer and score performance assessments.
The past track record on similar assessments is mixed at best. The two
states that required the Praxis III performance-based assessment reported pass
rates of about 99 percent. a test that
nearly every teacher passes is of questionable value. Additional research is
needed to determine how the next generation of performance assessments, including
the edTPA, compares to other teacher tests as well as whether the test's scores
are predictive of student achievement.
Assessing Professional Knowledge: Supporting Research
For
evidence of the importance of pedagogy tests in improving student achievement,
see C. Clotfelter, H.Ladd and J.Vigdor, "How and Why Do Teacher Credentials
Matter for Student Achievement?" Working
Paper 2, Calder Institute (2007).
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, (October 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, Volume 2, No. 3, September 8, 2005; J. Gershman, "'Disposition' Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College," New York
Sun, May 31,2005.
For
evidence on the low passing scores required by states on pedagogy tests, see
the U.S. Department of Education's The Secretary's Seventh Annual Report on Teacher Quality: A Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom. (2010). Also see K. Walsh, "A Candidate-Centered Model for Teacher Preparation and Licensure," A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom?: Appraising Old Answers and New Ideas, eds. F. Hess, A. Rotherham, and K. Walsh (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2004), pp. 223-253.