Americans have adopted a reform agenda for their schools that calls for excellence in teaching and learning. School officials across the nation are hard at work targeting instruction at high levels for all students. Gaps remain, however, between the nation's educational aspirations and student achievement. To address these gaps, policy makers have recently focused on the qualifications of teachers and the preparation of teacher candidates. This book examines the appropriateness and technical quality of teacher licensure tests currently in use, evaluates the merits of using licensure test results to hold states and institutions of higher education accountable for the quality of teacher preparation and licensure, and suggests alternatives for developing and assessing beginning teacher competence. Teaching is a complex activity. Definitions of quality teaching have changed and will continue to change over time as society's values change. This book provides policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators with advice on how to use current tests to assess teacher candidates and evaluate teacher preparation, ensuring that America's youth are being taught by the most qualified candidates.

Americans have adopted a reform agenda for their schools that calls for excellence in teaching and learning. School officials across the nation are hard at work targeting instruction at high levels for all students. Gaps remain, however, between the nation's educational aspirations and student achievement. To address these gaps, policy makers have recently focused on the qualifications of teachers and the preparation of teacher candidates. This book examines the appropriateness and technical quality of teacher licensure tests currently in use, evaluates the merits of using licensure test results to hold states and institutions of higher education accountable for the quality of teacher preparation and licensure, and suggests alternatives for developing and assessing beginning teacher competence. Teaching is a complex activity. Definitions of quality teaching have changed and will continue to change over time as society's values change. This book provides policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators with advice on how to use current tests to assess teacher candidates and evaluate teacher preparation, ensuring that America's youth are being taught by the most qualified candidates.

Since 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) have been working collaboratively to support teacher candidates in preparing for "The Praxis Series"[TM] of teacher licensure assessments, currently used in 41 states and territories. Their focus has been particularly targeted to assisting minority candidates. This work is foundational to the mission of both organizations. As they embarked upon this work, they realized that they needed stronger research into specific areas of performance gaps on teacher assessments between minority and nonminority candidates. They then jointly conducted research into this issue. The research involved both statistical analyses of "Praxis"[TM] data and field research, collecting information from faculty and candidates. The purpose of this research was to form a solid foundation of understanding to inform their efforts to support candidates. In this report, the author and her colleagues share the findings of that research, as well as a summary of their efforts, to date, to support teacher candidates. In the report, they focus on the disparate performance between minority and nonminority teacher candidates on licensure tests. The data show that minority teacher candidates score lower on average on their licensure tests. The data also show that minority teacher candidates take licensure tests later in their academic and professional careers, and that the delay correlates with lower test scores and passing rates. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures and 11 footnotes.) [This paper was written with Brooke Whiting, Sarah Ferguson, Segun Eubanks, Jonathan Steinberg, Linda Scatton and Katherine Bassett.].

In this study, NCTQ focuses on a pivotal point for elementary teachers: when teacher candidates take their licensure tests on the content knowledge defined by states as necessary for the job of teaching. States generally expect elementary teachers to have foundational knowledge in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Low rates of candidates passing licensure tests, especially for candidates of color, have become the subject of considerable debate in states across the country and have some states questioning their testing regimes. These low pass rates present a challenge for policymakers and educator preparation programs working to both diversify the profession and also ensure that every classroom is staffed with a well-prepared teacher. This paper provides the framework for the pass rate data available for each state. While the focus here is on elementary content licensure tests, the analysis can be applied to any assessment on any subject or grade span.