Devoted Reader nicksmama sent this along with the headline, "Bad test-takers rejoice!":
Diane Smart has seen the stress and strain Praxis I puts on some teachers. For their sake, she's hoping the Virginia Board of Education lowers the scoring standards later this month for the general-knowledge teacher assessment test.
"If you know your job is on the line, you get test anxiety," Smart said in her fifth-grade classroom at Spotsylvania County's Riverview Elementary School. "I feel for people who have failed it repeatedly--and I know they're great teachers."
Smart is finishing a Master of Education degree at the University of Mary Washington. She breezed through Praxis I, missing just two questions on the math test.
Virginia has the highest minimum required scores of the 28 states that use Praxis I. While most teachers pass the state requirements, others struggle.
And...isn't that to be expected? Otherwise, why give the test? Oh wait, I get it - everyone who has a love of teaching should be allowed to be a teacher, right? No matter how much - or little - material they've mastered.
On Oct. 28, the state Board of Education will consider lowering the standards in one or more of the three assessment areas...The standardized test is similar to the SAT. Each section takes about an hour to complete.
The reading section tests comprehension of included passages. Math problems are at about a ninth-grade level. The writing section tests grammar and requires a writing sample.
Scores range from 150 to 190. Virginia demands 178 for math and reading, and 176 for writing.
The average requirements in other states are about 172 for math, 174 for reading and 172 for writing.
Emphasis mine. Care to tell me why men and women with bachelor's degrees shouldn't be expected to do well on a test of ninth-grade math?
Smart thinks the discrepancy is unfair and can force people to take the $130 test multiple times. She points to No Child Left Behind, which is the same in all states, and says Praxis I requirements also should be uniform.
"Unfair"? Really? Why? Because someone always fails it? And I thought teachers disliked NCLB because it imposed government standards on student performance. Now we hear that teachers want government standards on teacher performance?
Despite Virginia's allegedly-unreasonable high standards, it's not like massive numbers of would-be teachers are failing it. But the statistics are telling:
According to 2002-03 statewide data, about 92 percent passed the reading section, and 86 percent scored at least the minimum on math. People fared worst in writing, with 82 percent passing.
If you want to teach children, you should be required to pass any and all writing exams the state puts before you. End of story. Writing well is not an elective skill for a teacher of any subject, at any level. The ACT and SAT are alternate exams - and they both have writing components.
Posted by kswygert at October 20, 2004 01:37 PM