NCTQ

Rationale: Exit exams

If teachers are to teach well, they must acquire many essential teaching skills as well as a solid understanding of content. Licensing examinations are required by states to ensure that teachers meet a minimum standard of subjectmatter knowledge. There is research, albeit limited, correlating a teacher's ability to pass a licensure test with impact on student achievement.¹ Licensing tests are the best lever available to states for ensuring that institutions preparing teachers are following state regulations.

Unfortunately, with the exception of most secondary level licensing tests, current teacher licensing tests in the nation are generally not up to the task because they have common weaknesses, both substantive and structural.

The typical elementary content test includes reading pedagogy, English/language arts, science, social studies and mathematics. The typical middle school and high school social studies test covers history, government, geography and economics. Because passing score requirements, known as "cut-scores," are not set for each subject on these tests, a high score in one subject area can compensate for a low score in another. At the elementary school level, one result is that candidates who have little to no skills in mathematics—typically the subject area with the lowest performance—can still pass and receive a license.

Some states are beginning to remedy these deficiencies. Massachusetts, the nation's highest performing state on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), requires that elementary teachers pass stand-alone mathematics content and reading pedagogy tests. Virginia, Connecticut and California require that all elementary teachers pass a stand-alone reading pedagogy test. Several other states are considering even more broad-ranging changes in licensing tests.

Illinois has developed its own series of licensing tests, the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS). Many of its most commonly administered tests suffer from the same flaws found in their counterparts in other states:

1. Early childhood, elementary and special education content tests that are too easy and cover five or more subjects.

   The fact that elementary teachers seeking a middle school endorsement that will allow them to teach in self-contained classrooms in grades 5-8 do not take any test additional to the elementary generalist test to assure their content mastery is especially problematic.

2. Secondary tests that test social science and science subjects together. Candidates who pass these tests—possibly answering all the questions incorrectly in one area—are certified to teach all the subjects. For example, a psychology major may teach history, economics or geography, having passed the psychology licensing that has a small share of questions on each of those subjects.² Test deficiencies will not be addressed in proposed changes to science and social science certification regulations that will take effect in February 2012.

3. For all the tests that combine subjects, one global passing score rather than separate passing scores for each subject.

Fortunately, Illinois does not share a problem found in many states in which loopholes allow teacher candidates who have not yet passed a licensing exam to teach for as many as three years, and sometimes more.

Teacher preparation programs need not wait for state action to improve licensure tests. Any preparation program for which the certification test is inadequate should attempt to remedy its weaknesses with its own exit tests for content mastery. State regulations do not preclude any program from taking this initiative.