Assessing Professional Knowledge: Georgia
Delivering Well Prepared Teachers Policy
Analysis of Georgia's policies
Georgia does not currently require new teachers to pass a pedagogy test in order to attain certification.
Only teachers seeking certification through Georgia's One-Year Supervised Practicum are required to take the GACE Professional Pedagogy test.
Georgia is also a member of the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) consortium.
Recommendations for Georgia
Require that all new teachers pass a pedagogy test.
Georgia should verify that all new teachers meet professional standards through a test of professional knowledge.
Ensure that performance assessments provide a meaningful measure of new teachers' knowledge and skills.
State response to our analysis
Georgia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. Georgia also noted that by academic year 2015-2016, all teacher preparation program providers will be required to fully implement edTPA. A two-year phase-in period begins in academic year 2013-2014 in which all providers are expected to participate in start-up activities. In 2014-2015, all providers will be required to use the assessment for some, but not all, programs. Georgia policy makers, program providers, as well as candidates who participated in the edTPA field test and pilots, perceive the edTPA to be a far more valuable assessment of teaching skill because it is a content-specific pedagogy test rather than a general test of pedagogical knowledge and skill. As a content-specific pedagogy assessment, edTPA will more accurately gauge teaching skills than a paper and pencil selected response assessment of general pedagogy. Georgia will be one of the first states to require for certification this more rigorous assessment.
Last word
NCTQ agrees that a performance assessment can be
of much more value than a traditional multiple choice test. However, as noted in the recommendation,
virtually no technical data has been published establishing the validity and
reliability of the edTPA. The state is
encouraged to ensure the technical adequacy of any assessment required for
licensure.
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Georgia
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- 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
- 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
Pensions
Research rationale
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.
Many states are considering—and a few now require—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.