Board of Education Downgrades Qualifications for Science Teachers
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24 responses to “Board of Education Downgrades Qualifications for Science Teachers”
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Hey, we need equity among the teachers as well as the students…
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I remember discussion/argument about the Praxis “cut scores” way back when I was covering Board of Education meetings for the newspaper, so early 1980s. Almost 40 years later, nothing has changed? It is still the case that there is reason to fear that the score itself determines how many graduates get teaching licenses, and it is a deeper impediment to minority students?
I remember as well my wife telling me of a young colleague who could pass the math Praxis but was in danger of failing to get her permanent license because she couldn’t get the needed score on the English test. I wonder if that is still a general requirement for teaching licenses for teachers in other subjects?
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“I wonder if that is still a general requirement for teaching licenses for teachers in other subjects?”
If it is not, then it should be. In this country, proficiency in English should be a requirement for being certified to teach any subject.
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“It is still the case that there is reason to fear that the score itself determines how many graduates get teaching licenses, and it is a deeper impediment to minority students?”
Answer is yes.
The Board of Education needs no pressure from the General Assembly to do what it is doing, but it surely has GA support at the highest levels.
Portsmouth’s Louise Lucas, Chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, is a Norfolk State education undergrad. Norfolk State is the largest Virginia HBCU producer of teaching graduates, and its graduates have always had a hard time with Praxis.
Roslyn Tyler of Southside, Chair of the House Education committee, graduated from Virginia State with an undergraduate degree in biology and an M.Ed., Education.
I would like to think that improving the teaching of undergraduate education, starting with offering a well resourced (meaning math and science professors teaching the classes rather than education professors) minor with a focus on STEM teaching, to qualify more teachers would be the focus of the Board and the GA, but it is not.
Instead they lower the qualifying scores.
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We continually hear about how lousy US students rank internationally in STEM scores. States and counties scream for more tax dollars to “fix the problem.”
This is the solution? Lower minimum quality entrance standards for teachers?
Perhaps those in charge should go back to college for remedial courses in Logic, if any are still taught.
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perhaps you should treat teachers with respect and pay them a decent wage. Otherwise, as we can see, the free market is telling you to go screw yourself
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Problem- we can’t find enough folks willing to go into the teaching profession who can meet the old standard. One way of solving that is lowering the standard. Any other ideas?
Short of any other ideas, would you rather a slightly less capable person as measured by this standardized test be at the front of a classroom, or have the entire classroom taught by a computer program? The latter has been going on far too often.
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Slightly less capable? Got most of the test questions wrong?
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Better than a program, but certainly not optimal. I think a better plan is to offer significantly higher salary to recruit more talent into the field.
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Standardized Tests only tell you who’s good at taking tests, not progress or improvement.
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It depends on how well your standardized test measures for desired outcomes.
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The other idea is the contractor proposal I made. I got a note from Jim Lane, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who told me that there was such a process available and he used it successfully as a superintendent of school districts in the Richmond area. News to me, and apparently to most school superintendents and the readers of this blog. He did not provide details. I asked him to publicize both the program and his successful use of it. Hope he does.
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You are bending some ears Captain! Good job. Let’s hope reason can bubble up to the surface of policy decision makers.
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you have no goddamn idea what you are talking about
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Given that some virtual courses are rigorous, it my be more advantageous to contract with a private virtual vendor. However, that could prove quite expensive at a student load of 125 students per teacher. I think what Matt is saying makes sense. Usually the teacher in question has a provisional license, has been employed for three years, and has been able to prove he/she can teach the content and that kids are passing SOL assessments. Give that teacher the benefit of the doubt. If we say not all kids are good at taking tests, doesn’t the same apply to adults.
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I echo and expand my response to Steve Haner:
Improving the teaching of undergraduate education courses is the best path forward.
In my view, primary and secondary education degree candidates should be required to complete math and science classes in the Arts and Sciences school to learn the material as well as math and science education classes in the Ed school to learn how to teach it.
UVa does it that way. All ed school candidates have to complete general studies requirements in their first two years including 3 credits of mathematics, 3 credits of data literacy and 6 credits of natural science in the College of A&S.
For any candidate for a Bachelor of Science in Education: Elementary Education: each candidate in the third year must complete EDIS 4320: Mathematics in the Elementary School (3 cr.) and in year four EDIS 4330: Science in the Elementary School (2 cr.). So without a specialization in STEM, UVa B.S. Education grads have significant educational backgrounds to pursue STEM teaching.
The Board of Education is lowering Praxis scores to get more minority candidates, but the HBCU’s are not helping.
Norfolk State school of Education, the largest of the ed schools at Virginia’s four HBCU’s, specializes in Early Childhood Education, Physical Education and Special Education. I cannot find whether or not ed school undergrads are required to take courses outside the ed school.
The only degree in STEM education offered at Norfolk State is a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies Education Certification Endorsement PreK-6 (Mathematics Concentration).
So Norfolk State doesn’t attempt to provide teachers for the Middle School science positions discussed in the column.
In 2019 it awarded more education degrees than any other Virginia HBCU ed school. But Virginia HBCUs as a group award very few education undergraduate degrees each year. The demand is not there.
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Great digging, Jim. No one else in Virginia is reporting this. No one else has reported the systematic lowering of standards, from SOL cut scores to the more arcane aspects of the educational system such as this, the testing of would-be science teachers.
As for your conclusion, that the next step is dispensing with student testing altogether, I would not be the least bit surprised if you were correct. The collapse in learning will be so dramatic that Progressives will have no choice but to cover it up or face utter ruin at the ballot box.
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Ruin at the ballot box? The voters don’t want their kids held to high standards. Maybe somebody else’s…. They want the Lake Woebegone Standard: All the children are above average.
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The Parole Board should grant provisional STEM teaching credentials to their parolees… win/ win!
We need STEM teachers and they need a job and have pretty much been deemed not a risk to society. -
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Why should lower standards only apply to students…. this is true equity!!!!
Long Live the down hill trend…. as home schooling soars and US Federal dollars to the state education coffers [based on student enrollment and attendance] continues to dwindle…..-
Which is actually competition to public schools and in my mind not a terrible thing though some folks realize that homeschooling and private schooling seldom provide the full range of opportunities and services that public schools do.
But yes, by all means, if parents think they can do better for their kids at non-public schools, they should.
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Your assertion that “Virginia arrived at a passing score for the
Praxis Middle School Science Teacher exam that allowed the applicant to
get more than half of the questions wrong on the test and still step in front of your child’s classroom.” is itself incorrect.As explained in the Technical Report (see footnote 4 on page 3), “Twenty-five of the 125 multiple-choice items are pretest items and do not contribute to a candidate’s score.” Thus the recommended passing score for Virginia is 57 correct out of 100 scorable questions, not 125.
While this fact may not alter your opinion or the arguments in your case in full, it is offered to set the record straight, and to head off potential misleading headlines.
I anticipate further comments such as “Getting 57% correct would have been a clear Fail when I was in school,” but the whole point of the standard-setting procedure is to take into account the difficulty level of the test questions. Getting 57 difficult questions correct may indeed be the proper passing score, and can indicate competency more reliably than getting 80 easy questions correct.
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