What Is the Massachusetts Teacher Exam Really Testing?

By Whitney Sterling

After 13 years of teaching high school English in a German-American school in Berlin, I am currently on sabbatical and working to attain certification as a high school principal in Massachusetts. For an aspiring principal, the exam on literacy skills and communication competency became a requirement as of Aug. 31. About two weeks after dutifully paying the $70 registration fee, I received an entrance ticket with seat No. 108 and specific directions on how to get to the test site. When I rounded the corner on Oct. 3 to approach the doors of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, about 300 anxious teacher-candidates were being filmed and interviewed by reporters. Shortly after 8 a.m. the doors opened, but the registration process took so long that our group didn't start the test until 8:45. Many of the candidates who were taking the second subject test would have only a 15-minute break...