National Research Panel Tepid Over Tests For Licensing Teachers

By Ann Bradley

Washington

A report on teacher testing issued last week by a panel of the National Research Council throws cold water on a new federal law requiring colleges and universities to report their students' passing scores on licensing tests.

In general, the report is lukewarm toward teacher testing, pointing out the many limitations inherent in the current system and cautioning that differences in passing rates for members of minority groups "pose problems for schools that seek to have a diverse teaching force."

"Well-designed licensure tests provide information that states consider necessary, but the information is not sufficient to know whether a teacher will be successful in the classroom," David Z. Robinson, a former executive vice president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the chairman of the committee, said in releasing the report. "And when it comes to reporting passing rates to the federal government, the system is too fragmented to allow...