Table: Highlights of Allen v. Alabama State Board of Education

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Petition May Scuttle Teacher Testing in Ala.

For more than two decades, Alabama has been trying to make a subject-matter-knowledge test a requisite for teachers to earn their licenses. A lawsuit has thwarted the effort along the way.

1980: National Evaluation Systems is awarded a contract to develop the Alabama Initial Teacher Certification Testing Program.

Summer 1981: Testing begins.

December 1981: Several Alabama State University students and the board of trustees file a class action. The plaintiffs allege that the test is racially biased.

1985: An out-of-court settlement is reached and a consent decree is presented to the court, which requires the state to issue teaching certificates to most teacher-candidates in the plaintiff class.

1988: The state ends the testing program as a result of the settlement.

2000: The consent decree is amended, but does not allow the testing of subject-matter knowledge.

2004: The consent decree is amended a second time, and the state board of education prepares to begin administering the Praxis II tests from the Educational Testing Service.

Oct. 15, 2004: Three students from ASU ask to intervene in the case.

SOURCE: Education Week