Teacher Testing
Teacher Preparation
Aspiring Primary Teachers May Be Tested in Math
Massachusetts schools chief wants to ensure that elementary teachers have the content necessary to lay students’ math foundation.
Education
A Teacher Tested
High school English teacher Emmet Rosenfeld published a well-received article in the Washington Post Magazine last week about his all-consuming but ultimately failed quest for national-board certification. In the latest post on his blog here on Teacher, Emmet provides a sampling of the responses he received from teachers and others who were moved by the article. It's an interesting range of opinion.
Education
Testing Teachers
The Ankeny school district in Iowa has become the first in the state (or so it is believed) to turn to a software program to help evaluate candidates for teaching and principal positions. The district will use TeacherInsight and PrincipalInsight, multiple-choice assessment tools developed by the Gallup Organization to gauge educators’ interpersonal skills. More specifically (sort of), TeacherInsight “assesses the talents that result in teacher excellence that are difficult or nearly impossible to teach,” according to Gallup’s education Web site.
Education
Calif. Approves Teacher Test
California’s rigorous performance test for new teachers has the potential to set national standards, officials say.
Teaching Profession
Performance Test for New Calif. Teachers Approved
The rigorous assessment requires aspiring educators to show students are learning before they earn their preliminary licenses.
Education
A National Roundup
Three Mass. Teachers Win Fight for Jobs After Failing Tests
Three teachers in Lowell, Mass., who were fired for failing a test of their English proficiency were reinstated to their jobs last week by an arbitrator.
Teacher Preparation
Panel Urges New Testing for Teachers
Congress should pay for the development of a national teacher test, using performance to judge accomplishment, and the test results should be incorporated into state licensing requirements, a report set for release this week argues.
Education
Teachers to the Test?
Congress should pay for the development of a national teacher test, using performance to judge accomplishment, and the test results should be incorporated into state licensing requirements, a new report from the National Academy of Education argues.
Federal
Ontario Scraps Test for New Teachers
The Ontario Ministry of Education has decided to stop administering a controversial test for new teachers in the Canadian province and replace it with an induction program.
Education
A State Capitals Roundup
Judge OKs Agreement in Ala. Teacher-Test Case
For the first time in more than two decades, aspiring teachers in Alabama will be required to pass subject-matter tests, possibly as soon as 2006, under a consent decree reached in a long-running case over teacher testing.
Federal
Pa. Outlines Teacher-Test Alternatives
Pennsylvania education officials have set the rules for an alternative route that some of the state’s veteran teachers can use to become “highly qualified” under federal law.
States
Petition May Scuttle Teacher Testing in Ala.
A more than 20-year legal battle over teacher testing in Alabama could stretch out even longer if a federal judge decides to add new plaintiffs to the case.
Teaching Profession
Critics Question Federal Funding of Teacher Test
Some members of the education community are questioning the U.S. Department of Education's recently announced $35 million, multiyear allocation to an alternative teacher-credentialing test that so far has enlisted only a single state.
Teacher Preparation
Teachers' Colleges Call For Uniform Testing
In an attempt to curtail criticism of college-based teacher-training programs and improve the quality of their graduates, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Preparation is calling for a national evaluation system for prospective educators.