Posted on 03/14/2017 4:51:22 PM PDT by blam
At a time when the United States has plummeted in the global rankings of education standards, one of the country’s largest states is poised to scrap a test designed to measure the reading and writing skills of people trying to become teachers.
Citing the fact that an outsized percentage of black and Hispanic candidates were failing the test, members of the New York state Board of Regents plans to adopt a task force's recommendation to eliminate the literacy exam, known as the Academic Literacy Skills Test, given to prospective teachers.
The move to do away with the test has been met with mixed reviews. Supporters of the exam say that eliminating it could put weak teachers in the classroom, while critics argue the test is confusing, redundant and a poor predictor of who will succeed as a teacher.
"We want high standards, without a doubt. Not every given test is going to get us there," said Leslie Soodak, a professor of education at Pace University who served on the task force that examined the state's teacher certification tests.
The literacy test was among four assessments introduced in the 2013-2014 school year as part of an effort to raise the level of elementary and secondary school teaching in the state.
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(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What are these perspective teachers learning in Teacher’s College? I suppose this is what happens when teachers are not allowed to correct pupil’s papers in red pen because it is “hurtful”. Or do not correct a pupil’s spelling because it interferes with his creative writing.
Sorry for the triple post. My computer is slow!
Litteracy testes’ bannd by the Cibil Rights Act. Raciss!
Sanctuary city for teachers who can’t read and write.
Ping.
It may be a lousy test if its questions are not precise and/or if they do not measure what they are supposed to measure. Yes, it may be that some people can handle “lousy” questions better than others. There may be racial/ethnic disparities in how such questions are dealt with. More “literate” people may in fact be better at sorting through the options of even badly worded questions. You cannot know without a thorough study of the test whether it is well designed and implemented, or not.
In my own experience as a student taking standardized tests, I sometimes noticed a question that was not well worded, or for which I could tell that the test makers probably “wanted” an answer that was not really the best answer. Fortunately, that seemed to be a rare occurrence. Of course, it is not possible as the test taker to fully assess the quality of questions and answers offered, since you do not know what the official answer key may be.
“Facts are racist.”
Those that quote them are NOT, necessarily.
prospective not perspective
I would not only keep the literacy tests, I would pull the accreditation of any teachers colleges whose “graduates” flunked the tests.
Balkanization of America marches on.
An illiterate teacher: oxymoron. At least it ought to be.
A friend of mine has labeled public schools “failure factories”.
I am ten weeks away from my 75th birthday and what I was taught in public school as standard English is hardly spoken or written any longer. We hear people at the highest levels of government and newscasters who have journalism degrees speaking what used to be called colloquial or even “hillbilly” English. Let us not even discuss the abominable state of written English.
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