State proposes content-area tests for new teachers Certification rules under revision

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If students have to demonstrate what they know before they graduate from high school, then teachers should have to prove their ability before they’re licensed.

That’s the premise of the state’s proposed revisions to its teacher certification rules, which, among other things, would require applicants to take “content-area tests” to determine how much they know about the subjects they want to teach.

Drawn up by the State Board of Education and the Maine Department of Education, the rules echo the guiding principles of the state’s new Learning Results, said Yellow Light Breen, spokesman for the education department.

They’re more about “what good teachers should know and be able to do” than about how many courses they’ve taken, he said.

The revisions also encourage certification routes besides the traditional undergraduate teacher preparation programs.

For example, an applicant could become licensed through a program like the Mid-Coast Academy for New and In-Place Educators project, which is targeted at people in other careers who have decided they want to become teachers.

Based on comments received during a public hearing in Augusta last month, the department plans to present a slightly altered draft of the rules to the state board early next year. The revisions then will go to the Legislature.

Historically, while teacher preparation programs had “very specific course requirements … there really wasn’t an approach to trying to figure out what [applicants] knew and what they could do,” Breen said.

With the proposed rule, “there’s a lot less detail” about what courses teacher candidates must take. “It’s a lot more streamlined,” he said.

Under the proposal, applicants would take a “content-area test” as well as the Praxis – a basic literacy test that’s already required.

But since alternative certification applicants haven’t graduated from an approved college education program, they would also have to take a pedagogy test to determine that they know basic teaching methods.

Also under the revisions, the number of required class credits would be reduced for alternative certification applicants and for teachers who already are certified, but who are seeking a second “endorsement” to teach another subject.

So a person who is certified to teach math, but is seeking an endorsement in chemistry would be required to take 24 credits in chemistry instead of the 36-54 currently required. The test would also assess his knowledge of the subject.

Another hallmark of the proposed rules is the focus on aligning teacher preparation curriculum to the 10 standards adopted by the state several years ago.

Among other things, the standards require teachers to demonstrate that they understand the diverse ways in which students learn as well as how to use a variety of learning strategies and tests.

Since college teacher preparation programs have been working to align their curriculum with the standards, the proposed rules simply “formalize” the process, said Jim Rier, a member of the State Board of Education.

Although the proposed rules only apply to those seeking initial teacher certification, down the road the new federal education reform law, No Child Left Behind, likely will provide greater emphasis on testing veteran teachers, he said.

That’s one of the reasons Rob Walker, president of the Maine Education Association, the union that represents the state’s teachers at the bargaining table, is less than enthusiastic about the revisions.

While he said the testing provisions in the proposed rules could help measure the competency of new teachers, they would force veteran teachers to “jump through hoops to demonstrate what they’re already capable of doing.”

The MEA also worries that alternative certification routes and the reduction in the required number of credits would lower standards for teachers.

While alternative certification pathways could help reduce the shortage of teachers in math, science, special education and foreign languages, future teachers still should be “encouraged” to go through the regular route “where there’s more intensive training” in teaching methods and in subjects like child development, he said.

These are “all pieces of the puzzle that make people good educators,” he added.

The proposed revisions need some tweaking, according to Robert Cobb, dean of the University of Maine College of Education, the state’s largest teacher training program.

Cobb recommends increasing to 30 – or even 36 – the number of subject-area credits required for alternative certification candidates and for those seeking second endorsements.

He also worries about placing too much emphasis on tests.

“We’re hinging a lot of our quality assurance measures on these standardized tests and I don’t think that’s entirely warranted at this point,” he said.

On the plus side, if alternative certification routes are approved by the state, “the programs would get the same kind of review that traditional campus-based programs receive,” he said.

The revised rules are intended to be as rigorous as the current ones, Breen said.

“At this stage where there’s so much focus on quality teachers and on the shortage of quality teachers, nobody’s sitting back and saying, ‘Let’s water these down to get more people into classrooms,'” he said.

While applicants “may not have to show as many required course credits, conversely, [they] would have to take a number of assessments that are intended to ascertain if [they] have the knowledge and skills to be a teacher,” he said.