New teachers’ SAT scores and grade improved  from 1994-97 to 2002-05, reports ETS. Prospective teachers reported a 13 point rise in verbal SAT scores and a 17 point rise in math scores.  The percentage of candidates reporting a 3.5 GPA or higher rose from 27% to 40%.
The gains hold across gender, racial and ethnic lines.
. . .  Teaching candidates’ mean verbal score on the SAT rose from 518 to 531; the mean math score rose from 504 to 521. That’s slightly higher than the general population’s average SAT scores from 1990 to 2005 — 504 verbal and 510 in math.
In general, secondary teachers have stronger academic qualifications than elementary teachers.
Encouraging, if true. But how much is tied to changes in the SAT and in grade creep?
The SAT rise is real. The College Board didn’t change the SAT between 1994 and 2004, though since then it has been changed.
The rise is real, but tiny. So now teachers, instead of being average, are a tiny bit better than average. That’s depressing. It means about half of the students sitting in their classrooms are more able academically than their teacher.
The article also states that secondary school teachers performed better on these tests than elementary school teachers. So elementary school teachers score below average on these tests. Parents, if you think your child’s first grade teacher is not that bright, you’re right.
Are you sure the SAT wasn’t changed between ‘94 and ‘04? They recentered it, effectively shifting everyone’s scoring upward (raising the average a good 20-30 points per section), somewhere in the mid-90s; I don’t remember exactly when, but I do remember I took the last non-recentered SAT, and I graduated in ‘95, so I almost certainly took the SAT in ‘94.
Oops, you’re right, Andromeda.
According to Wikipedia, the test was changed in 1994. Perhaps there were some administrations of the old test in early 1994. So maybe some of the earlier group of teachers are reporting early ‘94 SAT scores.
In any case, 504 or 521 are both very bad math scores for people who are supposed to be teaching math. And if the median is also in that neighborhood, half of the teachers have scores *lower* than that.
no wonder students in my high school sophomore’s algebra ii class know more than the teacher — really sad when he is in an academic magnet school. she is probably not qualified to teach the subject. i need to get the principal to look at her college scores and will ask him to do that.
what is also very sad is these scores are what in the 50th or 60th percentile on the SAT as 600 is in the 80th percentile?
my children are stronger on the SAT than these new teachers. sad day for education when the kids are smarter than many of the teachers. guess this could be another reason why we have so many bored and disruptive kids in class — the teacher in many cases can not teach and therefore cannot connect with the student.
we need to have the best and the brightest in our classrooms not the bottom or even middle of the barrel — pay for experience, pay for results…education revolution here we come —
Although this is supposed to be good news, actually seeing these numbers gave me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked up my son’s SAT scores from 8th grade when he participated in the Johns Hopkins CTY program, and his scores were so much higher than these higher teacher scores just reported.
The kicker is our school refuses to establish any TAG programs for students like my son. It’s clear that the push to mediocrity is alive and well around here.
The test was recentered in 1995, I believe. That means that at least one year used the old test scores, rendering this finding pointless. The ETS doesn’t even mention the recentering, which is mindboggling.
Elizabeth, if you think your son’s algebra teacher is unqualified, there are better ways to prove it than looking at his/her SAT score from whenever. The important thing is, does he/she know algebra now? For example, what would happen if this person took a math SAT now?
Odds are, the scores would be quite similar. Very few math teachers would get above a 600 on the math section of the SAT, I’d say. Maybe 10 percent?
I always find it interesting when those who are qualified struggle with self-doubt about their abilities, while those who are mediocre don’t.
When I took the ACT in 2000, both my math score and my composite score were in the 99th percentile. I went on to major in accounting, though I have not worked in that field. About 2 years ago, I took “Math for Elementary Teachers” at a state university because I intend to homeschool, and wanted to see if I could learn anything useful. I was SHOCKED at the mathematical incompetence of 90% of my classmates. The 3 young women in my group were constantly asking me for help with K-6th grade math problems! This class was 75% content and 25% methodology. Two of them sent me Christmas cards stating, “I never would have made it through this class without you.” Unfortunately, I won’t be by their sides when they are actually “teaching” this to kids!
It seems true that you have to know enough to know how much you really don’t know. I’m now teaching pre-algebra at a private Christian school. I often find myself doubting my abilities. Maybe I should have taken more math in college. Maybe I should understand these concepts on an even deeper level. Maybe I should never make a mistake. I didn’t find that my teacher ed classmates struggled with this. They often said, “I know this good enough.”