Comments on: RI raises bar for new teachers

By: Tweets that mention RI raises bar for new teachers « Joanne Jacobs -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention RI raises bar for new teachers « Joanne Jacobs -- Topsy.com — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:28:05 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kriley19 and PostRank – Education, JoanneLeeJacobs. JoanneLeeJacobs said: RI raises bar for new teachers http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/12/ri-raises-bar-for-new-teachers/ [...]

By: Parent2

Parent2 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:30:51 +0000

As it is, according to the article, students who score well on the SAT, ACT, or GRE exams are exempt from the basic skills test. “Gist wants those scores to increase as well. For example, starting in the fall of 2010, prospective teachers must score 1,100 combined verbal and math on the SAT and 1,150 starting in 2011 to avoid taking the Praxis I.”

1,100 V + M on the SAT is mildly above average in the field of students who take the SAT. I’d assume that anyone who could opt out of the Praxis I would opt out. Thus, the field of test takers runs from students who scored around the average on the SAT — on down.

I know many teachers whom I greatly respect. As teaching is an academic profession, there should be an absolute floor to the academic performance required of prospective teachers. Over the long term, this will do more than anything else to increase the respect granted to teachers.

By the way, those who claim that teaching is a profession love to compare teachers to doctors, lawyers, and MBAs. All of those professions require high scores on their entrance exams. There may be some exceptional doctors and lawyers who barely scraped by on their exams, but they’re the exception, not the rule, in their professions.

By: Cal

Cal — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:43:24 +0000

The article mentions in passing the real reason they are resisting the increase: every test score increase results in plummeting minority teacher enrollments–and in state universities, teaching is the top moneymaker based in large part on minority admits.

The CSU campuses that depend on minority enrollments have seen a huge decrease in teacher candidates based almost entirely on the required MSUB test.

By: Crazy Whack Degrees

Crazy Whack Degrees — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:54:59 +0000

If they raised the standards high enough, it would, over time, change the average quality of people with which prospective teachers had to work.

That would be a draw of its own, and might even convince me to come down to the high school level.

I don’t see it happening, though.

By: Swede

Swede — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:48:28 +0000

I love being a teacher. It is rewarding in a way that many professions can not be. I also have an amazing amount of time off that other professions can not match. If prospective teachers decide not to be teachers because it just got a little bit harder to get into teaching school, then good riddance. However, the numbers won’t go down. I would wager good cold cash on that!

By: Nick James

Nick James — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:37:58 +0000

I think that raising the bar for teachers is one thing we can do to move in the right direction. Paying teachers a lot more in the long run might help make schools of education more competitive, but it will take a few years (as will most decent, lasting reforms).

As for the Praxis I/PPST, my university had a “do not admit” policy if a student failed it three times. That was a great idea. I have met people who failed it three times and they certainly should not be in the classroom. It’s really meant to weed out the most absurd candidates from teacher-ed programs. As much as I want more people going through those programs so as to enlarge the pool of teachers, create competition for jobs and hopefully improve teacher quality, that doesn’t mean we should let just anyone into the nation’s schools of education.

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:03:01 +0000

I’ve never met a *good* teacher who couldn’t ace the Praxis I. Praxis II is much more difficult but the Praxis I contains questions like “In the number 0.1283, which digit is in the thousandths place?”

All this will do is to keep the total morons out.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:48:44 +0000

Robert you should take the Praxis I. If you saw how easy the test is, I don’t think you would disagree with raising the bar.

By: Sean Kinsell

Sean Kinsell — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:48:14 +0000

I know that one study doesn’t prove anything, but I think there was one a few years ago–maybe Joanne even posted about it here?–that found that the countries with the best track records in education had ed schools that had very few spaces available and were tough to get into (as opposed, I believe, to those that just paid teachers a lot more).

By: Robert Wright

Robert Wright — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:42:57 +0000

Many good teachers aren’t highly educated.

I’m not sure raising the bar is a good thing.