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Tests and Teaching Quality Interim Report (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Current Licensure Testing
Pages 6-12

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From page 6...
... Licensure is distinct from hiring. Although state licenses grant permission for teachers to teach in public schools, local agencies school districts and, in many cases, schools actually hire the teachers and so determine who will teach and what they will teach.
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From page 7...
... Approximately 30 states specify academic requirements for entry into a teacher preparation program. Nearly all states require prospective teachers to complete coursework in content areas and pedagogy in approved teacher-education programs.
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From page 8...
... The tests cover organizing content knowledge for student learning, creating an environment for student learning, teaching for student learning, and teacher professionalism. They are intended to draw on prospective teachers' knowledge of educational psychology, classroom management, instructional design and delivery techniques, and evaluation and assessment.
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From page 9...
... , pedagogical content knowledge goes beyond the knowledge of subject matter to include the "dimension of subject-matter knowledge for teaching." This type of knowledge includes ways of formulating or representing subject matter to make it understandable to students, as well as an understanding of what makes learning a topic easy or difficult, for example, the misconceptions about the solar system that might impede a student' s learning about astronomy. The Praxis II series includes tests of pedagogical content knowledge in biology, foreign language, mathematics, physical education, physical science, social studies, and Spanish.
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From page 10...
... For example, some states require basic skills tests for admittance into teacher education programs, while other states require candidates to take such tests after completing such programs. Each state also establishes its own passing scores for the tests it requires.
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From page 11...
... However, the variability in tests, passing scores, and student populations across states makes meaningful comparisons of passing rates extremely difficult.
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From page 12...
... Unfortunately, the public may not have enough specific information about each institution to make valid comparisons in passing rates among them. For example, institutions that restrict entry to teacher education programs are likely to have higher passing rates than those that are less restrictive and whose mission is focused on providing opportunity for all students.
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Key Terms

  • passing rates
  • content knowledge
  • passing scores
  • teacher education
  • pedagogical content

  • states require
  • pedagogical knowledge
  • skills tests
  • student learning
  • test requirements

  • skills test
  • licensure requirements
  • prospective teachers
  • require prospective
  • teaching performance

  • teacher knowledge
  • licensure tests
  • beginning teachers
  • hire teachers
  • public schools

  • teachers ought
  • valid comparisons
  • meaningful comparisons
  • teacher preparation
  • preparation program

  • passing score
  • states allow
  • score set
  • knowledge goes
  • average difficulty


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