Open AccessTEACHING AND LEARNING RESEARCH REPORT SERIES ; THE ACADEMIC QUALITY OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS: THE IMPACT OF ADMISSIONS AND LICENSURE TESTING
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.2003.tb01927.x
Subject(s) - licensure , psychology , test (biology) , ethnic group , medical education , population , diversity (politics) , mathematics education , academic achievement , teacher education , medicine , sociology , paleontology , biology , environmental health , anthropology
This study examined the academic and demographic profile of the pool of prospective teachers and then explored how this profile is affected by teacher testing. Specifically, the study linked SAT and ACT college admissions test data from 1977–1995 with data from more than 300,000 prospective teachers who took a college of education entrance exam or teacher licensure test from The Praxis Series™ between 1994 and 1997. The data revealed that teacher academic ability varies widely by type of licensure sought, with those candidates seeking licenses in academic subject areas having the highest college admissions test scores, and those in non‐academic fields like elementary education having the lowest scores. In contrast to many previous research claims that teachers lack the academic ability of other college‐educated professionals, the data in this study suggest that teachers in academic subject areas have academic skills that are equal to or higher than those of the larger college graduate population. Across the board, teacher testing was found to positively influence the average SAT and ACT scores of the prospective teacher pool, while at the same time limiting the overall supply of teachers. The data further revealed that the prospective teacher pool is highly homogenous with respect to race/ethnicity, and that disparate passing rates on teacher tests limit the racial/ethnic diversity of the teaching force even further. If minimum passing scores on teacher tests are raised, as many advocates of high standards have recommended, the SAT and ACT scores of the prospective teacher pool will rise dramatically, but the supply and diversity of the pool will fall equally dramatically. The authors conclude that teacher testing holds great promise, but must be used judiciously and in combination with other reform efforts to ensure an adequate supply of academically talented and racially/ethnically diverse teachers.