Crisis in the classroom: New Indiana teachers repeatedly failing state exams
Bob Segall, via a kind reader:
In the past three years, thousands of new, would-be Indiana teachers have failed the state’s CORE content area assessment exams. The tests, which are each designed to evaluate teacher knowledge in a very specific subject area, are a prerequisite for new teachers to obtain their Indiana state teaching license.
The CORE teacher assessment tests are administered by Pearson Education, one of the nation’s largest standardized testing companies. In 2014, the Pearson tests replaced what was referred to as the Praxis II teacher exams, which had long been used to assess teachers’ content mastery. The Praxis II tests have a high passage rate for Indiana teachers. That is not the case for many of the Pearson exams, which have pass rates that are horrible.
During the 2015-2016 academic year, only 36% of prospective English teachers passed the CORE middle school English language arts exam.
A dismal 32% of would-be Indiana math teachers passed the CORE middle school math test.
And only 18% of aspiring science teachers passed the CORE middle school science exam.
Other CORE exams – including history, social studies, reading, economics and geography – all show first-time pass rates of less than 50%, according to state testing data obtained by WTHR.
Related: MTEL and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s attempts to weaken teacher licensing requirements.
Related: When A stands for average.
