Fewer NC teachers are passing licensure tests. Is that hurting student performance?
More North Carolina teachers are entering classrooms to work with students despite having failed their licensure exams.
The state gives new teachers three years to pass their licensure tests instead of requiring them to pass them before they can work in schools. The result is that nearly 1 in 5 teachers failed their licensure exams in 2018, part of a continued downward trend in recent years.
“If you’ve spent four years at a university in an EPP (Educator Preparation Program) program and you can’t pass the content test and the pedagogy test at the end of the thing, then we’ve got a problem,” State Board of Education member Amy White said Wednesday. “And it’s showing up in our test scores.”
Well-prepared teachers or not?
Tom Tomberlin, director of educator recruitment and support at the state Department of Public Instruction, cautioned against saying those teachers aren’t prepared.
“It is clear that we are sending more teachers into the classroom who have not passed their content licensure exam than we ever have had in the past and that is a signification number of teachers that are experiencing that,” Tomberlin said. “Whether that means they are not as well prepared or not, I don’t think I have the evidence to support that.”
Tomberlin presented data Wednesday showing how 96% of teachers had passed their licensure exams in 2014. But beginning in 2016, state lawmakers said teachers could get an initial license and pass the exams after they begin working.
The passing rate was at 88.4% in 2016. It was at 80.2% in 2018, when 3,541 out of 4,415 teachers passed.
Tomberlin said he wouldn’t attribute the drop in passing rates to a decline in quality at the educator preparation programs. He said it’s likely more a case of how some teachers are procrastinating on when to pass the test.
“I think about 20% of our teaching force says if I can wait for three years, I’m going to wait the three years,” Tomberlin said. “And about 80% of our teachers say I have a difficult thing in front of me, I’m going to take care of that up front and get that done.”
The data also shows a racial disparity with minority teachers having a lower passing rate than white teachers.
“It does not seem that our candidates of color are achieving at the same on the licensure exam as our white candidates,” Tomberlin said. “I think a lot more investigation into the root causes of this are required before any kind of policy recommendations could come forward.”
One of the areas where some new teachers have had a problem passing their exams is the math test required for elementary school educators. In June state lawmakers approved legislation giving those teachers more time to pass.
Where are unprepared teachers working?
Some state board members expressed worry Wednesday about what the drop means. State board member J.B. Buxton noted how test scores are flat or declining on state exams and the national NAEP exams.
“If I’ve got people who are not entering the profession with the requisite content knowledge that we’ve sent out, that makes me uncomfortable that we’re sending them to the vagaries of a professional development system which we know is not particularly effective,” Buxton said.
Tomberlin said some initial analysis of data indicates no significant difference in effectiveness of teachers who pass on the first try compared to those who pass later. But he said that’s an area worth studying in more detail.
White said she’s worried that the teachers who haven’t passed the exams are working in the state’s poorest school districts, where vacancies are higher.
“It gives me great pause that we would be putting educators in those seats who are not equipped to adequately help those students grow and perform at the rate that they should,” White said. “What is the motivating factor for us putting teachers in seats who are not qualified or equipped to teach adequately?”
Tomberlin said he’d gather data on where the teachers who haven’t yet passed their exams are being employed.
But Tomberlin also asked board members to consider the challenges school districts have finding enough teachers. He also presented data Wednesday showing there’s been a 19.2% drop in students graduating from the state’s teacher prep programs since 2015.
“Aren’t those teachers who have been through an ed prep program and not passed the test better than a long-term sub that we’re prepared to put in those classrooms because we have no one else?” Tomberlin said. “I think that’s a fair and legitimate argument.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 2:23 PM.
