NC bill eliminates standardized testing requirements to become a licensed teacher
North Carolina lawmakers could make it easier to become a teacher by eliminating testing requirements for obtaining an educator’s license.
Senate Bill 204 filed on Thursday eliminates the standardized testing requirements for students in teacher preparation programs. The legislation also eliminates the standardized testing requirement for getting an initial teaching license.
The Republican-sponsored bill also would bar the State Board of Education from adopting rules or policies to implement a standardized test requirement for teacher licensure.
The primary sponsors are Sen. Tom McInnis, a Republican from Moore County; Sen. Todd Johnson, a Republican from Union County; and Sen. Timothy Moffitt, a Republican from Henderson County.
“All of these tests have no value when it comes to determining one’s ability to deliver a high performance educational production in the classroom,” McInnis said in an email Thursday to The News & Observer. “These tests only prove that the person taking the test is a good test taker. It is high time that we eliminate these barriers to entry for the position of professional educators.
“While I’m sure there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth from the folks who profit from these unnecessary tests, the real winners will be children in our schools who will benefit from a high performance teacher in their classrooms, instead of a permanent substitute teacher.”
NC schools need more teachers
The legislation comes at a time when North Carolina public schools have large numbers of teacher vacancies and fewer people want to enter the profession.
School districts opened the school year with 3,142 teaching vacancies, according to data compiled by the N.C. School Superintendents’ Association.
Vacancy levels have been dropping because schools are increasingly turning to residency licensed teachers since fewer college students are becoming education majors. Residency licensure educators, who used to be called lateral-entry teachers, are allowed to work in the classroom at the same time they’re trying to complete their licensure requirements.
Residency licensure teachers are people who are typically making a career change. They start teaching with less training than a person who was an education major in college.
Multiple tests eliminated
The legislation eliminates the requirement that college students who want to become education majors must pass the Praxis Core test to gain admission into a traditional teacher preparation program.
The legislation eliminates the requirement that students in educator prep programs pass standardized exams to show their mastery of the practice of teaching.
The legislation eliminates the requirement that teachers must also pass standardized exams to get their initial professional license. Teachers currently have until their third year of licensure to pass the exams to get their initial license.
Are standards being lowered?
The legislation goes beyond what the State Board of Education requested.
The state board’s legislative agenda requests lawmakers eliminate the requirement that students pass the PRAXIS Core test to get into a teacher prep program. The board is not asking for the elimination of the other tests.
During a presentation in July, the state Department of Public Instruction cited multiple reasons for eliminating the admission tests requirement. This includes how it’s a barrier to admission, particularly for Black students. The exam passing rate for Black students was 79% compared to 89% for white students and 90% for Hispanic students.
DPI also said there isn’t a strong correlation between passing PRAXIS and being an effective teacher.
The board voted 8-3 in July to recommend the elimination of the PRAXIS test for admission to teacher prep programs. The dissenters were the board’s three Republican members at the time, including Olivia Oxendine.
Oxendine said she was concerned that high standards were being “chipped away.”
“It’s important that we maintain the highest of standards when it comes to ensuring the highest quality, the most competent level of future teachers to place in our classrooms,” Oxendine said.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM.
