State Board approves
enhanced basic
skills test for future
teachers
August 23, 2001 (217) 782-4648
Chicago
– The State Board of Education today approved administering a
significantly more rigorous basic skills test for future teachers.
Current
teacher candidates seeking initial certification will take Illinois’ new
“enhanced basic skills test” on September 15. The state requires passage of a
basic skills test for initial certification.
The
State Board also sought approval of emergency rules from the Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules on the cut scores needed to pass the enhanced basic skills
test.
The
State Board last October directed staff to create a new, more challenging basic
skills test aligned with the Illinois Learning Standards, encompassing new test
items and passing scores.
The
old test asked questions that equated to roughly an 8th or 9th-grade
education. The new test is geared to a college sophomore level.
“Teachers
are a vital part of the process to help prepare students to be successful in
life after school,” McGee said.
“They
guide and help shape our students’ minds. So we must have the best teachers
possible in our classrooms. This is an effective and efficient step to take to
give our schools the tools they need to do that,” he said.
Meanwhile
the State Board also directed staff to research and compare the available
nationally-normed basic skills tests for prospective teacher candidates, with
an eye on switching to such a test in the future. State Board staff will report
back in December.
McGee
had planned to recommend administering such a test in 2003. But the State Board
put off discussing that option until more information can be provided outlining
how such a test would compare to and improve upon the enhanced basic skills
test.
McGee
had also planned to recommend that teaching candidates be required to pass such
a test before entering a college or university teacher preparation program.
A
nationally-normed test would allow Illinois to recruit and hire new teachers
from outside the state by comparing scores of teaching candidates from across
the country who would have taken the same test. That is an important
consideration given the state’s imminent teacher shortage.
There
were about 2,600 unfilled teaching positions statewide about a year ago. Those
numbers will increase significantly in the next three years, when 40 percent of
teachers and 47 percent of administrators approach retirement, student
enrollments continue to grow and the private sector attracts teachers into more
lucrative jobs, according to a State Board study published last December.
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