Testing Teacher Candidates: The Role of Licensure Tests in Improving Teacher Quality

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Table of Contents
Front Matter R1-R12
Executive Summary 1-10
1. Introduction 11-18
2. Defining Teacher Quality 19-33
3. Testing and Licensing Beginning Teachers 34-69
4. Developing an Evaluation Framework for Teacher Licensure Tests 70-82
5. Evaluating Current Tests 83-114
6. Using Licensure Tests to Improve Teacher Quality and Supply 115-135
7. Using Licensure Tests for Accountability 136-146
8. Improving Teacher Licensure Testing 147-162
9. Conclusions and Recommendations 163-172
References 173-184
Appendix A: Public Law 105-244 105th Congress 185-203
Appendix B: Teaching Standards of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment 204-219
Appendix C: Educational Testing Service (ETS) and National Evaluation Systems (NES) Teacher Licensure Tests 220-262
Appendix D: Teacher Requirement in Six States 263-286
Appendix E: An Economic Model of Supply and Demand for Teachers 287-297
Appendix F: Alternative Assessment Case Studies 298-330
Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members 331-334
Index 335-348
Background Papers Provided to the Committee 349-350
Test 1: Pre-Professional Skills Test - Reading Test 351-370
Test 2: Principles of Learning and Teaching Test: K-6 371-392
Test 3: Middle School: English/Language Arts Test 393-414
Test 4: High School Mathematics Proofs, Models, and Problems, Part 1 Test 415-436
Test 5: Biology: Content Knowledge, Part 1 and 2 Tests 437-460

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	Study Characteristics					Findings
Family Variables	Unit of Analysis	Sample Characteristics	Sample Size	Time Between Teacher Test and Outcome Measure	Statistical Procedure Used	Estimated Relation-ship Between Teacher Test Data and Student Test Data or Principal’s Evaluation
√	School		Urban elementary schools (103 schools)	Used a school average of grade 6 teachers’ scores; time since test varies based on experience of teacher	Multiple regression	Negative and statistically significant but small
√ (controlled for background factors by entering pretest measures first)	Teacher	Students not randomly selected; class average of students	119 teachers, 1,836 students	Range of teacher experience (1–40 years); time varied since taking NTE Generally one year	Stepwise regression	Positive and significant association with students’ math and reading; relationships disappeared when teachers’ race was considered
	Teacher	Elementary and secondary teachers	84 elementary and 49 secondary teachers		Correlational (compared means and standard deviations)	Mixed, small correlations
√	District	High school juniors	145 districts in North Carolina (105 districts with capital stock info)		Production function	Significant but modest relationship between teacher test scores and student achievement

Tests of Basic Skills and General Knowledge

Three sets of researchers examined the relationships between teachers’ performance on basic skills or general knowledge tests and student achievement: Ehrenberg and Brewer (1995), Ferguson (1991), and Ferguson and Ladd (1996).

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