STEM Education Institute Tuesday Seminar
Teaching Talent Can Be Measured By a Test - True or False; Are Teacher Certification Tests a Gateway or a Barrier?
Rob Snyder
Amherst Regional High School, Retired
Many states now require that prospective science teachers graduating from colleges and universities pass a certification test before they can accept a teaching position. In many instances, less than 50% of prospective teachers are able to attain a passing score on the certification test in a field they have studied as an undergraduate. This raises a number of questions. Are the tests necessary? Are the tests flawed? Is there a discontinuity between undergraduate and graduate coursework and the science content of the tests? Should the tests be administered after several years of teaching in order to determine if a teacher is to be awarded a professional status (such as tenure)? Should there a national exam rather than exams administered by each state? Are the dynamics of the average public school classroom such that class management skills become more important than high level content knowledge? Rob Snyder retired three years ago, after a 34 year career as a middle school and high school science teacher, and will share how his experience as a "pre-certification test" teacher in New York and Massachusetts, his experience as a teacher-mentor, and his recent experience as a writer of teacher certification tests has shaped his view of the teacher certification process.