Education Week - May 8, 2013 - 20

EDUCATION WEEK

MAY 8, 2013

www.edweek.org

Diversity at Issue in Push to Raise Teacher-Entry Bar
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

many channels as possible, trying
to address concerns and barriers
they see.”
Proponents of the higher standards agree that caution is warranted.
“When you’re working with instruments like sat, act, gpa, which
all have significant limitations, you
have a responsibility to think about

TEACHING
THE TEACHERS
what the unintended consequences
are,” said Mary Brabeck, the dean
of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education,
and Human Development, alluding
to entrance exams and other yardsticks that factor into admissions.
“But I really reject the idea that
quality and diversity are somehow
in conflict. They intersect. We want

Accreditation of Educator Preparation all putting forth versions.
One of the overarching challenges
for policy actors is that, however
common-sense the “brighter students, better teachers” idea may be,
it remains essentially untested. Research generally supports the idea
that academically stronger teachers
help raise achievement, though the
evidence is inconsistent, and few
specific factors have been studied
in depth.

‘Difficult Issue’
The potential impact on candidates of color is more stark. Scores
on the act from 2012 show that the
mean score of African-American
and Hispanic teachers, at 19 and
17, respectively, falls below the national mean score of 21, the score
set as a goal in some proposals.
Basic-skills tests, such as those in
the Educational Testing Services’
Praxis I series, also pose more chal-

CONNECTICUT

TOUGHER CRITERIA
States are moving to change
qualifications for those applying
to teacher-preparation programs.
Advocates for changes such as
increasing the minimum grade
point average for prospective
teachers argue that raising these
requirements will improve the
quality of the education workforce.

DELAWARE
KENTUCKY
MISSISSIPPI
ILLINOIS
IOWA
NEW YORK

a diverse, highly qualified teaching
force, and these factors are interrelated.”

Theory of Action
As scrutiny on the nation’s teaching programs has risen, so have
concerns about the type of individuals entering them. Despite improvements over time, U.S. elementary
teachers hold academic credentials
generally below those of other college graduates. Only about 13 percent of recent bachelor’s degree recipients in education had top scores
on the sat, compared with about
a quarter of all graduates, federal
data show.
Proponents of the idea of raising
teacher-preparation entry standards point to the practices of countries such as Finland, Singapore,
and South Korea, which recruit
superior academic candidates.
About half of U.S. states have
signed onto the principle of raising
admissions standards to teacher
preparation, and a handful of states
have begun to act on it. Some of the
changes appear more symbolic than
substantive, with required grade
point averages generally still falling below the B level.
Still, the concept has been picking up steam in other quarters, too,
with advocacy organizations, teachers’ unions, and a panel crafting
new standards for the Council for
>>

lenges for some groups. According
to ets data collected from 2005 to
2009, black candidates scored about
a standard deviation lower on such
tests and Hispanic candidates by
between a third and a half of a
standard deviation lower. (States
choose where to set the cutoff score
on the exam; most cutoffs are currently set below the mean score.)
As an entry standard, grade point
average is a more difficult measure
to analyze, given variations on
course content and academic difficulty at both the high school and
college levels.
On the whole, “this is a very difficult issue with significant tradeoffs,” said Douglas N. Harris, an
associate professor of economics at
Tulane University, in New Orleans,
who has studied the links between
teachers’ preservice characteristics
and their classroom performance.
“Ratcheting up the bar will reduce
the supply of minority teachers because of the general achievement
gap that still leaves minorities with
lower academic achievement—
which is the problem we are trying
to solve.”
Just 17 percent of teachers are
nonwhite, compared to about 40
percent of K-12 students, according
to federal data.
Research on the specific effects
of matching students to same-race
teachers, meanwhile, isn’t conclusive either, but it has matured, and

To see see previous articles in this series go to

a few studies show academic benefits for black students; other social
or emotional effects are also likely,
researchers say.
“In the 1980s and 1990s, teacher
diversity was being talked about
from a cultural, ‘social justice’ perspective, but not with any real
agenda for educative impact,” Mr.
Eubanks said. “Now, it has the potential to help close the academic
achievement gap, [but] it’s a piece
that isn’t really being connected.”
A group that is particularly concerned about the drive to raise
admissions policies is the Washington-based National Association for
Equity Opportunity in Higher Education. It represents historically
black institutions, which prepare

their heart transplant, based on an
equity issue. The reality is that, as
the bar rises, you have to meet it.”
Mr. Brown’s concerns about the
measure, which was approved in
modified form last month by Gov.
Bill Bryant, a Republican, were
rooted in contextual factors, such
as the comparatively low salaries
offered to teachers in Mississippi.
That, Mr. Brown said, means that
it might be hard to attract a pool
with enough strong candidates.
State officials, meanwhile, said
that setting the bar higher is just
one piece of a larger puzzle about
how to recruit, support, and retain
teachers of color.
“I’d argue our expectation is respectable, but we’re not talking

flexibility to help alleviate concerns
about harming teacher diversity.
Florida and Wisconsin allow programs to exempt a small percentage of candidates who don’t meet
admissions standards, she added.
“You do want to have room to say
about a candidate, ‘There’s something about her that makes me
think she’ll be a great teacher,’ as
long as that percent is not huge,”
she said.
Coverage of policy efforts to improve
the teaching profession is supported
by a grant from the Joyce Foundation,
at www.joycefdn.org/Programs/
Education. Education Week retains sole
editorial control over the content of this
coverage.

On April 16, the state board of education adopted recommendations from the Educator Preparation Advisory’s Council,
one of which was toughening “program entry standards.” The council’s principles do not recommend a minimum GPA or
test score for admissions, but Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has endorsed a 3.3 GPA.
Legislation introduced in April and endorsed by Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, would require that undergraduate
teacher education programs set a minimum GPA of 3.0 for applicants during their two most recent years of secondary or
postsecondary courses. They must also achieve a minimum score on a standardized test normed to the general college
population. Programs could waive these requirements for up to 10 percent of all students admitted.
Kentucky’s Education Profession Standards Board last September raised the minimum GPA for entry into undergraduate
teacher-preparation programs from 2.5 to 2.75. Candidates must also pass a basic-skills assessment.
Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, endorsed legislation to require prospective teachers to hold a minimum GPA of 3.0 in
pre-major coursework and a 21 on the ACT. Pushback from higher education officials yielded a compromise measure,
signed into law April 18. The bill sets admission requirements at a 2.75 GPA in pre-major courses. Candidates also
must achieve an ACT score of 21 or pass a basic-skills test.
The state raised the cutoff scores on a basic-skills test, beginning in 2010. It requires candidates to perform at a
certain level on all four sections of the exam, though programs can provisionally admit students who haven’t yet
passed all four. Candidates can opt out of the test with a score of 22 or higher on the ACT.
In 2012, Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, succeeded in pushing through a new requirement that applicants to Iowa
teacher-preparation programs must achieve a score on a preprofessional skills test in the top 75 percent nationally.
In January, the state Education Reform Commission, established by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, recommended
raising the minimum GPA for entry into teacher-preparation programs from 2.75 to 3.0. The commission also said admissions
should require an entry test like the Graduate Record Exam to determine how applicants stack up against other students.
—ANDREW UJIFUSA & STEPHEN SAWCHUK

about half of all black teachers.
Some of those schools have openadmissions policies and a philosophy of propelling individuals
forward, so they often begin with
weaker candidates, said Boyce
Courtney Williams, a senior vice
president for nafeo.
“Some of them are not coming in
from the same level of high-quality
high schools as other candidates,”
she said.

Sentiment Mixed
As befits a complex issue, though,
the sentiment among such schools
isn’t universal.
Although estimates suggest
that 80 percent of recently admitted teacher-candidates at Alcorn
State University, in Lorman, Miss.,
wouldn’t have passed muster under
a draft measure in that state, officials there said the school would
meet the challenge.
“We need the best teachers in the
classroom, irrespective of race,” said
M. Christopher Brown, the president of the historically black institution. “I don’t think anyone would
accept a lower-quality doctor during

www.edweek.org/go/teachingteachers.

about an A, we’re not recruiting
from the top 5 percent of college
graduates or even the upper third,”
said Mr. Koch, the Illinois chief.
“But I think we’ve certainly moved
in the right direction.”

Flexibility Offered
Illinois’ policies also offer a degree of flexibility for programs, by
allowing candidates to enter provisionally if they pass some parts,
but not all, of the required test.
A similar idea is guiding the caep
accreditation group, said Ms. Brabeck, who chaired the committee
that drafted the standard on candidate selection. The draft standard,
which includes a 3.0 gpa requirement, would apply to each entering
cohort, rather than individuals.
“We did that to recognize the fact
that these measures are crude approximations of the quality we’re
trying to identify,” she said.
Sandi Jacobs, the vice president
of the National Council on Teacher
Quality, an advocacy group based
in Washington that has criticized
low entry standards across the
states, also endorsed a degree of

NONGOVERNMENTAL GROUPS
AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF TEACHERS
As part of a larger set of recommendations,
the AFT concluded that teaching programs
should require candidates to have a
cumulative GPA of 3.0 and to earn a
minimum grade on college- or graduateschool-entry exams, such as a 24 on the ACT.

COUNCIL FOR ACCREDITATION
OF EDUCATOR PREPARATION
A set of draft standards for this national
accreditation body would require each
entering cohort of teachers to have a mean
GPA of 3.0, and mean scores in the top third
of those on a nationally normed admissions
assessment, such as the ACT, SAT, or GRE.

NATIONAL COUNCIL
ON TEACHER QUALITY
The group’s standard for an upcoming
review deems programs sufficiently selective
if they have an admissions requirement
of a GPA of 3.0. In lieu of that, programs
can show they are selective by choosing
applicants with a SAT math and verbal
score of at least 1120, an ACT score of 24, or
scores in the top half of another test normed
to the general college-going population.
SOURCE: Education Week

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Education Week - May 8, 2013

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