New York removes test for screening teachers because blacks/hispanics can't pass it

[Deleted]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/t...ities-46065836

New York education officials are poised to scrap a test designed to measure the reading and writing skills of people trying to become teachers, in part because an outsized percentage of black and Hispanic candidates were failing it.

The state Board of Regents on Monday is expected Monday to adopt a task force's recommendation of eliminating the literacy exam, known as the Academic Literacy Skills Test.

Backers of the test say eliminating it could put weak teachers in classrooms. Critics of the examination said it is redundant and a poor predictor of who will succeed as a teacher.

"We want high standards, without a doubt. Not every given test is going to get us there," said Leslie Soodak, a professor of education at Pace University who served on the task force that examined the state's teacher certification tests.

The literacy test was among four assessments introduced in the 2013-2014 school year as part of an effort to raise the level of elementary and secondary school teaching in the state.

Leaders of the education reform movement have complained for years about the caliber of students entering education schools and the quality of the instruction they receive there. A December 2016 study by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that 44 percent of the teacher preparation programs it surveyed accepted students from the bottom half of their high school classes.

The reformers believe tests like New York's Academic Literacy Skills Test can serve to weed out aspiring teachers who aren't strong students.

But the literacy test raised alarms from the beginning because just 46 percent of Hispanic test takers and 41 percent of black test takers passed it on the first try, compared with 64 percent of white candidates.

A federal judge ruled in 2015 that the test was not discriminatory, but faculty members at education schools say a test that screens out so many minorities is problematic.

"Having a white workforce really doesn't match our student body anymore," Soodak said.

Kate Walsh, the president of National Council on Teacher Quality, which pushes for higher standards for teachers, said that blacks and Latinos don't score as well as whites on the literacy test because of factors like poverty and the legacy of racism.

"There's not a test in the country that doesn't have disproportionate performance on the part of blacks and Latinos," Walsh said.

But she said getting rid of the literacy test would be "a crying shame."

In implementing the exams, she said, New York had become "light years ahead of other states" in its teacher certification regimen.

"New York put together a suite of testing products that really got at the lack of rigor in teacher prep," Walsh said.

The Academic Literacy Skills Test consists of multiple-choice questions about a series of reading selections plus a written section.

A practice test available for $20 on the New York State Education Department website features John F. Kennedy's inaugural address as one of the reading passages and asks questions like this one: "In which excerpt from the passage do Kennedy's word choices most clearly establish a tone of resolve?"

Ian Rosenblum, the executive director of the New York office of the Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for high achievement for all students, called the literacy test "a 12th grade-level assessment" — something a high school senior should be able to pass.

But Pace University student Tabitha Colon took the test last year and failed to get a passing score. She likened it to the English portion of the SAT and said it was "pretty difficult." Plus, she said, she was thrown off by the fact that the test was given online, rather than on paper.

"The format on the computer was a bit confusing," she said.

Colon, 21, was still able to pass thanks to a "safety net" provision that lets students demonstrate proficiency by submitting grades from a class. She is now working as a student teacher at a middle school in Ossining.

Several education professors told The Associated Press the test doesn't measure anything that isn't covered in other exams students must take, including subject matter certification tests, the SAT, the GRE and tests that are part of their coursework. Also, they said the test's $131 price tag is too steep.

Michael Middleton, dean of the Hunter College School of Education in Manhattan, said that of the battery of assessments, "It's the one that looks like it's the least related to the actual work that teachers do day to day."

Charles Sahm, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is a strong supporter of raising the bar for teachers but not a fan of this particular literacy test.

Sahm took the $20 practice exam and thought it was a poorly designed test with multiple-choice questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer.

"I do agree that it's not a great test," Sahm said. "I found the reading comprehension section to be kind of infuriating. I only got 21 out of 40 right."

[Venant]

Clearly that test was racist

Also, who in the #currentyear goes to college to read books or learn how to write good? I just want to get a degree in looting Starbucks and setting cars on fire.

[Nasukkin]

I work in the education industry, writing software that evaluates the effectiveness of teachers in their classrooms. As much as this news boils my piss, it isn't really news... A lot of states and school districts try to dance around our tests because it results in people getting laid off. Education in America's public school system truly is fucked. If you love your kids and you live in America, private school them. Trust me on this; I've seen the numbers.

[Shadowferal]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/t...ities-46065836
Kate Walsh, the president of National Council on Teacher Quality, which pushes for higher standards for teachers, said that blacks and Latinos don't score as well as whites on the literacy test because of factors like poverty and the legacy of racism.

"There's not a test in the country that doesn't have disproportionate performance on the part of blacks and Latinos," Walsh said.

But she said getting rid of the literacy test would be "a crying shame."

In implementing the exams, she said, New York had become "light years ahead of other states" in its teacher certification regimen.

"New York put together a suite of testing products that really got at the lack of rigor in teacher prep," Walsh said.

The Academic Literacy Skills Test consists of multiple-choice questions about a series of reading selections plus a written section.

A practice test available for $20 on the New York State Education Department website features John F. Kennedy's inaugural address as one of the reading passages and asks questions like this one: "In which excerpt from the passage do Kennedy's word choices most clearly establish a tone of resolve?"

Ian Rosenblum, the executive director of the New York office of the Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for high achievement for all students, called the literacy test "a 12th grade-level assessment" — something a high school senior should be able to pass.

But Pace University student Tabitha Colon took the test last year and failed to get a passing score. She likened it to the English portion of the SAT and said it was "pretty difficult." Plus, she said, she was thrown off by the fact that the test was given online, rather than on paper.

"The format on the computer was a bit confusing," she said.

Colon, 21, was still able to pass thanks to a "safety net" provision that lets students demonstrate proficiency by submitting grades from a class. She is now working as a student teacher at a middle school in Ossining.

Several education professors told The Associated Press the test doesn't measure anything that isn't covered in other exams students must take, including subject matter certification tests, the SAT, the GRE and tests that are part of their coursework. Also, they said the test's $131 price tag is too steep.

Michael Middleton, dean of the Hunter College School of Education in Manhattan, said that of the battery of assessments, "It's the one that looks like it's the least related to the actual work that teachers do day to day."

Charles Sahm, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is a strong supporter of raising the bar for teachers but not a fan of this particular literacy test.

Sahm took the $20 practice exam and thought it was a poorly designed test with multiple-choice questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer.

"I do agree that it's not a great test," Sahm said. "I found the reading comprehension section to be kind of infuriating. I only got 21 out of 40 right."

Sounds like the test needs to be re-configured rather than removed.

[WintersLegion]

Sounds like the test needs to be re-configured rather than removed.

Yeah I remember when I was in High School they brought out this test that would become a requirement to pass highschool for me my year was just a test of the test so didn't affect the ones in my year but after that it would and this test was to hard for most people even a lot of teachers couldn't pass the test.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washin...udent_Learning

[Bryntrollian]

Nice, just lower the bar even further.

[PACOX]

Several education professors told The Associated Press the test doesn't measure anything that isn't covered in other exams students must take, including subject matter certification tests, the SAT, the GRE and tests that are part of their coursework. Also, they said the test's $131 price tag is too steep.

Charles Sahm, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is a strong supporter of raising the bar for teachers but not a fan of this particular literacy test.

Sahm took the $20 practice exam and thought it was a poorly designed test with multiple-choice questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer.

"I do agree that it's not a great test," Sahm said. "I found the reading comprehension section to be kind of infuriating. I only got 21 out of 40 right."

It was a shitty test. Enough said.

I don't expect people to actually read the article or understand what poorly written and/or biased tests mean. How long until this gets closed?

[Dreknar20]

disproportionate test results among races..................

How amazing, math and world problems can now even be racist. I guess you can call a curb racist too if you happen to trip on it

[THE Bigzoman]

I'd be more outraged at this test if white chick teachers weren't putting a disproportionate amount of black kids on adderral/special ed.

They may pass the test, but they're not doing their job as a whole, and have been failing entire segments of their classrooms.

[Nitro Fun]

I'd be more outraged at this test if white chick teachers weren't putting a disproportionate amount of black kids on adderral/special ed.

They may pass the test, but they're not doing their job as a whole, and have been failing entire segments of their classrooms.

The teachers can't put some kid on adderral.

[Zeta333]

Yeah I remember when I was in High School they brought out this test that would become a requirement to pass highschool for me my year was just a test of the test so didn't affect the ones in my year but after that it would and this test was to hard for most people even a lot of teachers couldn't pass the test.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washin...udent_Learning

i remember that worthless fucking test. They they came out with some senior project thing that we had to do, i remember bullshiting through it the night before and feeding the teachers nothing but wikipedia shit and getting an A.

[Darththeo]

Sounds like the right move. If tests were negatively impacting one race (which it shouldn't, one race isn't smarter than others) ... there is a problem with the test, so removing the test is the correct answer if a replacement is yet viable. Work on a replacement and once one is made, require that teachers hired when the test wasn't in place take the new test. If they fail, they are required to try again and a second failure means loss of their job.

I see no problem here.

[Tijuana]

I don't see the point of pre-judging the effectiveness of a teacher before they are educated in teaching. Is that really what is going on here? I don't even....wait...what?

[Draco-Onis]

I don't think the op read the article.

Charles Sahm, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is a strong supporter of raising the bar for teachers but not a fan of this particular literacy test.

Sahm took the $20 practice exam and thought it was a poorly designed test with multiple-choice questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer.

"I do agree that it's not a great test," Sahm said. "I found the reading comprehension section to be kind of infuriating. I only got 21 out of 40 right."

[timberx]

I don't see the point of pre-judging the effectiveness of a teacher before they are educated in teaching. Is that really what is going on here? I don't even....wait...what?

It's just a literacy test. Like the Critical Reading section on the SAT.

[Deletedaccount1]

I'm surprised teacher unions let that happen.

[belfpala]

Yeah I remember when I was in High School they brought out this test that would become a requirement to pass highschool for me my year was just a test of the test so didn't affect the ones in my year but after that it would and this test was to hard for most people even a lot of teachers couldn't pass the test.

Did you learn how to punctuation at any point? Honestly curious.

[Mangusei]

Libtards minds are beautiful aren't they?


[Infracted]

[runique]

Clearly that test was racist

Also, who in the #currentyear goes to college to read books or learn how to write good? I just want to get a degree in looting Starbucks and setting cars on fire.

College didn't teach me how to write good. That is probably because it taught me how to write well.

[belfpala]

I don't see the point of pre-judging the effectiveness of a teacher before they are educated in teaching. Is that really what is going on here? I don't even....wait...what?

It's one of several tests to become a teacher. Certification process.

Or, if I'm wrong, why not? Medical students take a much more difficult test before they're taught to be doctors.