Testing Candidates' Basic Reading Skills to Ensure Teacher Quality: Promising Practice or Problematic Policy?

The Relationship of Academic Indicators and Professional Disposition to Teaching Skills: A Secondary Data Analysis

“…The professional disposition used in this secondary data analysis measured similar attributes and was found to have a strong linear relationship with the TCS evaluation score. Wilson and Robinson (2012), and Pohan and Ward (2011) warned that standardized testing does not relate to future success in the classroom. Data analysis in this study supports this conclusion and found no correlation between test scores and TCS evaluation scores.…”

“…According to Pohan and Ward (2011), EPPs in the United States have been critiqued for low entrance and exit requirements, and ultimately not preparing teachers for classroom responsibilities. D' Agostino and Powers (2009) provided a rich historical account for the use of testing.…”

“…Standardized testing was originally created as a means for universities to compare candidates in a fair and objective way. Although testing is meant to be objective, scores on standardized exams are inconsistent with GPA or school grades (Pohan & Ward, 2011). Due to this finding, university EPPs that require standardized tests are encouraged to view the score as one piece of the candidate's academic profile (ETS, 2013).…”

“…Due to this finding, university EPPs that require standardized tests are encouraged to view the score as one piece of the candidate's academic profile (ETS, 2013). Pohan and Ward (2011) pointed out that colleges of education want a teaching force that is competent in reading and literacy skills, as well as mathematics and other content areas. However, relying on competency testing alone could be insufficient to ensure a highlyqualified teaching candidate and might unwittingly eliminate potentially effective teachers from the pool of candidates.…”

“…Some teachers who we might wish were not in the teacher work force based on their contribution toward student achievement are eligible to teach based on their performance on the tests; other individuals who would be effective teachers are ineligible. (p. 765) Wilson and Robinson (2012), and Pohan and Ward (2011) warned that standardized tests do not relate to later success in teaching. There is a lack of evidence to suggest that exams are strong predictors of effectiveness in an EPP or K-12 classroom.…”