A Triumph of Politics over Pedagogy? The Case of the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test, 2000-2005
At a time when most American states have embedded an initial certification test into their teacher preparation programs, Canadian educational authorities are faced with a choice: to test or not. One province, Ontario, has experimented with a standardized entry-to-the- profession testing instrument. For three years, 2002-04, teacher candidates were required to take an externally-administered examination, on top of the normal Bachelor of Education requirements, prior to certification. The results were decidedly mixed: politically viable, but pedagogically questionable. Now, the debate has been re-opened, as a new government seeks a more effective form of entry-level assessment for aspiring teachers.
Designing a Successful New Teacher Induction Program: An Assessment of the Ontario Experience, 2003-2006
Pedagogues and practitioners alike accept the vital importance of an effective professional induction for new teachers. This paper examines the evolution of such a policy in Ontario, from a mandatory pencil-and-paper qualifying test for graduating teacher candidates, to a modest province-wide induction program for newly-hired teachers. It assesses programmatic strengths and weaknesses using both theoretical and practical templates of comparison, and notes the attention devoted to ensuring political validity with interested stakeholders. The authors conclude that the new program combines professional orientation with school-based assessment, while falling short in the crucial area of mentoring.
Conducting Licensure Validity Studies: The Need To Broaden the Evidentiary Base.
In this paper we report on findings from a series of comprehensive and detailed empirical investigations that evaluated four different potential teacher certification paper and pencil tests through the lens of a typical content validation methodology as well as three distinct and independent empirical validation studies of these devices. The scope and nature of these latter studies can be understood as providing construct-related evidence of validity. Through this investigation we have had the opportunity to evaluate the appropriateness of sole reliance on the single, almost commonplace content validation approach. Findings reveal that sole dependence on this one approach appears ill advised rendering decisions not at all consistent with findings from the empirical investigations. Findings from the investigation are presented extensively in the paper and recommendations for such studies are discussed. Introduction School reform initiatives of the 1980s driven by dissatisfaction with the abilities and skills of persons entering teacher preparation and, in turn, with the skill levels of students graduating from the nations' high schools focused on entry level tests for teachers and exit level tests for students. Testing programs were viewed as the means by which better prepared teachers would enter classrooms and better prepared students would enter the work force. The ability to earn scores above a critical score was seen as the way to accomplish a set of diverse objectives. On one hand, tests were to serve a gate keeping position; people who did not possess certain requisite basic skills would not be admitted to teacher preparation programs. The testing program would, in turn, assure the general public that only truly qualified persons were being admitted to teacher preparation. Finally the introduction of entry level tests and end-of-preparation assessments such as licensure examinations would drive educational reform. In no area has this preeminent role for assessment become more evident than in the reliance on tests for licensing, certification and employment decisions. Well over 75 percent of the states rely on a paper and pencil test for admission to initial certification programs or as an exit requirement in order to be recommended for a teaching license. On an altogether different level, California requires that persons already in the profession who wish to advance or maintain their certification pass a paper and pencil basic skills test. Testing has become the insurance policy for educational effectiveness as viewed by policy makers. This era that has placed testing programs front and center in state educational reform efforts places a great responsibility on the educational measurement community. Evidence must be gathered that demonstrates that the instrument(s) used to make these individual high stakes decisions which are presumed, in turn, to drive school reform are valid. At the present time, considerable reliance is being placed on paper and pencil test's in admission and licensure decisions. However, the evidence required to support the appropriateness of Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, 1997.