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.
Initial Teacher Certification Testing: Preservice Teachers' Experiences and Perceptions.
The introduction of an initial teacher certification test in Ontario in 2002 was met by a wide range of responses from preservice teachers. This study, based on an April 2002 survey of 535 preservice teachers in a large initial teacher education program, describes the relationships among what the participants knew about the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test, their previous experiences with other large-scale tests, and their beliefs about and attitudes toward the test. Keywords: preservice teacher education, teacher certification, test preparation, factor analysis. L’introduction d’un Test d’aptitude a la profession enseignante en Ontario en 2002 a suscite tout un eventail de reactions de la part des candidats a l’enseignement. Cette etude, effectuee a la suite d’un sondage mene en avril 2002 aupres de 535 candidats inscrits dans un vaste programme de formation a l’enseignement, decrit les liens entre ce que les participants connaissaient du Test d’aptitude a la profession enseignante de l’Ontario, leurs experiences anterieures avec d’autres tests a grande echelle et leurs croyances et attitudes au sujet de ce test en particulier. Mots cles : formation a l’enseignement, certification a titre d’enseignant, preparation en vue d’un test, analyse factorielle
Teacher testing: Advice for faculty in literature, rhetoric, and creative writing
is 7:30 on a gray Saturday morning in January when I pull into the Bassick High School parking lot. There are enough cars in the parking lot to tell me I am in the right place, but I can't find a way to get in. Two doors are locked; another has no handles on the outside. This is not the way I usually spend weekend mornings during holiday break. In my briefcase are my registration form and well-sharpened number 2 pencils. It has been twenty-five years since I last took a test administered by ETS, but I still know the drill. Half an hour later I am registered and sitting in a classroom with about twenty other test-takers, three of them my own students. We are all here to take the Praxis II exam, "English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge." This is a two-hour multiple choice exam with questions on American, British, and world literature, literary terms, grammar and usage, and teaching. A second test required of prospective English teachers in Connecticuta two-hour essay exam on literary analysis and pedagogical issueswill be administered later in the day. Of the forty-three states that require teachers to pass tests to attain certification, thirty-five80%require some form of the Praxis Series (ETS, 2001). I am here because I want to know more about the test my students take. My students are here because they need to pass it. About fifteen percent of the English majors at the small, comprehensive university where I teach minor in secondary education. I work informally with them and serve as the English Department's liaison to the University's Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions. Every other year I teach "Advanced Composition for Secondary School Teachers," one of the courses required for the education minor. My colleagues in the English Department were relieved, I think, when I took over this role. While my four years as a high