Proposed change to State of New York teacher certification

[Abdul Alhazred]

‘Literacy’ test for teachers may be nixed
NY Post

The state Board of Regents will likely vote early next week on whether to ax the Academic Literacy Skills Test, one of four exams that teacher wannabes have to pass for certification, officials said Monday.

...

Is there conspiracy to keep them stupid? Or is it stupid all the way up to the top?

[Grammatron]

Probably desperate for teachers.

[Anaxagoras]

Does anyone ever fail this test?

I mean, if the pass rate is 100%, it may be superfluous.

ETA:

Oh, of course not.

Sources said education officials also were concerned about the disparity between passing rates among white and minority candidates.

In 2013-14, only 48 percent of aspiring black teachers and 56 percent of prospective Hispanic educators passed, compared to 75 percent of white candidates, the website Chalkbeat reported in February.

Racially disparate impact.

[Abdul Alhazred]

If they don't hire literate teachers, the racial disparity will only get worse.

[sparks]

If they don't hire literate teachers, everyone loses.

[Witness]

One of the things I read in the local press in Basel was about early French teaching to the (German speaking) kids.

Now pedagogues had apparently convinced the authorities of five Swiss cantons to implement a method where errors were never corrected – they would somehow automatically get ironed out after some years.

Needless to say, "after some years" (three, in fact) the non-fantasized results were extremely poor and people not really happy.

So a certification for pedagogical methods, based on hard facts and not wishful thinking, could also be useful.

(As it happens I just read a book review: the author predicts that universities will very soon become obsolete, replaced by online courses. Good luck with that.)

[Abdul Alhazred]

Nice to know this isn't a peculiarly American disease.

[sparks]

Indeed. When making the trip back to the Dark Ages, one should take along a friend or two.