Middle school math is too hard for these college graduates.
Wow. This is why the educational-industrial complex has some of the most uneducated graduates running the show.
North Carolina may stop requiring teachers to pass a math exam, reports Ann Doss Helms in the Charlotte Observer.
Almost 2,400 elementary and special education teachers have failed the math portion of the licensing exam, she writes.
Critics say the test requires middle and high school math skills that teachers of young children may not use, while failing to gauge whether licensing candidates will be effective teachers.
. . . Defenders of the Pearson math test have said teachers of young children need to understand the concepts of higher math to prepare their students. It’s not unreasonable to ask college graduates to demonstrate proficiency on middle or high school math, they add.
An analysis of novice teachers who’ve taken the exam found that higher math scores did not correlate with better performance evaluations. Neither did passing the test on the first try.
“It’s not an indicator of an effective teacher,” said Glenda Jones, an assistant superintendent in Cabarrus County Schools and a member of the standards commission. “It is a barrier to licensure and that trickles down to being vacancies in the classroom and a teacher shortage.”
Better reading scores for novice teachers were linked to better student scores in grades K-2 and better job evaluations, the study found.
The standards commission, which includes teachers, administrators and representatives of colleges of education, voted unanimously to keep the Pearson reading test and replace the Pearson math test with a Praxis math exam created by the nonprofit ETS.
The Pearson math test could be replaced by February.