Minnesota Gives Teacher Applicants a New Test (MN)

November 30, 2010

For the first time in more than 20 years, Minnesota will require a new licensure exam for aspiring K-12 teachers.

It comes as the state is adding more requirements to get a teaching license — including student teachers videotaping a classroom lesson — and as teachers are being held more accountable for student learning.

Educators hope the new test, the Minnesota Teacher Licensure Examination, will provide higher standards catered to the state’s curriculum and a more rigorous scoring process.

About 3,400 people apply to teach in Minnesota each year.

The exam, required for those seeking their initial license or teachers adding or switching to another subject, was administered last week for the third time.

"This test is built for Minnesota," said Karen Balmer, executive director of the state’s Board of Teaching.

Since 1988, Minnesota has used the popular Praxis Series to evaluate student teachers.

"With the [Praxis Series], the standards weren’t necessarily fully aligned with what we expect of Minnesota candidates," Balmer said.

When Praxis’ contract was up for renewal last year, the state switched to Pearson Education, based in Massachusetts, to conduct the exam.

A group of Minnesota educators, union repr esentatives and field experts worked with the company to design the tests and scoring standards.

Candidates must pass tests in basic skills (reading, writing, mathematics), pedagogy (the art of teaching) and subject areas to get certification.

The new exam, with the exception of world language and culture tests, is administered on a computer at testing centers across the country.

Depending on the subject area, teachers are given a set of multiple-choice questions.

Some questions are interactive, where a test taker uses a mouse to point out safety hazards in a picture of a classroom, for example.

The scoring system also is different.

With the Praxis, a candidate was given one score for the entire exam, but that didn’t show in detail where a candidate did well or poorly.

The new test gives a score for each section, which allows administrators and teachers to see areas of strength and weakness.

Candidates now are able to go back and retake the sections they didn’t do well on instead of the entire exam.

Once a candidate completes a test, the scores are sent via e-mail to the candidate and his or her university.

It’s too soon to tell whether more students are passing or failing the new test, Balmer said.

Experts and administrators will analyze results in the coming months to tweak the exam and evaluate it for any shortfalls.

Passing scores from Praxis tests taken before Sept. 1 will be honored until Aug. 31, 2012.