The State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) has passed a new law that further clarifies which basic skills tests count for the certification program.
There has always been a standard that all teachers must have a basic skills test, but in the past the SBEC, which makes the requirements for all teacher certification programs, has not specified which test they would accept.
The new rules will apply for students beginning their internship or residency during the fall 2009 semester and later. This also only affects the teacher certification program in Texas, because each state decides its own requirements.
“Texas has some of the highest standards for teachers, but they wanted consistency across the state,” Donna Tavener, director of educator preparation at Texas A & M University-Commerce said.
Previously, students were required to take the THEA exam, also known as the TASP test, for proof of basic skills, but they could be exempt from the test at the allowance of the “C rule.” This rule let students waive the math and writing requirements of the test if they had earned at least a C in a college algebra course and college English course.
The SBEC has not lowered or raised the score requirements to pass the THEA since their July meeting, but instead has taken out the “C rule” and specified the accepted instruments used to measure basic skills for teacher certification.
Now students may be allowed to take the Accuplacer test to count as their basic skills test, or use their SAT and ACT scores to exempt them from parts of the test. Currently students must score an 88 in reading, a 63 in math, and an 80 in sentence skills and a written essay score of 6 in the Accuplacer test to pass.
The THEA/TASP test requires students to earn at least a 250 in reading, 230 in math, and 220 for the writing requirement.
Students with a minimum 550 on their SAT verbal can be exempt from the reading portion, and those with at least a 500 on their SAT math can be exempt from the math portion.
Currently ACT scores can only be applied to the math section of the test, which will allow students to waive that part with an ACT score of 19. The SBEC will approve the final version of the new law at their next meeting, and Tavener said that they are likely to allow ACT scores to count for other portions of the test once the requirements are finalized.
“We are hoping to get the word out early, so students aren’t caught by surprise,” Tavener said.
Although students can take the test as many times as necessary until they enter their internship residency, the new law allows more than one way to pass the basic skills test for admission to teacher education.
“I think it’s a good thing that there are options for students. Students get a phobia if they’ve taken the test more than one time,” Tavener said