Authors discuss several key legal issues involving the testing and licensing of teachers to improve educational quality. Primary focus is on federal constitutional and statutory issues in testing those who belong to different racial/ethnic, gender, age, language, and disability groups. Addresses legal implications of new testing requirements in…

This presentation outlines, in operational terms, the components and products of a longitudinal evaluation model for teacher education programs, and discusses an approach to program evaluation that embodies activities within three taxonomical phases referred to as formative, summative, and confirmative evaluation. When applied to competency-based…

In 1986, the Utah State Board of Education approved a policy of subject specific certification for all secondary and most middle level teachers in the expectation they will hold an endorsement in any subject they are assigned to teach. To assure quality teaching and at the same time provide for a variety of certification options, the Board…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

Data comparing the effects of traditional lectures and instruction paired with video anchors on test scores of general education and special education preservice teachers are presented. The sample in both the experimental and control groups included a mixture of preservice teachers including those beginning a general education early childhood…

This report is introduced by a history of the development and implementation of the Nevada Competency Testing Program for Educational Personnel. The study examined the test taking histories of persons entering the Nevada educational system to determine how well the competency testing program was accomplishing its purpose of ensuring that new…

This paper describes an alternative certification program that was developed to address the shortage of certified special education teachers in West Virginia. The goal of the program is to provide students from a noneducational background with opportunities at the master's degree level to become special education teachers in one of three…

A discussion of current second language testing trends and practices in Australia focuses on the use of performance assessment, providing examples of its application in four specific contexts: an occupational English test used for to assess job-related English language skills as part of the certification procedure for health professionals;…

This collection of 12 essays focuses on issues surrounding the assessment of competence in higher education, providing examples to illustrate the competence approach in practice in the United Kingdom. They include: (1) "The Assessment of Competence in Higher Education" (Anne Edwards and Peter Knight); (2) "National Vocational…

This report describes an alternative teacher certification program developed to address special education teacher shortages in rural West Virginia. For the past 9 years, one of every three educators in West Virginia assigned to special education has worked on some type of sub-standard license. The alternative certification program allows West…

Training preservice teachers to develop a predisposition toward constructivist instruction is a major goal for many faculty in teacher education. One critical attribute of a constructivist teacher is a strong hold on pedagogical content knowledge. This study examined the prior knowledge of preservice science teachers and how that knowledge aligned…

A persistent problem in U.S. educational research has been how to explain the continuing low performance on standardized tests by certain racial and ethnic minority-group students, such as Chicanos. This chapter identifies abusive practices stemming from standardized testing that help to shape school failure among Chicano students, and discusses…

The Education Department of Salem-Teikyo University (West Virginia) was chosen to develop a pilot assessment plan as part of the overall Institutional Student Outcomes Assessment Plan. The plan delineated in this paper includes the following criteria: (1) students majoring in education may enroll in the teacher education program to earn elementary…

Under the 1998 reauthorization of Title II of the Higher Education Act, the secretary of education is required to issue annual reports to Congress on the state of teacher quality nationwide. "Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge" is the inaugural report on this important issue. The 1998 reauthorization also established a…

The work of the Assessment Development Laboratory (ADL) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) in developing an assessment for identifying accomplished teachers of English language arts to young adolescents (aged 11 to 15 years) for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is reviewed. The assessment is meant to…