Education officials, lawmakers look at alternatives to teacher testing

As the teacher shortage in Illinois has grown to what some say are “crisis” levels, education officials and lawmakers are looking to change the way potential teachers are assessed.

One reason for the shortage cited by the education community is the glut of tests required to get a teaching license in Illinois — along with the fact students aren’t passing them at the level they used to.

To get a teaching license in Illinois, students need to pass a basic skills test, another test called the edTPA and a content-area test.

Of those who took the basic skills test, called the Test of Academic Proficiency, in the first three months of this year, 25 percent passed, according to data on the Illinois State Board of Education’s website.

ISBE is putting the TAP on hold starting June 30 as it looks at different ways to assess basic skills.

State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, is the sponsor of House Bill 423, which would eliminate the test until 2025. Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, introduced a bill, Senate Bill 1952, that would get rid of the basic skills test permanently. Both bills were approved in one chamber earlier this month and await consideration in the other chamber.

The Illinois State Board of Education has taken a neutral position on the bills, a lobbyist for the agency said during a recent meeting.

As a teacher, Scherer saw many examples of would-be teachers held back by the basic skills test. She linked the difficulties to students' test anxiety and the poorly written test.

The questions, Scherer said, are abstract to the point where students can’t figure out what the questions are asking.

There also is an argument the tests are discriminatory toward people of color. Scherer says the tests don’t take life experiences or cultural differences into account. During the first quarter of the year, 12 percent of African-American students and 14 percent of Hispanic students passed the basic skills test.

“I’ve seen so many good teachers go by the wayside because of these tests that are not really doing what they’re intended to do,” Scherer said.

Jeff Vose, regional school superintendent for Sangamon and Menard counties, also has seen people get discouraged from teaching because of the basic skills test.

“That’s the frustrating part of this process,” Vose said. “To watch people that get discouraged and disappointed because one test on one day is not allowing them to get into a profession that they desire to get into. One test eliminates their hopes and dreams of becoming a teacher.”

There are 20 unfilled teaching positions in Sangamon and Menard counties, according to Vose.

Removing the “barrier” of the basic skills test could bring in more teachers to fill these positions, he said.

“These districts are looking for any solution ... to get more teachers in the classroom to teach students,” Vose said. “Just out of sheer necessity, something has got to give.”

In 2017, the Illinois State Board of Education launched a year-long study called "Teach Illinois: Strong Teachers, Strong Classrooms" to address schools' staffing challenges. A majority of commenters in the report suggested removing the basic skills test or considering other approaches to it. A few supported it, while five commenters asked the board not to “dumb down” the standards for licensing or “make becoming a teacher easier.”

James Rosborg, a retired Belleville superintendent and retired director of the master’s in education program at McKendree University, said he wants those who go into teaching to be accountable, but he does not support eliminating the basic skills test completely, although he called the current Test of Academic Proficiency "terrible."

“Politically, you run into all this backlash; (people say) you’re lowering merit, rigor,” Rosborg said. “One thing I support about the basic skills test is it does give us an indicator if an individual is going to be able to pass the content-area test.”

Scherer said eliminating the basic skills test is not about lowering standards.

“It’s about finding the best teachers we can find (with a) holistic approach,” Scherer said.

Meghan Kessler, an assistant professor in education at the University of Illinois Springfield, said UIS and other teacher preparation programs in the state have other assessments candidates need to stay in good standing.

“Removing the (basic skills test) doesn’t make poorly trained teachers,” Kessler said. “There’s enough measures in place in addition to the basic skills test that I think take care of that.”

She added Illinois, compared to other states, has a more involved teacher licensing system, Kessler added.

“We have a reputation for having a lot of hurdles to jump on our way to licensure,” Kessler said. “We tend to sort of buy into the idea that more regulation is a good thing.”

Getting rid of the tests isn’t the only solution to, or reason for, the teacher shortage, though, she added.

But the testing requirements work together with the defunding of public schools and low teacher salaries to discourage people from teaching.

“I think we have the perfect storm of accountability measures in Illinois that have led to the teacher shortage,” Kessler said.

Springfield Schools Superintendent Jennifer Gill said her district "cannot speak to the validity of the specific tests, but there should be mechanisms in place to verify teachers meet basic requirements of the profession.”

“The momentum of all of the proposed legislation is encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to be done in unpacking the barriers to hiring and retaining qualified teachers,” she said.

Springfield Education Association president Aaron Graves said he doesn’t want to see less qualified people becoming teachers.

“However, sometimes, the hoops people are made to jump through in any profession are more complicated than need be,” he said. "At this time, we probably have to look at all (our options).

“If we have large numbers of people making it through the college pipeline, and they’re not able to pass the basic skills test, there’s obviously a problem, something’s not aligning well,” he said.

Scherer said when people ask themselves who the best teacher they ever had was, they don’t say “the one who scored 100” on the basic skills test.

“(The best teacher) is the one who knew the content and cared about you,” she said. “How do you give a test to figure that out?”

Contact Cassie Buchman: 782-3095, cbuchman@sj-r.com, twitter.com/cjbuchman.