Possible Tradeoffs in Raising Basic Skills Cutoff Scores for Teacher Licensure

Abstract

This article traces developments that followed warnings in the 1980s that tests used for admission to teacher education or for licensure may prevent or discourage capable African Americans from entering into teaching. With this alleged detrimental effect of teacher testing still an issue, the reported study used the evaluations of a group of elementary student teachers by their university supervisors and the student teachers' scores on the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) to examine the impact on the teaching effectiveness of newly licensed teachers that might be predicted to result if a PPST cutoff score is raised by one point. The findings of the study are placed in a context of possible tradeoffs in raising basic skills cutoffs for teacher licensure, especially certain negative tradeoffs related to participation of African Americans in teaching.