In North Carolina, as in many other states, prospective public-school teachers need to pass a standardized test before they can begin teaching. But now, there’s a proposal to get rid of that test. Why? If you guessed “diversity,” you get a gold star.
In today’s Martin Center article, Ashlynn Warta writes about the situation in the Tar Heel State. She explains, “Back in February 2022, the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE) proposed ‘removing [the] Praxis core [exams] as a requirement to enrolling’ in an educator preparation program (EPP). It also called for ‘removing the licensure exam requirement . . . for educators who have completed [such a] program.’”
So this state agency wants to dump the objective test that has long been used to decide which teacher candidates should be allowed in front of a classroom. The reason? The mania for diversity that we find everywhere in the field of education these days. Warta continues: “NCACTE recently explained its concerns about standardized tests, stating, ‘Entry and licensure exams serve as barriers to placing more teachers, particularly more diverse teachers, in classrooms.’ In other words, NCACTE doesn’t believe that its ‘diverse’ teacher candidates can succeed when faced with objective measures of preparedness.”
Many teachers are weakly prepared as it is. This change would make matters worse.
Warta concludes, “Indeed, it’s becoming increasingly popular to advocate for the lowering of standards at colleges and universities under the guise of increasing diversity and inclusion. But it’s important to acknowledge that these standards were implemented for a reason. Parents want the best quality education for their children, whether in K-12 or higher ed. Let’s not be fooled into believing that that can be achieved by eliminating all barriers to entry.”