The Teacher Licensure Process: The Search for Authentic Assessments to Diversify the Teacher Pipeline

• In Event: A Wicked Problem: Diversifying California's Teacher Workforce

Abstract

What do the data show, and not show, about the ways in which teacher licensure exams have served as barriers to access for teacher candidates, particularly teacher candidates of color? How could authentic assessments and coursework-based pathways serve as game changers to expand access to the teaching profession and diversify the teacher pipeline?

Entrance and licensure exams play a critical role in candidates’ admission to a broad spectrum of professions. After years of study, candidates embark on a grueling process of sitting for one or more exams, all while staying abreast of how the entrance requirements for their chosen profession may have changed. Few licensure processes have undergone as much scrutiny as the teacher credentialing process.

This session will explore the barriers to access that licensure exams in teacher credentialing, such as the Reading Instruction Competency Assessment, or RICA, and the California Basic Educational Skills Test, or CBEST, have posed for teacher candidates. We will consider how coursework-based pathways and authentic assessments could do wonders in expanding the teacher pipeline and increasing teacher diversity.

Over the last decade, there has been a 70% decline in enrollment in teacher preparation programs. Approximately 40% of teacher candidates do not earn their credential due to testing hurdles along the way. Recent data from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) show troubling patterns. The number of RICA test takers dropped about ten percent between 2015 and 2020., and the number of CBEST test takers dropped approximately 40% during the same time period.

Similarly troubling are the disparate pass rates for the RICA and the CBEST. Between 2015-2020, 91.4% of White candidates, 79% of Asian American candidates, 74.4% of Latino candidates and 67.8% of African American candidates passed the CBEST. It is of great concern that different communities are impacted by the exam in different ways and that the pass rates are so disparate. While the data do show increases in pass rates after the first attempt, they do not tell the whole story. How many attempts did it take for a candidate to pass a particular test? Did they receive mentorship or test preparation support to facilitate the process? Did they seek out financial aid to mitigate the testing fees? Unfortunately, the data do not fully reflect the experiences of many who seek to become teachers but confront testing hurdles along the way, testing hurdles that disproportionately affect teacher candidates of color.

However, the landscape for teacher credentialing is changing. The Commission has sponsored two pieces of legislation, AB 437 and AB 312, which, if passed, could be game changers for prospective teachers. In sponsoring these bills, which would give teacher candidates additional flexibility to meet subject matter competency requirements (AB 437) and exempt teacher candidates from the basic skills proficiency test requirement who have received at least a “B” in qualifying coursework (AB 312), the Commission has shown admirable willingness to reimagine how teacher candidates going forward could demonstrate the knowledge and skill acquisition necessary to earn their credential.

Author

• Shilpa Ram, Public Advocates