Teacher Tests: A Driving Force or an Afterthought in the Design of Teacher Education Programs?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Assessment and Program Improvement in Teacher Preparation

Abstract

The continuously changing landscape of teacher licensure challenges many universities to adjust their curricula to align with new certification requirements; however, how or if teacher certification programs are addressing the new policies is relatively unknown. Accordingly, this study seeks to understand how one university system has responded to the added requirement of successful completion of the Foundations of Reading Test as a teacher licensure prerequisite. Through semi-structured interviews and document analysis we explore the ways in which faculty and instructors have made pedagogical, theoretical, and programmatic decisions in response to this new teacher licensure requirement. Overall our findings suggest that attention to and preparation for the FORT were mostly determined by instructor level decision-making or supplemented through outside support services.

Authors

• Stephanie Shedrow, University of Wisconsin

• Lindsay M Stoetzel, University of Wisconsin - Madison