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Teacher Competency Testing: Practices and Perceptions in Selected States in the Nation

The problem of this study was to analyze the utilization of teacher competency testing in the eleven states that originally enacted legislation requiring teacher competency testing. A questionnaire was developed, validated, pretested, and finally submitted to state and local superintendents in eleven states. Thirty-three questionnaires were returned representing 75 percent of the questionnaires mailed. Responses were reported in percentage tables. An analysis of variance program was conducted on all data to determine whether the perceptions of the state and local superintendents were significantly different on each question. An analysis of the findings of this study led to the following conclusions. 1. The benefits of teacher testing to state agencies, schools of education, school districts, and society outweigh the disadvantages of increased budgets and larger educational bureaucracies and the possibility of teacher shortages. 2. Teacher competency testing procedures are used primarily for entrance to and graduation from teacher education programs and for certification purposes. 3. Characteristics of a comprehensive teacher competency testing program include a written assessment of acquired knowledge, procedures for evaluating an applicant during student teaching, a probationary period prior to permanent certification, additional training or assistance for teachers, and provisions for retaking of failed examinations. 4. Evidence indicates that although state-created tests are desirable, locally-created and nationally-developed tests are utilized in testing programs. 5. Legal problems will be encountered by testing programs in the areas of minority discrimination and cutoff scores, and political opposition from teacher organizations will continue.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331109
Date12 1900
CreatorsBolton, Patricia A. (Patricia Ann)
ContributorsBezdek, Jim J., Watson, Hoyt F., Cooper, Jed Arthur
PublisherNorth Texas State University
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 150 leaves, Text
CoverageUnited States
RightsPublic, Bolton, Patricia A. (Patricia Ann), Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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