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| Date: | March 17, 2011 | | Contact Name: | Sandra Whalen | | Contact Phone: | 651-296-5238 | | Contact Email: | sandra.whalen@senate.mn | |
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| TEACHER LICENSING BILL PASSES WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT Senator Daley says students will benefit from new rules |
(ST. PAUL) – The Minnesota Senate gave unanimous support to a bill authored by Sen. Ted Daley (R-Eagan) that would require teachers to pass a basic skills examination in math, reading and writing prior to admission to a higher education teacher preparation program.
Current law allows a teacher candidates to take the basic skills test when ready to apply for a license and permits a teacher who failed the basic skills test to receive and even renew a temporary one-year teaching license up to two more times.
”Teacher quality is the number one in-school factor affecting student achievement,” Daley, a member of the Education Committee, said. “We want our students to have the best teachers, and it makes sense to ensure only well-qualified candidates enter teacher preparation programs. Ability to pass basic skills tests should be that litmus test.”
According to a 2010 Board of Teaching report on the basic skills exam, there was a 13 percent failure rate and Minnesota’s “pass” score for the basic skills test is one of the lower ones in the nation. Additionally, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a report in 2010 called “Blueprint for Change in Minnesota.” It gave Minnesota the grade of “D” for “delivering well-prepared teachers” and advised the state to close licensure loopholes such as permitting persons who have not yet passed state licensing tests to teach in classrooms.
Currently about 100 teachers are working with extended licenses, having not passed the basic skills test. Eighty teachers have a second or third renewal according to the Board of Teaching.
The bill’s House companion has not yet been approved, but has solid bipartisan backing as well.
