2004-01-31 - 8:49 a.m.

I am a high school science teacher. I have spent three years in the classroom. I came to teaching after I'd earned a B.S. I didn't even know I wanted to teach until I was in graduate school and I had a chance to T.A. These are my qualifications.

It is election time here in America, which means that there will be a lot of talk about what is wrong with our schools, and how we can change them for the better. The current administration believes in teacher accountability. I am fine with that. My problem is how they expect to measure the quality of the teacher. The No Child Left Behind Act is supposed to implement standardized testing that will evaluate the quality of a teacher by evaluating the progress of their students. It sounds logical to a lot of people. To teachers in the classroom, it sounds crazy. The dentist analogy explains it much better than I can.

I would like to see a different way of measuring teacher accountability. And it would start long before the teacher ever had a class full of students relying on her.

First, we need to overhaul teacher education in America. I am not a certified teacher. I teach in a private school, so it isn't required. In order for me to become certified in my state, I would have to take about 18 credits of education courses, including reading, evaluation, and some developmental psych. I would also have to take 6 different Praxis tests. The Praxis is a standardized test brought to you by the same people who offer the SAT and GRE. The Praxis I, which has three tests, is supposed to be taken early in teacher training. It tests fairly basic reading, writing, and math skills. It assumes, I think that someone has been admitted to an education program at an accredited college or university without basic skills. This is, in itself, a really, really horrible idea. Why on earth are we allowing people who didn't demonstrate ability into teacher education programs in the first place? It's horrible, but it's true. Education majors tend to have lower SAT scores and high school GPA's than other majors. For many, education is what you do when you can't do anything else.

After I have completed the education courses, I have to earn minimum scores on three more tests. I am a biology teacher by trade, so I have to take two biology content knowledge tests, and one life-sciences pedagogy test. This assumes that you can actually test how well a teacher teaches by having them answer questions while they sit in a room by themselves. Very few people would go to a doctor who had done very well on a test, but had never seen a patient. Most wouldn't take their cars to a mechanic who had read the manual but never actually changed oil.

Nowhere in the requirements for certification does it say that I should be observed by a master teacher. I can be certified without ever being seen in the classroom.

I am not certified. Therefore I am not a "highly qualified teacher." Do you want me in your kid's classroom? You should. I have more credit hours in my content area than an education major would. I have three years in the classroom. I was mentored by several highly qualified teachers. I have been observed and received excellent reviews from my vice principal in charge of academics.

But I'm not allowed in the classrooms of my county school system because I haven't taken the Praxis II: Life Sciences Pedagogy.

Next Time: To heck with Praxis, test teachers by making them teach.

After That: How teaching could be like the Army, but without guns.