The state Board of Regents voted Monday to scrap a literacy exam for prospective teachers, in a move some critics blasted as a damaging dilution of classroom standards.
Part of a package of certification tests introduced in the 2013-2014 academic year, the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST) was intended to ensure strong language skills among aspiring instructors across the state.
But critics soon began to clamor for its abolition after minority test-takers passed at far lower rates than their white peers.
The pool of eligible teaching candidates plunged by 20 percent in the exam’s first year, and many blamed the test for inordinately disqualifying black and Latino applicants.
They also argued that testing the literacy of candidates who already had college degrees was redundant and unnecessary.
But critics slammed the test’s erasure Monday, arguing that the exam helped ensure that city kids were being addressed by instructors with basic language ability.
“I think it’s absolutely outrageous,” said Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union. “Our children are already barely literate. The majority of them aren’t reading at grade level as it is. To dumb down the standards for incoming teachers with the ludicrous excuse to diversify the teaching pool is completely absurd.”
Davids argued that black and Latino students in struggling districts across the city ultimately pay the price for thinning standards.
“We already have ineffective teachers in our highest-needs neighborhoods,” she said. “These are black and Latino neighborhoods. It’s in these schools where you want to put teachers who can’t pass a basic English test?”
But the Regents staunchly backed the test’s removal during their meeting Monday and denied that standards were compromised.
They noted that several education experts found the ALST to be structurally awkward and an unreliable indicator of language skills and teaching ability.
“If you have a flawed test, does that raise standards or does that lower standards?” asked Regent Kathleen Cashin.
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said: “Candidates for certification will still be required to demonstrate their teaching skills and knowledge before entering the classroom. At the same time, we are eliminating costly and unnecessary testing requirements that create unfair obstacles to certification for many applicants.”
And Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said: “In this case, the experts and practitioners have suggested changes to our certification requirements that will help support teacher candidates and ensure students are taught by high-quality teachers while helping to address the national teacher shortage at the same time.”
In place of the ALST, the new testing system would expand another certification exam to encompass reading and writing assessment.