NC Board of Education advances plan to end testing requirement for entry into teacher prep programs
With large shortages of teachers like the one pictured here, some states are not requiring Praxis Core or other basic skills exam to enter a teacher education program. (Photo Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images)
North Carolina has focused for years on how to retain its best and brightest in the classroom. But it has also been struggling to increase the number of professionals who are entering the educator pipeline.
North Carolina had more than 2,800 vacancies in K-12 teaching positions at the start of the 2023-24 school year, according to the Public School Forum. And the state has seen a 26% decline in enrollees in teacher prep programs from 2008-2021, according to a recent analysis by the College of Education at Penn State University.
Teacher pay has dissuaded some from entering the field, while others have shied away because of the Praxis Core, a requirement for entry into North Carolina’s Educator Preparation Programs.
The Praxis Core covers math, reading, and writing and supporters say it helps evaluate fundamental skills before entering a teaching program. But critics argue the Praxis Core assessment may actually hinder diversification of the teacher pipeline.
The Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC) which advises the North Carolina State Board of Education (SBE) recommended earlier this year the removal of the Praxis Core as a requirement for admission into teacher preparation programs.
In an 8-3 vote, the state Board of Education voted Thursday to accept PEPSC’s recommendation, adding the item to their legislative agenda.
Dr. Olivia Oxendine was among the most vocal critics of the recommendation that North Carolina abandon the testing requirement.
“It just bothers me to know that a little bit at a time, there seems to be, not just in this state, but maybe across the nation, a chipping away of high standards,” Oxendine told her colleagues on the state board.
“I understand that there are other ways, once the teacher is in the classroom and is performing hopefully up to par or exceeding that, then that gives us some satisfaction that we’ve done the right thing in terms of admitting the best possible candidates into our teacher education programs, but I just haven’t settled in my own mind any level of comfort with the removal of this admissions, this competency admissions test to teacher education.”
Oxendine was joined by State Treasurer Dale Folwell and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson in opposing the change.
For now, the Praxis Core will not be going anywhere. The Board of Education would need the General Assembly’s blessing to act.
Still many other states have already taken that step. Fewer than a dozen states require teacher candidates to clear this hurdle before they enter a teacher preparation program.
Oxendine was reluctant to suggest that the testing requirement was the reason why North Carolina is not attracting more individuals to the teaching profession.
“I just want us to be mindful and super sensitive to any thought that remotely says students of color, people of color are incapable of specifically passing an exam therefore, we need to eliminate standards,” cautioned Oxendine “It’s also about lowering expectations. We have to avoid doing that.”
The North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education lists elimination of the Praxis Core among its top strategic priorities. The group notes that the current requirement may be discouraging prospective students from even considering teaching as an undergraduate field of study.
The cost for an aspiring teacher to take the Praxis Core combined test is $150.
In an op-ed for EdNC, NCACTE wrote, “We believe removing the entry requirements will open more doors to future teachers, and our programs’ rigor and summative assessments will ensure their readiness to teach.”
When the entrance exam requirement was waived during the pandemic, enrollment in teacher prep programs actually increased by more than 34% from the previous year.
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