New Data Sheds Light On CT Teachers' Licensing, Preparation

CONNECTICUT — Before teachers can educate a child, they must first be taught how to teach. The culmination of that process is usually a passing grade on a teacher licensing test.

The National Council on Teacher Quality published new data Wednesday that reveals the pass rates on teacher licensing tests for institutions preparing elementary teachers in 38 states and the District of Columbia. NCTQ collected the information for this report over a two-year period, 2019-2021. The data was gathered prior to the pandemic and so is not affected by states' changes to licensure test policies during the COVID-19 crisis.

While no licensure test is perfect, the elementary content test system used in Connecticut has some key strengths, according to NCTQ researchers. The Praxis II Elementary Education Multiple Subjects Test separately tests knowledge of English language arts, mathematics, social studies and science; and mandates that all candidates must pass the test before earning an elementary teaching license.

Maybe the test is too good: In Connecticut, only 40 percent of test-takers pass the exam on their first attempt, according to the NCTQ report.

The publication of this data moves the field of teacher preparation more in line with a practice commonly observed in other professional preparation, such as nursing, law, and accounting, where "first-time pass rates" are routinely reported as key evidence of the quality of programs’ preparation, according to NCTQ researchers.

Curiously, the data show that 24 percent of Connecticut's test takers who fail on the first attempt walk away and don't try again. That number rises to 31 percent for test takers of color, a statistic that NCTQ describes as "a serious challenge to efforts to achieve greater diversity in the teaching profession."

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This new data set focuses on licensure tests in elementary school content, defined by states as the minimal knowledge needed by a prospective elementary teacher in English language arts, science, mathematics, and social studies. While a total of 38 states and Washington D.C. have been able to supply NCTQ with the requested data, there are still 12 that have only supplied incomplete data or have opted not to share their data. These twelve states are California, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Perhaps fittingly, the data indicate that where prospective teachers go to school can make a big difference on how well they score on the test. Within each state there is an average 56 percentage point gap between the institutions with the highest first-time pass rate and those with the lowest pass rate.

First time pass rate success in Connecticut ranges from 0 percent to as high as 100 percent, depending on the institution. For test takers of color in the Nutmeg State, first time pass rates range from 0 to 60 percent, "highlighting the urgent need for institutions to provide more support to aspiring teachers of color in attaining essential content knowledge," according to the new report.

A highlight of the Connecticut data are institutions that stand out for supporting their test takers in passing licensing tests. Quinnipiac University, University of Connecticut, and University of Hartford, for example, all achieve first-time pass rates for their test takers of color that are above the state average for all test takers.

Six states reported having at least one institution in which not a single test taker passed on the first attempt. When considering the "best attempt" pass rate, the variation is only somewhat reduced to an average gap of 44 percentage points.

NCTQ identifies three primary ways for institutions to improve pass rates: earlier and better diagnostics of knowledge gaps; using pass rate data to monitor and improve program effectiveness; and more targeted coursework in content that is relevant to elementary teaching. Of particular importance is the selection of courses taken by aspiring teachers before they begin their professional coursework, ensuring they address relevant content that may have been missed in the course of a candidate’s K-12 education.

Most notably, many institutions defy the narrative that only wealthier, more selective institutions can achieve high pass rates. For example, NCTQ found 161 institutions with more Pell grant recipients than average whose performance on licensure tests exceeded the state’s average. Pell grants are designed to assist students from low-income households.

"We find clear evidence that institutions with similar profiles and challenges produce remarkably different outcomes. That’s a story that hasn't been told, to the detriment of the quality of teacher preparation in the United States," said NCTQ President Kate Walsh. "Instead of hiding this data, it should serve as a compass, with high achieving institutions pointing the way forward for the rest of the field."

NCTQ obtained the data by reaching out to the schools chief in each state, multiple times if necessary. In the absence of a response to these requests, NCTQ submitted formal open records requests to 24 states.