University students who are looking to teach in Michigan will be tested as a step toward teacher certification this Saturday.
The new, more rigorous test has sparked debate. It was first administered in October. The pass rates fell from 82 percent to 26 percent.
Education majors have to pass this exam to become student teachers.
The state superintendent said the change helps put the best teachers in the classroom. He says increasing the required test scores will help with that goal.
There are mixed reviews in northern Michigan.
Jason Jeffrey is with the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District. He agrees with raising the standards. But he doesn’t think the test should be the only criteria for a teacher.
"Teaching is changing in terms of becoming much more scientific, but that does not mean that relationship skills, the ability to connect with students, those kinds of things still are not critical skills,” he says. “And I think those things are very difficult to measure in terms of standardized assessment."
Others are much more frustrated with the change. Nancy Flanagan is the 1993 Michigan Teacher of the Year.
She says failing 74 percent of students, many of whom are close to completing their degrees, serves no real purpose.
"The purpose of doing this is to set the bar higher and to demonstrate—and I'm putting demonstrate in quotes here—to 'demonstrate' that some institutions aren't doing a good job," she says.
She says the best test-takers aren’t always the best teachers.
"It will give you candidates who do better on tests, but those aren't always candidates who can manage a classroom or design engaging lessons or build good relationships with the kids. And those are really the building blocks of good practice," she says.
Officials with the Michigan Department of Education say students can retake the test several times.
Students who fail will have to wait at least two months to retake the test. In the meantime, they are not allowed to student teach.
Officials with the department say the new test is working. They have no plans to make changes.