Article
Raising the Bar on Teacher Quality: Assessing the Impact of Increasing Licensure Exam Cut-Scores
Educational Policy
(2017)
Abstract
State policy makers are constantly looking for ways to improve teacher quality. An oft tried method is to increase the rigor of licensure exams. This study utilizes state administrative data from Arkansas to determine whether raising the cut-scores on licensure exams would improve the quality of the teacher workforce. In addition, the study explores the trade-offs of such a policy decision. It is concluded that raising the required passing score on the Praxis II would increase the quality of the teacher workforce, as measured by value-added student achievement. This change, however, would be accompanied with an important trade-off as it would reduce the number of minority teachers and potentially lead to negative outcomes in disadvantaged schools.
Keywords
- teacher certification,
- value-added modeling,
- teacher effectiveness
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 5, 2017
DOI
10.1177/0895904816682315
Citation Information
James Shuls. "Raising the Bar on Teacher Quality: Assessing the Impact of Increasing Licensure Exam Cut-Scores" Educational Policy Vol. 32 Iss. 7 (2017) p. 969 - 992 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/james-shuls/18/