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Vermont teacher seeks waiver over standardized test
Administrators say this is a most talented music teacher. Shouldn't that be good enough?
By Molly Walsh
An Addison County elementary school music teacher is seeking a waiver from a state requirement that teachers pass the Praxis I standardized test in order to be licensed in Vermont.
Chris Hamel has worked with a private tutor, enrolled at a Sylvan Learning Center and taken the Praxis I at least three times without attaining Vermont's minimum required score on the reading, writing and math test. After working with a provisional license for three years and switching to long-term substitute status this year because of his Praxis problems, Hamel has run out of options and must obtain a waiver in order to continue teaching.
He has received documentation of an unspecified disability that is cited as one of the justifications for the waiver in the request filed on his behalf by Addison Central Supervisory Union Superintendent of Schools Lee Sease.
Hamel has passed the Praxis II subject test in music, which is also a license requirement. He holds a college degree in music education and has proven day after day on the job that he is qualified to teach, Sease said. After observing Hamel in the classroom many times, Sease said he has no hesitation about seeking the waiver. Some very capable people simply don't do well on standardized tests, Sease said, and Hamel's Praxis I scores should not keep him from teaching.
"I don't think it's indicative of his ability to engage kids and teach music," Sease said.
Associate Superintendent Jan Willey also supports the waiver request for Hamel. "It just comes down to the fact that he's one of the most talented music teachers that I've ever seen," she said.
Hamel declined to comment Friday. Sease declined to specify Hamel's disability, which was documented by a private clinic last spring according to the waiver application set to be reviewed by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators Jan. 27.
Just as Vermont's public school students are required to take standardized tests under state and federal assessment systems, teachers and prospective teachers have their own date with multiple choice exams in order to be licensed. The Vermont Education Department mandated testing for new teachers in 2001 in a push to improve teacher quality and ensure that educators go into the classroom with a minimum level of general knowledge. Teachers licensed before that date are exempted from the Praxis I test.
The Praxis I and more rigorous Praxis II subject area tests are used by approximately 35 states in the licensing of teachers. For this reason many education schools require minimum Praxis scores as a condition of admission. The Praxis series is designed by the Educational Testing Service in New Jersey, the same company that designs the SAT college admissions test. States that use Praxis set their own minimum passing scores. Vermont's standard on the reading (177) and writing (174 ) sections was second highest in the nation and fourth-highest in math (175) when the requirement was introduced in 2001. The Board of Education tweaked the standard in 2003 after complaints that it was keeping talented people out of the profession.
That year the board allowed candidates for initial licensure to qualify with a composite score of 528 out of a total 570 points. The cut scores on the individual tests did not change. The new rules significantly increased the odds of passing and between 2003 and 2007 about 80 percent of Vermont candidates for licensure passed Praxis I, Vermont Education Department research shows.
The Education board also allows alternatives to the Praxis I, including minimum scores on the ACT and SAT. The minimum for candidates who took the SAT prior to 1995 is a combined score of 1000 on the math and verbal sections. For test-takers after that date it's 1100 -- slightly above the 1016 combined average math and verbal scores for Vermont high school juniors in 2009.
Waiver requests to the testing requirements are relatively rare, said Marta Cambra, director of educator quality at the Vermont Department of Education. Rules require that school superintendents make the requests on behalf of the licensure candidate and make the case that failure to receive a waiver will make it difficult to carry out the district's "locally established objectives."
The teacher or prospective teacher must show he has taken additional steps such as tutoring to pass the test, tried to pass a minimum of three times, has a documented disability and has exhausted all Educational Testing Services testing accommodations.
Cambra said she did not have numbers on how many waivers have been granted since 2001, but believes the number is relatively small. In 2003, a cosmetology teacher at the Center for Technology in Essex was granted a waiver after four unsuccessful bids to pass Praxis I.
When waivers are denied, it's sometimes for inadequate or dated proof of an alleged disability, Cambra said. A range of disabilities around reading, math and writing are allowable. At least one waiver application that was ultimately withdrawn specified stress and testing anxiety as the disability, Cambra said.
If a license is granted with a waiver, it can be used only in the school district overseen by the superintendent requesting the waiver. Cambra said waivers allow for flexibility in the system.
"You don't want to just shut people off. It's not a black-and-white system. We really need to help school districts keep good people and people who are capable of doing good work with children."
Hamel splits his time between Bridport Central School and Shoreham Elementary School. After it became clear that Hamel was struggling to pass the Praxis I, Sease said he made a point of observing the teacher in the classroom and came away impressed. It's been difficult to retain a good music teacher who can prepare the students for band and other music options in middle school, Sease said.
Sease said he has mixed feelings about the Praxis requirement but accepts that is not likely to be dropped. In general, he said, standardized tests don't tell "a darn thing" about how well people are prepared for real life. That goes for students as well as teachers, he suggested.
"You can have kids score out the kazoo on the SAT or a norm-referenced test, and that doesn't give you any indication when they walk across that stage that they are prepared for life."
— Molly Walsh
Burlington Free Press
2010-01-24
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100124/NEWS02/1240310/Vermont-teacher-seeks-waiver-over-standardized-test
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