The last thing children of color need is to be taught by teachers who don't meet a minimum standard.
Few things matter as much to teachers as being considered professionals. When you are a professional, people assume you know what you are doing, and they tend to go along with your judgment in your area of expertise. But while doctors, lawyers, and architects won this acceptance many years ago, teachers are still fighting to gain it. One problem is that some teachers have not been ready to go along with the kind of rigorous standards that govern the entrance to other professions. Some have even fought against minimum- competency tests for prospective teachers.
Unfortunately, this is now happening in California in connection with the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST). CBEST is a minimum-competency exam that California teachers must pass before they are certified and when they are seeking a credential in a different field. Some people who have failed the exam, and groups that support them, are challenging the test in court. They say that CBEST does not test professional competence so it is no basis on which to deny certification. Furthermore, they say it is unfair because a higher percentage of people of color fail than white people.
Admittedly, CBEST does not tell you who will be a good teacher. It does tell you which people have no business standing in front of a class because they don't have eighth- to tenth-grade skills in English and math. The test has three parts -- reading, math, and writing. On the reading section, there are paragraphs of 200 words or less and 40 scored multiple-choice questions about the material in the paragraphs. There are also 40 scored math questions . Here's an example:
If a child was born on September 30, 1976, then to the nearest month, how old was that child on November 1, 1984?
A 85 months; B. 86 months; C. 97 months; D. 98 months; E. 99 months
Some of the math questions are harder than this and some are easier. (CBEST used to include simple algebra and geometry, but these questions have been dropped.) The writing section asks for two brief essays on set topics -- for example, discuss a teacher or a class with which you had difficulties. None of the questions requires any information that does not appear in the questions themselves.
Extremely easy? That's right. And the conditions for passing CBEST make it even easier. People taking the test have four hours, but the three parts do not have to be completed at one sitting. You may spend four hours on a single part and keep on taking the entire test, or any of its parts, until you achieve a passing grade. This is roughly 65 to 70 percent on reading and math set at an eighth- to tenth-grade level. The standard for the writing section is similar. However, if you don't pass one, or even two, of the sections, it is possible to compensate by doing well on the other section or sections. In the 13 years of CBEST's existence, 86 percent of approximately 500,000 prospective teachers have passed. However, it is true that people of color have failed at a higher rate than whites. The 13-year cumulative average for white test-takers is 91.6 percent; for Asian-Americans, 7 4. 9 percent; for Hispanics, 71. 6 percent; and for African-Americans, 5 5. 9 percent.
This of course is the basis for the court challenge. The plaintiffs argue that the test must be racist if so many people of color fail. They also say that the low pass rate is harmful to students of color because it will deprive them of the role models they need.
But is it O.K. for students to be taught by teachers who can't understand a tenth-grade textbook or figure out the answer to an easy math problem? Here is a simple test: Ask the parents in the Asian or Hispanic or African-American communities whether they want role models for their children who can't read and write English at a high school level. Ask them where their children will be in 20 years if they have not learned these skills because their teachers didn't have them. The last thing children of color need is to be taught by teachers who don't meet a minimum standard. Furthermore, if CBEST is killed, the level of people in the teaching profession will drop generally and California students of all races will suffer.
Those who are challenging CBEST have been denied jobs -- and we can understand why they want to eliminate the exam. But they are doing no favor to the students they would teach. And those who are going along with them and offering them support are doing no favor to the teaching profession -- or public education. What can we say of a profession devoted to teaching our young people that does not demand at least a basic competency in reading, writing, and math of its members? The problems that minority candidates have with CBEST mean that we must do a much better job of eliminating the disparities between the education of minority children and the others. Abolishing the test will only help to perpetuate them.