Statement That Passing the Content Knowledge Test for a Subject Area Should Not Be Used

Statement from Regine Childs regarding Alternative Assessment

This is my statement regarding passing the Content Knowledge Test for a subject area, and why it should not be used as the only measure for becoming a successful teacher.

I am writing this statement because 11 years ago I was one of the students who struggled with passing the Content Knowledge Test required to become a licensed teacher.

English is my second language. Even so, within six years after moving to the U.S., I successfully completed a degree in Business Marketing, then a degree in Mathematics and finally a Master for Mid Secondary Teaching at the University of Oregon Before coming to the U.S. I had become a technical drafter and was licensed to teach in my home country.

This is not to say that I did not have difficulties achieving these degrees. One area I always struggled in going through U.S. colleges was the multiple-choice test. I was never tested that way before coming to the U.S.; I only knew short answer tests. For me the answer choices in multiple-choice tests always blurred together and all sounded the same. This question format is tricky for American students, but trying to translate them and making sense out of the answers is very difficult, particularly when English is your second language. If there is a misunderstanding of just one word in the question or an answer choice it will completely change the outcome.

I am now in my ninth year of teaching. I was not able to get a full time teaching job right after I completed my degree because I struggled passing that one test. I was able to pass all the others because they were short answer tests. I worked as a substitute teacher for three years, taught night school at a local High school, taught classes at Pioneer Pacific College, and taught the evening GED program at LCC.

At one point I was ready to give up passing the Content Knowledge test. However, I was signed up to take the Test again but was placed in the wrong section. This turned out to be a blessing because another test taker informed me about the alternative assessment option.

This form of testing allowed me to become a teacher. Every day I encounter students struggling with testing for various reasons. Some are on an IEP, some are 504 students and others are ELL students. However, there is also the type of student who is not identified by any of these abbreviations who also struggles. I always have an eye on them because I know how it feels. I tell them a person can be successful by being determined and by maintaining a good work ethic. As a teacher I am supposed to offer modified instructions and provide a testing environment that suits all of my students. In so many courses I have learned to offer different forms of testing to students. Not all students can be successful if they are given only one form of testing.

I strongly believe this to be a fact of learning. Therefore, I am a strong advocate that TSCPC also offers an alternative way of obtaining a teacher license. Any teacher who comes from a different culture has so much to offer our students in the U.S. Students are always asking me about my country, how schooling is there and how I am able to think and talk almost fluently in two languages. I have given ELL students greater hope because I can tell them that I was so much older then they are when I moved to the US. I provide them an example of what can be achieved through hard work and not giving up, and those are what allowed me to become a teacher. The whole person should be measured, not just a single test.

7.2c