Why are teacher tests secret? politicians ask September 7, 2001 BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND DAVE MCKINNEY STAFF REPORTERS Illinois administrators who hire teachers should be able to see how many times applicants flunked their competence exams and how they scored, politicians said Thursday in response to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation of teacher test records. The Sun-Times found that one of every 10 Chicago teachers employed full time last year and tested since 1988 had flunked at least one teacher test of Basic Skills. The exam is so easy, experts say, an eighth- or ninth-grader should be able to pass it on the first try. It's being replaced with a tougher one Sept. 15. In addition, statewide, 414 teachers employed last year had failed the same test at least three times--324 of them in Chicago. Even more, 868 Illinois teachers, flunked and never passed the Basic Skills test, including 635 in Chicago. The state's biggest test flunker failed 24 of 25 tests, including 12 out of 12 tests on how to teach learning-disabled children. Yet, the individual was teaching learning-disabled children in Chicago last year, a Sun-Times analysis of state records showed. Gov. Ryan has asked the state Board of Education to investigate questions raised by the Sun-Times findings, said Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton. That includes why the state's neediest children, those in the lowest-scoring, highest-minority and lowest-income schools, are five times more likely to encounter a teacher who failed at least one of two required certification tests, and "what information principals and other hiring authorities can properly get on teacher applicants,'' Culloton said. "The fairness issue'' affecting the state's neediest children is a "serious issue,'' and whether teacher test records should be disclosed "is definitely something the board should look at,'' he said. "It's a very good question.'' Kim Knauer, a top assistant to state Education Supt. Glenn "Max'' McGee, said the information is now protected under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. To change that law, said former state Attorney General Roland Burris, would "open a Pandora's box.'' "If you do it for educators, you can do it for medical records,'' said Burris, a likely Democratic candidate for governor. Burris said the Sun-Times had documented "a major catastrophe'' that may well only get worse, given the growing teacher shortage. Even newly elected Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch said teachers who have failed and never passed certification tests should not be allowed to teach, although she said she did not know the legalities of giving principals access to their test scores. Lynch called the Sun-Times findings "an indictment'' of school districts "that are allowing people who haven't passed the test to take on the rigors of the classroom.'' Mayor Daley said his new, hand-picked schools CEO, Arne Duncan, should determine how many Chicago Public Schools teachers have failed certification exams, how many times they flunked and how long they have been teaching. "If someone--after 24 times or 10 times or 15 times--if they can't pass the certification test,'' they should not be teaching, Daley said. "It should not be tolerated.'' Duncan said he wants to ask the Chicago School Board to limit the number of years a full-time substitute can teach without a regular certificate and without passing all tests to two years. "That would be a dramatic change,'' he said. "If teachers aren't cutting it, we need to move them out.'' State Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, agreed, saying the Sun-Times' findings amounted to "a serious indictment of our colleges of education.'' Cronin said he'd like to see teachers retested before they are allowed to renew existing regular certificates. "We need a strong, decisive response,'' Cronin said. "This is not acceptable.'' George King, spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, questioned the "alarmist thrust'' of the Sun-Times' report, calling it misleading to emphasize that 5,243 teachers employed full time in Illinois public schools last year had failed at least one certification test. The Sun-Times also reported that the vast majority of test-takers eventually passed their tests, but those who failed at least once were five times more likely to be employed in the state's neediest schools. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful John Schmidt called the first day of the Sun-Times series a "horrifying story. I sat there turning the pages in disbelief. I'd start with holding accountable the administrators who allowed this to happen.'' Schmidt also supported disclosure of teacher test records, saying "I don't see any reason why a principal deciding whether to hire a teacher shouldn't have access to all information about that teacher's record.'' -- This is the ISTA-talk mailing list. To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://www.ista-il.org/ista-talk.asp> To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/ista-talk@lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
