Educator Services Becoming an Educator
Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL)

Questions and Answers - About the MTEL

What is the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure™ (MTEL) Program?

The Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) are part of our statewide education reform initiative. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 is a comprehensive plan for strengthening public education. Among the major elements are statewide standards for students, educators, schools, and school districts; measures for determining when standards have been met; and support for meeting those standards. The Education Reform Act emphasizes raising expectations for all educators, both for those new to teaching and for veterans.

The law requires candidates for initial educator licensure in Massachusetts to meet several requirements, including passing a test of Communication and Literacy Skills and a test of the subject matter knowledge. Starting February 21, 1998, all candidates for their first teaching licenses were required to take tests of their communication and literacy skills and knowledge of their subject content. In addition, starting September 1, 1998, all candidates for initial educator licensure, including administrators and school support service personnel, were also required to meet the qualifying score on the Communication and Literacy Skills test. The Act mandated the two-part testing program as one component of the state's Educator Licensure Requirements. Teachers who hold a preliminary license, or who seek to be licensed in a new field, also need to pass the appropriate subject matter knowledge test(s).

Massachusetts law defines the requirements of the educator tests as follows:

To be eligible for licensure as a Preliminary or initial educator . . . . the candidate shall pass a test established by the board which shall consist of two parts: (A) a reading and writing section which shall demonstrate the communication and literacy skills necessary for effective instruction and improved communication between school and parents; and (B) the subject matter knowledge for the license. [M.G.L. c. 71 s. 38G]

The purpose of the MTEL is to help identify candidates for licensure who have demonstrated the knowledge required for entry-level educators in Massachusetts public schools. Other qualities, such as motivating and engaging students, are measured locally during employment interviews and evaluations.

How was the MTEL developed and validated?

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, at the direction of the State Board of Education, directed the development of an educator-licensure testing program for Massachusetts. The MTEL program was created through a collaborative process involving the state (represented by the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, Board of Education, and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education); its contractor, Evaluation Systems, Pearson; Massachusetts public-school educators; and faculty from institutions of higher education. The program is aligned with the state's licensure regulations and Curriculum Frameworks, as adopted by the State Board of Education.

The MTEL are criterion-referenced and objectives-based. A criterion-referenced test is designed to measure a candidate's knowledge and skills in relation to an established standard rather than in relation to the performance of other candidates.

The test development steps were designed to address professionally established requirements for ensuring the validity of licensure tests. It was important to verify that:

• The MTEL program provides important information directly relevant to licensure decisions based on the knowledge and skill requirements mandated by the state.
• The tests are valid: the information they yield is an accurate measure of content knowledge and skills.
• The tests are reliable: the information they yield is consistent across test administrations.

An extensive network of Massachusetts educators are involved in the development and validation process of the MTEL. They are involved in all three groups that develop and validate the tests: Content Advisory Committees, Bias Review Committees, and Qualifying Score Committees. They are also involved in the Content Validation Survey. The educators recruited include:

• Massachusetts classroom teachers and administrators,
• Arts and sciences faculty,
• Educator preparation faculty, and
• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education content and curriculum personnel.

Content Advisory Committees:

These committees are involved in the review, revision, and validation of test objectives as well as test items. Each committee member reviews items for his or her field to ensure that the subject-matter knowledge is appropriate.

Bias Review Committees:

These committees review of both the test objectives and the test items to ensure that they free from bias. Prevention of bias in the MTEL is important as a matter of fairness and as an aspect of test validity. Guarding against bias in the MTEL materials is focused on excluding language, content, or perspectives that might disadvantage candidates based on background characteristics irrelevant to the purpose of the test and on including content and perspectives that reflect the diversity of the Massachusetts population.

Qualifying Score Committees:

After the first test administration of a newly developed or re-developed test, the Qualifying Score Committee for each field examines every item on the exam and recommends a passing score to the Commissioner for approval.

Content Validation Survey:

Participants of these surveys review the Test Objectives for his or her field to ensure that the subject-matter knowledge described by the Objectives is important for entry-level teaching in Massachusetts public schools. The purpose of these surveys is to obtain judgements from educators about: the importance of each objective for entry-level teaching; how well the descriptive statement represents important aspects of each objective; and how well the set of objectives, as a whole, represents the subject matter required for entry-level teaching.

The following is a step-by-step process of the development and validation of the MTEL, including the Committees that are involved with each step.

1. Development of Test Objectives, reflecting subject matter knowledge determined to be important for educators entering teaching in Massachusetts public schools, based on Massachusetts documents and resources, including the Regulations for Educator Licensure and the Curriculum Frameworks.
   1. Evaluation Systems, Pearson
   
   
2. Review and Revision of Test Objectives.
   1. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
   2. Bias Review Committees
   3. Content Advisory Committees
   4. Evaluation Systems, Pearson
   
   
3. Content Validation Survey of Test Objectives.
   1. Public School Educators
   2. Educator preparation faculty
   
   
4. Development of Test Items by content experts, based on Test Objectives.
   1. Evaluation Systems, Pearson
   
   
5. Review, Revision, and Validation of Test Items to ensure that items are accurate, free from bias, appropriately job-related, and match with the Test Objectives.
   1. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
   2. Bias Review Committee
   3. Content Advisory Committees
   4. Evaluation Systems, Pearson
   
   

6. Pilot Testing. Evaluation Systems, Pearson will pilot test items at Massachusetts institutions of higher education offering approved preparation programs in these fields.

7. After the first test administration, a Qualifying Score is established.
   1. Qualifying Score Committee
   2. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
   
   

Who is required to take the tests?

Candidates seeking educator licensure in Massachusetts in either the Preliminary or the Initial level are tested through the MTEL program (an "Initial" educator license is equivalent to a "Preliminary with Advanced Standing" educator license as defined in G. L. c. 71, § 38G). They must pass both the tests of Communication and Literacy Skills and the Subject Test, where available, for the license they are seeking. This requirement holds for all candidates for licensure, including classroom teachers, district and school administrators, and district and school professional support personnel, who apply on or after September 1, 1998.

What is the content of the tests, and how was that content determined?

Each test has test objectives for the corresponding field which describe the content eligible to be included in that test. These objectives were derived from the Regulations for the licensure of Educational Personnel in Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, where appropriate. A broadly inclusive group of Massachusetts public-school educators and college faculty at institutions of higher education were involved in the development and validation of the tests. The MTEL program is particularly matched to the context within which it is used and the purposes that it serves.

What are the tests like?

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education specified many features of the design of the MTEL. The MTEL are designed to measure candidates' ability to communicate effectively, that is, to read and write with comprehension and clarity, as well as candidates' breadth and depth of knowledge in specific subject fields.

The Communication and Literacy Skills Test

This test is designed to assess one key aspect of the responsibilities of educators in Massachusetts public schools. Educators must directly teach - and indirectly model - effective communication and literacy skills, including the use of the conventions of edited American English. The test consists of two Subtests: Reading and Writing. Candidates taking the test are asked to demonstrate the communication and literacy skills necessary for an educator in Massachusetts public schools and for communication between school, parents/guardians, and others in the school community.

Areas tested include the comprehension and analysis of reading selections; development of ideas in essay form on specific topics; outlining and summarizing; interpretation of tables and graphs; and mastery of vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and mechanics.

Reading Subtest

The Reading Subtest measures reading competency by asking candidates to read seven passages and answer multiple-choice questions in the areas of meaning of words and phrases in context; main idea; writer's purpose; relationship among ideas; critical reasoning; outlining summarizing, and graph interpretation. Each of the 42 multiple-choice items counts equally toward a candidate's total Reading subtest score.

Writing Subtest

The Writing Subtest measures writing competency by asking candidates to answer 36 multiple-choice questions in the areas of establishing and maintaining a main idea and common errors of sentence construction, grammar, usage, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Candidates are also asked to revise seven sentences containing errors (short-answer section); summarize a passage (Writing Summary Exercise), and prepare a persuasive composition defending a position (Composition Exercise). The multiple-choice/short answer sections and the Writing Summary Exercise/Composition Exercise sections each count for 50% of the candidate's total Writing subtest score.

Subject Tests

The Subject Tests are designed to assess the breadth and depth of the candidate's knowledge in the subject area, the candidate's understanding of fundamental concepts of the discipline, and the candidate's familiarity with field-specific methodologies. The content of these tests was determined by Massachusetts public school teachers and Massachusetts college faculty in the appropriate content fields.

Most subject tests include multiple-choice test questions and two open-response questions (e.g., solving problems, providing proofs, writing essays of approximately 300 to 600 words). The number of multiple-choice and open-response test items varies across the tests. Most Subject Tests contain about 80 multiple-choice questions and two open-response items. However, any newly revised tests include 100 multiple-choice items. Please note: A candidate's performance on subareas with multiple-choice questions is based on the number of test questions answered correctly. Candidates do not "lose" any points for wrong answers. All multiple-choice questions are weighted equally in computing the total score. The open-response section counts for either 25% or 20% of the candidate's total test score, depending on the test (consult individual Test Information Booklets).

In tests of foreign languages, the open-response items typically assess speaking, writing, listening, and reading with fluency, and/or cultural understanding. Candidates write their responses to the open-response items or record them onto audiotape. For Spanish, French, German, and Italian, the open-response questions consist of one speaking and one writing assignment and, together, count for 33% of the candidate's total test score. For Russian, Chinese, and Portuguese, there are multiple open-response questions, and the open-response section counts for 67% of the candidate's total test score.

For tests requiring calculators, (Math (09), Chemistry (12), and Physics (11)) scientific calculators are provided. Personal calculators are not permitted. Note that calculators are not provided or permitted for the Middle School Math (47) test.

For tests requiring formulas (e.g., Math, Middle School Math, Chemistry, Physics), the formulas will be provided during the test and do not need to be memorized.

How much do the tests cost?

The Communications and Literacy Skills test, and the Vocational Technical Literacy Skills Test cost $70 each. Each subject matter test costs $100. In addition, there is a $30 registration for each test date. (For example, if you take a subject matter test and the Communications and Literacy Skills test on the same day, you pay a $30 registration fee. If you take these tests on separate days, you pay $30 for each day you take a test.)

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