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The Department has moved to 135 Santilli Highway in Everett. The Department's office and Licensure Welcome Center are open. The new location has free parking and is a short walk from the Wellington station on the MBTA's Orange Line.
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, December 2, 1998
Contact:Jan O'Keefe Feldman

October Educator Candidate Test Results by Higher Education Institution Are Released

Malden - Massachusetts Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll today released the results of the October 3rd Massachusetts tests for prospective public school educators showing pass rates by the institution they attended. Approximately 1,700 new prospects took the test for the first time on October 3, and more than 1,000 people retook the parts of the test they had failed in April and July. The October institutional test data provides information about test-takers in three ways: all who took the tests in October; those who took tests for the first time in October; and those who retook any or all portions of the tests again. The qualifying scores used to determine the pass rates for the October results are exactly the same as those used for the April and July tests, and the tests are equal in level of difficulty. The entire thirty page institutional score report is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mtel/. Commissioner Driscoll said, "The Board of Education and I are looking at the issue of approval of educator preparation programs, and the pass rate is an important indicator. We'll look at this round of test results as part of our discussion of this issue at our December 14th Board meeting in Malden." The educator certification tests were given in April 1998 for the first time as a new condition for certification as required by the 1993 Education Reform Act. The tests require candidates for certification as public school teachers to take and pass a test of communication and literacy skills and knowledge of subject matter, in order to measure their ability to communicate effectively both with students and with parents and to measure their knowledge of the subject(s) they intend to teach. Massachusetts public school educators must be certified by the state first in order to seek employment locally. Massachusetts and 44 other states require a written test for certification. The next Massachusetts tests for prospective educators are January 9, April 10, June 12 and October 23, 1999. Beginning in September 1998, prospective administrators and school support service personnel applying for state certification were required to pass the communication and literacy skills test in order to become certified. Until that time, only classroom teachers were required to pass the test. Now, every prospective educator seeking provisional or advanced provisional certification in Massachusetts is required to meet the qualifying score on the communication and literacy skills test. The data below provide the percent of educator candidates who passed one or more of the Massachusetts Educator Certification Tests at each of the test administrations conducted in 1998. Massachusetts Educator Certification Tests
Percent of Educator Candidates Passing One or More Tests Taken (All Candidates)
 First-Time Test TakersTest Retakers
Test DateN% PassN% Pass
April 1998186283.2----
July 1998185888.669266.8
October 1998170888.8101961.7




Last Updated: December 2, 1998



 
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