TRENTON, NJ — Teachers will have an alternate path to obtaining a teaching certificate in New Jersey, after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Tuesday that removes a requirement to pass a basic skills test to achieve certification, under certain conditions.
The bill, S-1553, authorizes the state Board of Education to issue alternative teaching certificates without the basic skills test as part of an effort to ease the teacher shortage in New Jersey.
Prospective teachers who have met the state's other requirements for being a teacher, including earning a bachelor’s degree, having student teaching experience, and a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in their teacher prep courses will receive an alternate certificate, allowing them to teach.
Those who teach for four years straight at a public school, charter school or approved private school for students with disabilities in New Jersey would be eligible to receive a standard teaching certificate, under the law.
The bill, which passed both houses of the Legislature in June, had been sitting on Murphy's desk. The New Jersey Education Association had pressed him to sign the bill, NJ.com reported.
The basic skill test, referred to as the Praxis, was required for teacher candidates who had not scored in the top third of the SAT, ACT, or the GRE, a graduate exam, for the year they took the test.
The NJEA said the Praxis "created an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession," NJ.com reported.
"It’s well documented that standardized tests are a poor way to measure knowledge or skills and that not all people are best able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on standardized tests," NJEA spokesman Steven Baker told NJ.com earlier in November. "If they can successfully complete an accredited degree and student teaching, a one-off standardized test is the definition of redundant."
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
