Every child in every classroom needs and deserves the best teacher possible.  MACTE reaffirms its commitment to the preparation of highly effective teachers by ensuring rigorous, standards based education programs.  Quality teachers demonstrate competency in their content field and deliver that content through appropriate pedagogy.  Standards are the means by which Minnesota measures this competence.

Minnesota colleges and universities align their teacher licensure programs with the high standards set by the Board of Teaching.  The standards are comprehensive in scope and detail what a teacher should know and be able to do.  MACTE believes that standards based teacher preparation programs meet and exceed program quality found in fast-track or exam based programs.  

The PRAXIS exams are only one measure of teacher ability. The exams are not a complete measure of teacher readiness and competence.  MACTE believes a periodic review of the PRAXIS exams is necessary to assure alignment with the Minnesota teacher preparation standards.  MACTE also affirms its position that cut scores do not measure competence.  A passing score on a PRAXIS science exam is not as strong a measure as the repeated demonstration of knowledge and skills through standards-based content courses, methods courses, and required field experiences.

MACTE is concerned that PRAXIS exams are being viewed by some as a measure of quality. In fact, as ETS has stated clearly, the exam can only provide a baseline of knowledge. It is not a benchmark of quality.  

It is through the continued review of standards, alignment of those standards with programs, and multiple measures of competence that quality teachers are identified.  

Quality does count and with strong standards based programs we can assure that our classroom teachers are quality teachers.