Subject-Matter Testing for Alabama Teachers to Resume

Alabama teachers will finally be tested in the subjects they teach for the first time since 1986.

One of the biggest drivers for getting teacher testing out of the courts and into the classrooms was the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It's debatable whether any branch of the federal government should have ever been involved in the issue of certification for Alabama teachers. Nonetheless, this agreement could be the basis for a new and essential layer of accountability for K-12 education in Alabama.

I'm not familiar with the details of the Praxis II tests that are to be used, but they seem to provide an adequate measure teacher competence - certainly superior to what this state has now. For the test to be meaningful, though, the state must also establish adequate pass/fail criteria. In doing so, they must resist the urge to lower standards or discriminate on the basis of demographic classification. That could prove difficult, given the history of lawsuits that led to our present predicament.