Submitted Resolutions

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, today I am submitting a resolution, with Senators SULLIVAN and SCHATZ, calling on the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, CAEP, to modify one of their accreditation standards that applies to the qualifications for enrollment of teacher candidates.

The goal of accreditation agencies is to ensure that the education provided by our Nation's institutions of higher education and their various programs meet appropriate levels of quality.

In 2013, CAEP--the only accreditor of teacher preparation programs in the country--revised its accreditation standards. Problematic, however, is Standard 3.2 that would require teacher preparation programs to ensure that each cohort of students enrolled in the program has an average SAT/ACT/GRE score in the top 50 percent from 2016-2017; the top 40 percent from 2018-2019; and the top 33 percent by 2020.

I am all for making sure that our Nation's youngsters have the best possible teachers. We need well-trained, culturally competent, intelligent, effective teachers in every classroom in America.

But there is no definitive research or data that shows that performance on the SAT, the ACT, or the GRE is an effective indicator that someone will become an excellent teacher. Worse, basing acceptance into a teacher preparation programs on these tests will have a negative impact on young Native Americans and Alaska natives who want to become teachers in their own communities--where they are so desperately needed.

Compounding this inappropriate use of these tests is the fact that Native American and Alaska native students experience academic, economic, and social barriers that result in their SAT, ACT, and GRE scores being disproportionately lower than their peers of other races. Native students also have disproportionately inadequate access to exam preparation and are less likely to take the ACT or SAT than their peers.

This new CAEP Standard 3.2 will, therefore, effectively block decades-long efforts to train more Native American and Alaska native teachers, when we know that Native American and Alaska native students benefit from having teachers who understand their culture, their history, and their learning styles.

My resolution calls on the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation to do three things: to consult with tribes and native organizations; to jointly develop changes to these standards to ensure that Native Americans and Alaska natives will not be negatively impacted by these standards; and to adopt changes to the standards expeditiously.

I hope that my colleagues will pay close attention to this issue, reach out to the teacher preparation programs in their states, and join my colleagues, Senators SULLIVAN and SCHATZ in co-sponsoring this resolution, as the Council's standards will impact not only our Native American and Alaska native communities. This standard will also very likely impact young African Americans and Hispanic Americans who hope one day to become teachers but who experience similar barriers to producing high scores on standardized tests.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source