A Praxis test is one of a series of American teacher certification exams usually required before, during, and after teacher training courses in half of the states in the U.S. They assess an aspiring teacher's basic skills, and depending on the grade and subject an individual wants to teach, some subject matter tests have to be taken as well.
But with this change, Andrew Handel, director of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Education and Workforce Development Task Force, says future teachers in The Garden State will still have to take a test, but they will not have to prove they can read and write.
"A couple of lawmakers were talking about the teacher shortage, which is obviously something that every state is facing right now," he relays. "They felt like this was really their only way to address it."
Handel recognizes that the goal is to address a bigger problem, but he does not think eliminating a basic skills test will help.
"The statistics in New Jersey speak for themselves," he notes. "One out of every three fourth graders can't read at a basic level. It's really hard to imagine how this helps anything."
He warns that it will only lower the quality of teachers.
Meanwhile in Arkansas, Handel says Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) is "laying out the road map for addressing teacher shortages." As soon as she took office, she pushed the Arkansas LEARNS Act, and the legislature swiftly passed it.
"It was a total overhaul of the educational system there," he calls it.
It raised starting teacher pay from $36,000 a year, $50,000 a year and introduced merit-based bonuses for the best teachers of up to $10,000. It also introduced paid 12-week maternity leave for teachers.
"I think Governor Sanders has the plan to fix these teacher shortages, and every other state would be very wise to be looking in that direction and copying whatever they can," Handel submits.
He reiterates that lowering the standards is not the answer. Instead, every state should be making sure that the best teachers are being rewarded and valued.
