In New Jersey, teachers no longer have to pass a basic literacy test to get the job. This is from Act 1669 that went into effect on January 1.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed this into office in the state budget. New Jersey residents did not get to vote on it.
The bill says that anyone seeking a teaching certificate does not need to “complete a Commissioner of Education-approved test of basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills including.” So what is the certificate for if you don’t have to qualify for it? Just a way for the government to collect fees for a document?
Legislators argued that this test was unnecessary if teachers had already finished their university requirements and they said that this would increase the diversity of the teacher pool. Which is the racism of low expectations, indicating that people of color can’t be expected to pass standardized test.
Erika Sanzi, a former educator and opponent of this says that it is a way for the National Education Association (NEA) to increase their number of due-paying members.
“These are low-rigor tests. We’re not talking about the LSAT here,” she says. “The fact that the failure rates on these tests have been so high for so long, that is a problem. That’s really an indictment of not only of the education system that these aspiring teachers are coming out of but the colleges of education that give them a degree even though they’re not remotely qualified.”
New York, California and Arizona have made similar moves dropping basic requirements for teachers.
