Announcement of Content Testing for Teacher Candidates in Iowa

The Iowa Department of Education recently received word from the U.S. Department of Education that every new Iowa elementary teacher completing a state approved teacher preparation program in the 2006-2007 school year must take a content test in order to be considered Highly Qualified under the federal legislation No Child Left Behind. The requirement applies only to candidates seeking the K-3 or K-6 regular classroom endorsement; candidates in secondary and K-12 programs (art, P.E, music) are not included.

2005-2006 Graduates

New teachers graduating and being recommended for licensure in the fall of 2005 and the spring and summer of 2006 will be considered Highly Qualified as a result of having been evaluated on the Iowa Department of Education Student Teacher Evaluation (IDESTE) as well as successfully completing a state approved teacher preparation program.

Graduates in Fall of 2006

New teachers graduating and being recommended for licensure at the end of the fall semester of 2006 will be required to take a content test. They will not, however, be required to attain a qualifying score. Scores from the fall, 2006, semester graduates will be used in determining the state qualifying score for future semesters.

Graduates in Spring of 2007

New teachers graduating at the end of the spring semester of 2007 will be required to take a content test and to attain a qualifying score in order to

1) successfully complete a teacher preparation program in Iowa and

2) be recommended for licensure in the state of Iowa.

The state qualifying score will be established at the beginning of the spring semester of 2007.

Teacher education candidates may choose either of two Praxis II tests:

Elementary Education: Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment: Content Knowledge (10011)

OR

Elementary Education: Content Knowledge

(10014)

Information regarding the tests can be found at www.ets.org.

The website includes “Test at a Glance” documents that provide sample questions of each test.

E.T.S. will be adding new test centers in Iowa for the 2006-2007 school year to accommodate the number of candidates needing to complete these exams.

Below is a table showing which test(s) is/are required in several states.

Praxis II Tests/Required Scores of Some States

(Information on other states can be found at www.ets.org)

STATE	TEST	QUALIFYING SCORE
Delaware	10011 or 10014	158 151
Indiana	10011	165
Kansas	10011	163
Kentucky	10014	148
Louisiana	10014	150
Minnesota	10014	145
Missouri	10011	164
North Dakota	10011	158
Pennsylvania	10011	168
South Dakota	10014	137
Vermont	10014	148
Wisconsin	10014	147

If you are interested in taking the Praxis II yet this summer, one testing site has been opened in Iowa at Iowa State University in Ames. This site does not appear as open on the ETS website, but you can register for it at www.ets.org.

The test is administered on August 5. The deadline for registration is July 6; deadline for late registration is July 13.

If other test sites are opened in Iowa prior to the registration deadline, that information will appear on this website.