WUNC - This fall, colleges of education across North Carolina are welcoming back students who had previously left their programs solely because they struggled to pass a standardized entrance exam.
At UNC-Greensboro's School of Education, about 35 students returned.
"We saw a large number of music ed students, dance ed students, birth through kindergarten students, and elementary (education) students who returned to the major," said Jacqueline Dozier, Director for Student Success at UNC-Greensboro's School of Education.
The students are eligible to return because a provision in the state budget eliminated a requirement for them to pass the Praxis Core test before taking upper level education classes.
Supporters of the new policy change say the exam was a barrier for some who wanted to pursue a career in teaching. In the past, those who failed to pass the test by the end of their sophomore year were forced to switch majors.
"We had some happy students," Dozier said. "It just came in time for them to register for classes and not delay their time in the program."
Praxis Core was a gateway, but colleges say there are others ways to evaluate prospective teachers
The Praxis Core tests high school math, reading, and writing, with content similar to the ACT and SAT. More universities have made the ACT and SAT optional for admission in recent years, relying more heavily on students' high school grades for admission.
"We have students who are coming to us, and the first time they're going to experience a standardized test could be the Praxis Core, and so there's been testing anxieties," Dozier said.
Dozier said a handful of UNC-Greensboro students fail to meet the Praxis Core requirement each year, with many more needing to take the exam multiple times before they pass. Each attempt costs $90 to $150, depending on how many subjects are retaken.
With the policy change, students must still meet GPA minimums in their college coursework to take advanced education classes, and pass content exams in the subjects they intend to teach before becoming fully licensed teachers.
Plus, colleges of education may begin rethinking other ways to evaluate students to ensure they're ready for the classroom with the elimination of the Praxis Core.
"It has been seen as a potential barrier, but I think we're also being very aware of okay, it was a barrier. We saw some issues, but what did we get from it?" said Nichole Smith, interim chair of the Department of Educator Preparation at North Carolina A&T State University.
Smith said N.C. A&T also uses an assessment to evaluate students' qualities as a teacher, such as communication skills, professionalism and ability to take constructive feedback.
Change could boost enrollment at teaching colleges
Education officials in State Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green's administration advocated for the change in state law, which could boost enrollment at North Carolina teaching colleges after a decline among traditional undergraduate students.
"This can be very important if this is one less thing that the students have to worry about in order to become a teacher," said Smith.
Smith and Dozier said their universities will be closely tracking how the policy change affects enrollment in teaching programs.
"We want to know: Okay, was it Praxis Core keeping people from going into the profession, or was it a myriad of other things?" Smith said.
Smith added that there are many other barriers for students interested in teaching, such as poor perceptions of pay and working conditions. Dozier said she's hopeful about what this change in the state budget – plus the budget's boost for beginning teacher pay – will do for recruitment.
"We're really interested or curious as to what this means as the undergraduate admissions counselors go on the road to recruit for us for the coming year, and will we have more students willing to become teachers?" Dozier said.
