Immigrant Teachers Need Help

                                          Immigrant teachers are failing to pass certification tests and it is becoming a problem. There are many Asian, African, Hispanic and other out-of-the country teachers who have taught and are extremely excited to be able to continue their career in the diverse country called America. They already have experiences handling students for several years, learned how to present their lessons and were certified in their homelands. Most of the minority teachers are competent teachers but not at taking certification exams. In Texas, the Texas Education Agency, or (TEA), requires all teachers to pass certification tests before teaching. But, most of them fail the test and hinder themselves from teaching. Is it the language that prevents them from passing? Or, is the test is too difficult to understand?

                            TEA is a branch of the state government of Texas in the United States responsible for public education. Agency responsibilities include: managing the textbook adoption process; overseeing development of the statewide curriculum; administering the statewide assessment program; administering a data collection system on public school students, staff, and finances; rating school districts under the statewide accountability system; operating research and information programs; monitoring for compliance with federal guidelines; and serving as a fiscal agent for the distribution of state and federal funds.  The Educational Testing Service (ETS), is the private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization. ETS develops various standardized tests primarily in the United States for K-12 and higher education, and it also administers international tests and the Praxis test.  Many of the assessments it develops are associated with entry to institutions, but it also develops K–12 statewide assessments used for accountability testing in many states, including California, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia. In total, ETS annually administers 20 million exams in the U.S. and in 180 other countries.

                           Every year, public and private schools are in need of teachers. It is not easy to find new teachers to fill classroom vacancies these days. As M. Christopher Brown, the president of the historically black institution says, “We need the best teachers in the classroom, irrespective of race. I don't think anyone would accept a lower-quality doctor during heart transplant, based on an equity issue. The reality is that, as the bar rises, you have to meet it” ( qtd. in Sawchuk 20).

                          A standard certification allows a person to assure qualification to perform a task and a ticket to get a job at a school. In order to have one, every person is required to get a teacher's certification. Hall et al mentions that the Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) tests are based on broad domains and specific competencies prepared by ETS. The state is interested in determining if teachers know how to teach and know subject matter content. For this reason, it is important to realize that the test is biased. Many of the test questions have two answers that seem correct (8).

                           Immigrant teachers will struggle taking the test due to its language. Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English, Reading, Language Arts and PPR tests are all in the English language.  The Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) test is in English and it is an assessment that will ensure teachers can demonstrate higher-order thinking and must demonstrate flexibility and creativity in solving the problems they face in their classrooms. Sartor expresses that English takes up a great deal of time and effort. That we should be focused pluralism and diversity by allowing different languages in local media and prints (48).

                           In America, we know that English is important in order to get a job and be successful. Does it really prove your capability of handling students in a classroom? Do we really need to be an expert English speakers teaching diverse students? Or being literate in English and making connections to students needs are enough to be a teacher? Although, most of the immigrant teachers came with the knowledge of speaking and understanding English they still fail to pass. Ross reports, "One woman holds two bachelor's degrees from India, where she taught third grade for two years. Another woman was attending university in Iran to become a teacher. She taught English in Turkey for nearly five years before coming to the US, where she found work as a language facilitator in the public schools. Both women struggled to pass the Praxis I exam, which is a state requirement for certification. After two unsuccessfully attempts, they became in eligible for full certification" (70).

                         Learning the language is important, but a person can only master one language. We can't expect somebody to learn, speak, write and perfect a different language right away. As the Government of 1916 says, "Learn English. Attend Night School. Become a Citizen. It means a better opportunity and a better home in America. It means a better job. It means a better chance for your children. It means a better America. Ask the nearest public school about classes” (qtd. in Dayton-Wood 397). 

                            Dayton-Wood also acknowledges Emory Bogardus, a sociology professor who was active in the settlement house movement, argues in his manual for educators that "to suppress the use of all languages in the United States except the English will hinder rather than help Americanization." She continues, "When you strike at the language of a person, you strike at his feelings, his mother tongue, and his childhood memories" (403).

                             As a result, white teachers who speak the native language are dominating the teaching corps of the P-K 12 schools. It also affect the diversity ratio of students. Sawchuck reveals that just 17 percent of teachers are nonwhite, compared to about 40 percent of K-12 students, according to federal data. The diversity mismatch between teachers and students graphically exists in Washington State's Renton School District (20).

                            While the percentage of minority teachers are decreasing, the minority students’ future of becoming teachers will be decreasing as well. McNulty and Brown believe that students achieve at a higher rate if they are taught by teachers that represent their racial background. Immigrant teachers have more experiences understanding their students' background than the white teachers. They’re research studies indicating minority teachers can translate the culture, create sense of school belonging and develop a sense of school community for minority children (81-179).

                           In order to help the immigrant teachers, Paulson suggests that the state should permit experienced teachers to work in the school system while they work toward getting their state certification. She also cites one young man who wanted to be a music teacher in Massachusetts. He had graduated from prestigious Berklee College of Music, was a composer, a conductor, and a skilled musician, and yet was denied a job because he could not pass the dictation section of the Massachusetts exam (15).

                       Additionally, it would be helpful to make some revision of the test. Hoff explains that the Public Advocates Inc. argues that the California Basic Educational Skills Test, or CBEST, violates federal anti-discrimination laws because it is not an accurate way to measure a prospective teacher's skill in the classroom and has a negative impact on minority members. The state already has tacitly admitted that the testing program in its original form was invalid, contends John T. Affeldt, a managing lawyer for Public Advocates, which represents the three groups suing the state. In 1995, an expert hired by the state said that some portions of the exam didn't measure the skills needed to be a teacher. “The state then revised the exam, and the passing rates of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American test-takers improved” Mr. Affeldt said (qtd. in Hoff 3).
 

                       Another helpful solution is to provide dictionaries for the examinees. Supplementing the test takers with dictionaries for learners of English will give the help and support they need to understand the directions and questions correctly.  Fry says that people who reported using the dictionary had statistically significantly higher test scores, suggesting potential benefits of dictionary use during tests (129).

                    Lastly, to help increase their chance to continue teaching, the state agency and educator policy makers should focus certification on a teacher's actual performance. The New Teacher Project, or TNTP, acknowledges that educator agency should refocus certification on teacher's performance in the classroom, based on a high standard for first-year excellence. By the end of the first year, teachers should be able to create a positive classroom culture, manage student behavior, and lead lessons in which the learning objective is clear (60).

                        Focusing on a teacher's actual performance [not the certification test] can help minority candidates improve and continually learn and grow- a hallmark of effective teachers. TNTP strongly suggests that TEA and schools need to to be disciplined about the feedback that we give to new teachers and focus on targeted, specific, and immediate interventions. They must link evaluation to development, so that teachers drive their own development, using information from observations and other sources of data to target specific practices that would lead to greater student learning (61).

                         The problem is overwhelming: the minority teachers failing the test and both teachers and students’ ratio of color is decreasing. Immigrant teachers can't no longer wait to support something that will help fill in the job vacancies at the public schools. The revision of the test, supplementation of dictionaries or translations, and allowing the immigrant teachers to continue to teach are the most efficient means of keeping diversity in the country. Some will never be convinced, but every little bit helps for the future of our children. As the mother of a student mentions, “Mama, I haven't had any Asian teachers,” and the mother responded, “Yeah. I need to start working on that” (qtd. in Sawchuck 15).

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