Thread: MA-Ex-teachers sue over licensing exam

Ex-teachers sue over licensing exam - Say test is biased against minorities

By James Vaznis
Boston Globe Staff
May 15, 2009

After more than a decade of controversy about the fairness of the state's teacher licensing exam, three former Boston schoolteachers - who are black or Latino and lost their jobs because they repeatedly failed the exam - filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court yesterday arguing the test is biased against minorities.

The suit is based on the fact that test-takers who are minorities or nonnative English speakers fail the communication and literacy portion of the exam at higher rates than whites who are native English speakers.

Fifty-two percent of Latino applicants and 54 percent of black applicants flunked the writing portion of the exam - nearly twice the rate as whites - in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the most recent data the state has released publicly. The failure rate for native Spanish speakers was above 60 percent.

If a judge certifies the case as a class-action suit, it could encompass hundreds of minorities and nonnative speakers of English who failed the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Li censure over its 11-year history. The lawsuit seeks to immediately stop the state from using the exam as the sole method of licensing teachers and demands an array of damages: repayment of test registration fees, payment of unpaid wages, and restoration of seniority and other benefits.

In the case of the three former teachers, their failing grades outweighed their master's degrees and otherwise positive recommendations from principals, said their attorney Tyler Fox of Cambridge. At least two of the teachers worked in special education.

"It's an injustice," said Fox, who said he has spoken to dozens of former teachers around the state in similar circumstances. "I have had people, including men, coming to my office in tears because they are so passionate about teaching but lost their ability to teach because they couldn't pass the test."

The case is levied against the state, Boston public schools, and test developer Evaluation Systems group of Pearson. Officials from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Boston schools declined comment, citing policies against discussing litigation. Pearson did not respond to a request for comment.

At a time of growing diversity among students in classrooms across the state, many educators and researchers believe that academically low-achieving student groups such as blacks, Latinos, and English-language learners, could fare better if taught by more teachers of similar backgrounds. It's troubling, they said, if a bias in the test is blocking teachers from classrooms.

The state has previously raised concerns about the disparity in passing rates among aspiring teachers of different backgrounds. Two years ago, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education established a task force to examine the issues. That group was never able to determine the existence of any biases because the group could not obtain the necessary information from the company or the state, a task force member said yesterday. They requested information about the vetting process of test items for potential racial or cultural biases and how passing scores were established.

"Either they didn't have it, or, if they did have it, they were unwilling to share it," said task force member Joseph J. Pedulla, a senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy at Boston College. Pedulla was involved in a similar court case in Alabama in the 1980s that prompted a judge to scrap the test. Pedulla said it often takes a class-action lawsuit to obtain that information.

The task force made some recommendations for improvement, but Pedulla said the state has not followed through.

A great disparity in results, some testing experts say, is an indicator of potential bias that warrants examination. The lawsuit is a significant development, said Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which has long criticized standardized tests and raised concerns about the state's exam more than a decade ago.

"For the first time there will be a neutral review of the Massachusetts teacher test," Schaeffer said. "Previously, it has always been done in a political environment where the state has been defending their product."

Passing the exam has become increasingly high-stakes under the federal No Child Left Behind law. It requires all but a few teachers to have appropriate licenses and to meet other state standards. Schools that fail to do so risk losing federal dollars.

In Boston, the district let go about 100 teachers of color two years ago because they failed the tests and had been working under temporary waivers.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_ ... sing_exam/

The suit is based on the fact that test-takers who are minorities or nonnative English speakers fail the communication and literacy portion of the exam at higher rates than whites who are native English speakers.

What a load of crap! I know plenty of "nonnative" English speakers who can run rings around native English speakers. Asians come to mind right away. Those of us who learned via total immersion are some others.

What does one's color have to do with it? Laziness has a lot to do with not passing this test, so does indifference, entitlement, etc. NO one can convince me that whites have more "superior brains" than other races. It's ludicrous to even think so IMO.[/b]

So let me get this straight. I am currently learning to get my private pilot's license. If I fail any part of my exam, I can sue? It sure is nice to know that I can put people in danger by NOT knowing how to fly an airplane. I can SUE the FAA because the test was too hard!!

By the way, I would like to personally thank SickNTiredInSoCal for giving me the courage to go after my dream. My friend Scott makes an excellent living shipping dead bodies across the country, and has offered me a job upon completion of my multi-engine training. KA'CHING!!!

Miguelina, you are right, it is mostly due to lack of motivation to study harder.

As for the test being "biased" I say this BULL!