My Teaching Exam… Ludicrous

My Teaching Exam… Ludicrous

December 20, 2008, 11:56 am
Filed under: 002, Fall 2008

By Meghan Kelly

As Joanne Darrigo a junior at Bridgewater State College, leaves her house at 6:30 AM, she has checked her purse twice to make sure she has multiple number two pencils, two forms of identification and her admission ticket. Driving down the highway she is anything but calm. She fidgets with the radio, singing along to any song she knows as she is closely following her MapQuest directions to Randolph High School. She is doing anything in her power to avoid thinking about her fate for the next four hours. Throughout the years people have questioned whether or not standardized testing is appropriate to determine a person’s level of success. For many high school students these exams are the SAT’s and the ACT tests that determine whether or not a college will accept them. For many students at Bridgewater State College the dreadful exam is the Massachusetts Test for the Education Licensure better known as the (MTEL). This exam determines whether or not a student is prepared to enter the teaching field.

For an elementary education major the MTEL comes in a set of three. The exams which are the Communication and Literacy exam, General Curriculum, and the Foundations of Reading exam all must be passed for an education major to continue into their final steps.  For many students these tests do not come easy. For Darrigo they have been a struggle. “I think it is a test that most people find extremely hard to pass. it is unrealistic and serves no purpose. i know i am qualified to become a teacher, but because I cant pass the MTEL’s I have to choose a different career path.” said Darrigo when asked about the exams. Darrigo is one of the many students that have had to change her major due to the test. Joanne has taken the Communication and Literacy exam three separate times, only passing one section and falling short of passing the next by only a few points. Each of these exams cost $125 every time a person takes them. As college students, many are struggling to pay for everyday items let alone the MTEL. “Of course I think it is ridiculous that they feel it is sensible to charge students such large amounts to take a test that they require and make impossible to pass. I have spent about 300 dollars trying to pass the tests and in the end I am still forced t change my major.” Darrigo stated.

Megan Askew a sophomore at Bridgewater State College is also having difficulty with the exams. Over the past seven months she has taken two different exams, the Communication and Literacy exam twice and the General Curriculum once. She has yet to pass any. “I think the MTEL’s are an unfair assessment of your knowledge. I think that a standardized text cannot determine if you will be an effective teacher.” For people like Askew who have always dreamed of being a teacher, it seems their dreams may be a little too far out of reach for them. Askew like Darrigo is contemplating changing her major to communications.  In March of 2009 all students who have not successfully passed the General Curriculum exam will be required to take a new MTEL consisting of forty-five math questions. “I think that the new math exam is ridiculous. They already have math in the general curriculum exam so why add more.”  With more test being added it seems that it is only becoming more and more difficult to become a future teacher. “Math isn’t one of my strongest subjects, this new exam is only going to stress me out even more, and it’s only something else I need to pass before I can be accepted into the School of Education.”

Samantha Fecteau is a junior at Bridgewater State College she is also having difficulty passing this exams. She has taken both the Communication and Literacy and the General Curriculum exam and is struggling to pass them both times missing by only one point. Its instances like this where the exams just make a student frustrated. “I don’t feel that it is fair for three exams to determine my career, just because I don’t pass an exam doesn’t mean I cannot be a good teacher.”  said Fecteau.  It seems that many students feel that the tests do not give a fair judgment on whether or not a student will succeed in a classroom. “Teachers who have passed the exams and who have received jobs in schools cannot relate to the students, this often times can make for an awful teacher.” In some cases Fecteau is right. Almost every child has had, or has known a teacher who is just miserable. These are the teachers who are passing the exams. For a student who’s dream has been to be a teacher and who is willing to put their heart and soul into this job not to be allowed to teach because of the MTEL is just a shame.

The faculty at Bridgewater State College has tried their best to help their students pass these exams. The 2004 summary results of the average Bridgewater State College student passing the Communication and Literacy exams were that first time test takers passed 60%-86% of the time on the reading part of the exam and 36% of the ones who did not pass have tried more than once. The pass rates for students taking the writing section of the exam were between 55%-89% for first time test takers and out of the ones who have not passed 45% have retaken the exam. Most Professors around campus don’t agree with the test, but there is not too much that they can do about it. They are trying their best to help their students in any way they can. They recently have added a course to the Bridgewater State College curriculum that is strictly for the Foundations of Reading exam. This is supposedly the most difficult of the three MTEL exams to pass, and the hardest to prepare for. Although the class does not count towards a student’s core curriculum courses it does give those students three extra credits and a big advantage when they do take the exam. Several students have said that this course has definitely helped them prepare for the exam; many say that they would have never been able to pass it without the course. Since students who have not taken the General Curriculum exam and passed it do not have an opportunity to pass it without taking the new math section Bridgewater State College is now offering a course over winter break strictly focusing on the math section.  This course is offered free of charge because faculty knows how hard this exam will be for many students.

Samantha Fraatz who is a sophomore at Bridgewater State College has yet to take the MTEL. Samantha laughs as I ask her what her thoughts are on the MTEL “I’m going into my second semester of my sophomore year and I already feel so behind, those exams are so intimidating.”  It seems that Samantha is stalling out of fear that she will not pass. “I don’t have the money to take them right now, and I know once I start taking them reality will start to sink in.” Samantha even though she has not had the anxiety and stress of the MTEL still has the same view as the other students around campus.

“I just don’t test well, that’s my biggest fear it’s hard to say if I’ll pass these exams the first time.”  Does she face the fear that her dreams might just be a little too far out of reach?  For many younger students like Samantha it is important that they stay on track, taking the MTEL’s early is key to graduating on time. The quicker one starts to take the exam, the more opportunity they will have to pass it and it gives them a lot more time so that they are not so stressed out. Many younger students seemed to be baffled by the whole process, worrying about core requirements, choosing a second major and making time in your schedule for the required forty hours of observation in a classroom is not an easy task. Although faculty is trying their best to inform student of the road they must take to become a teacher, it seems that they need to be a little clearer to the freshman and sophomores earlier on in their careers. Many of them like Samantha seem to feel a little lost in the whole process.

Joanne Darrigo shuts her test booklet, raises her hand to tell the instructor she is finished and throws her pencils back into her purse. She steps out of her exam room mentally exhausted, but feeling accomplished. It is now dark outside. She once again pulls out her MapQuest directions and heads home. She grabs her phone and calls her mother to tell her she has finished. When asked how she did, she tells her mother that she honestly was not sure. Now all she can do is wait; hoping that she has done well enough on the exam to pass. Although, it is pointless for her to worry about how she did on the test now, she will anxiously a wait the next thirty days for her test results.

The MTEL is only offered at certain times of the year. If you do not sign up on time there is a penalty fee for registering late. In between waiting for your test results to come back, one must decide whether or not they should sign up for the test again before the registration time passes. For many this is a very tough decision. A person can sign up to take an exam again, and find out two weeks later that they have passed it, once again your money goes down the drain. If a person feels they have passed and decide not to sign up; they could receive news that they have not passed and must sign up on a late registration fee. Either way it is a way for the test administration to take your money. The way this test is administered is just not fair. No matter what a person does they are going to have to pay money to take the test again if they fail. It is just another way to take a persons money. For young college students going to school full-time coming up with the test money is hard enough, never mind the late fees for the exams.

It is clear that the MTEL’s are every education major’s worst nightmare. They require long nights of tedious studying of information they have already learned. Stress levels are raised and students feel drained after they have finished the four hour exam. Whether or not these tests should exist is something that will be questioned for years to come. Many Bridgewater State College students see these exams as a nuisance, and are having a very difficult time understanding why the must pass them. When each Darrigo, Askew, and Fecteau were asked if they would rather be put in a classroom and judged on their performance with the students, rather then take the MTEL’s? They all responded with “Definitely a classroom” College students are watching their dreams slowly being pulled away in front of them over these exams, Bridgewater State College is doing everything in their power to help them pass these exams, but the true power lies in the hands of the student. Studying for these exams is all one can do until something is done about them, which at this point in time does not seem like an option.

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