Article by Malcolm Gladwell worth a look

Here’s an interesting article written by Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker. The article is about spotting talent. What interested me most about the article is the discussion about finding good teachers. He argues that good teachers are like good NFL quarterbacks – it isn’t clear how what is done in college will translate into the classroom or field, and he states rather flatly at one point that “no one knows what a person with the potential to be a great teacher looks like.”

Originally Posted by Malcolm Gladwell
the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth of material. That difference amounts to a year’s worth of learning in a single year. Teacher effects dwarf school effects: your child is actually better off in a “bad” school with an excellent teacher than in an excellent school with a bad teacher. Teacher effects are also much stronger than class-size effects.

Article in “The Journal of Psychology” Uses CBEST in Study

A study conducted by researchers from California State University, Fresno and Alliant International University uses portions of the CBEST Reading and Mathematics sections. The study is entitled, “Heuristic and Algorithmic Processing in English, Mathematics, and Science Education.” The results “indicate the importance of including heuristic training in educational contexts and highlight the importance of a relatively domain-specific approach to questions of cognition in higher education.”

Recruitment Event for Substitute Teachers – CBEST Required

The Sacramento County Office of Education is hosting a substitute recruitment day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. August 12. Teachers must have a bachelor’s degree and have passed the CBEST. Pre-registration is available and walk-ins are welcome.

For more information visit www.scoe.net.

Original story posted at sacbee.com.

California Court Rules Home School Parents Must Be Credentialed

An editorial in the Los Angeles Daily News reports that a California appeals court ruled on February 28 that California parents may not home school their children unless those parents are credentialed teachers.

The editorial suggest that it would make more sense to have prospective teachers take the GRE rather than the CBEST.

The Los Angeles Times‘ article suggests, “It’s unclear if the ruling will be enforced, given the likely appeals. Typically, these rulings take effect 30 days after they are issued.”

Lunch-time Club Encourages Students to Become Teachers

The Weekend Pinnacle Online ran an interesting story about Club Ed, a program that pairs up elementary, middle school or high school kids with a peer tutor. While the main component is tutoring, another goal is to help get students interested in going to college and studying to be a teacher. “With some of the left over grant money, Rachel [Flores-Zepeda, a Spanish teacher at San Benito High School] is able to pay for graduating seniors to take the CBEST, a state test required to be a substitute teacher.”

Flores-Zepeda said some of the Club Ed members who have graduated have gone on to tutoring in college. “It’s how I got started, as a volunteer tutor,” Flores-Zepeda said.

Funny CBEST Anecdote Worth Reading

Here’s an amusing anecdote worth a quick look about retaking the CBEST exam – very funny! It’s written by Marmot Mom. Maybe she should have studied the math portion of Longsdale’s CBEST Online Study Guide and Practice Tests.

CBEST Exam Workshop at CSU Stanislaus Campus

The CBEST exam is quickly approaching! The CBEST test date is February 9th. California State Univeristy, Stanislaus, Tutoring Center is offering a teacher preparation workshop for those preparing for the CBEST. The workshop will be held Feb. 4-8 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. each day.
The workshops “are designed to qualify student teachers for jobs and will focus on mathematics and tutorials on reading and writing skills.” There is a fee of $100 and includes 20 hours of review and instruction. This is an excellent opportunity if you are in the area and can attend the workshop.

For more information on this workshop, contact the USC Stanislaus campus web site or visit the source of this post in the Modesto Bee.

CBEST Exam and CSET, NCLB – Impact on Teacher Education

Laurie Hansen has written an interesting article at the Foundations of Education blog about the CBEST exam and CSET as they relate to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). She mentions a brief history of each assessment as well as interesting comments on NCLB’s impact on teacher education. “I agree with Weber that this type of bureaucratization both serves as a sorting mechanism or gatekeeper and as a way to de-personalize the teaching institution. Whereas before individual cases were considered vis-a-vis the options of examination or coursework, now there it is simply a matter of you pass the test or you don’t.”

For more information on the CBEST and CSET, read the entire blog post here.

Pearson awarded 3-Year Contract to continue managing CBEST Test

Pearson announced today that it has been awarded a three-year contract to continue managing teaching certification testing for the state of California.

“The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing recognizes that when we put excellent educators in our state’s classrooms, we are ensuring that our children will receive a high-quality education,” said Dale Janssen, executive director. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson to promote educational excellence in California through our rigorous program of certification exams, measuring both basic skills and a wide variety of subject area competencies.”

For more information read the entire Press Release from Pearson.