High-Stakes Testing: Barriers for Prospective Bilingual Education Teachers

Abstract

At present, there continues to be a great disparity in the number of LEP students and the current number of bilingual education teachers. Reyna (1993) reported that in Texas approximately 50% of the students are minorities; whereas, minorities represent only 23% of the teachers. This crucial need for bilingual educators continues to remain a topic that needs to be addressed. Although other obstacles exist in the recruitment and retention of prospective bilingual teachers, one of the barriers confronting bilingual teachers is the issue of high-stakes testing (Valencia & Aburto, 1991a). This paper examines those issues pertinent to high-stakes testing in relation to prospective bilingual/minority teachers. The review of current research examines the institutionalization of high-stakes testing for prospective teachers and the implications of high-stake testing on minority/bilingual teachers. The review also investigates the relationship between entry and exit competency tests and actual teaching performance and presents current entry and exit disaggregated data to identify areas on the test which appear to present difficulty for the prospective bilingual teachers. Two case studies are presented as insights into the relationship between competency and teaching performance. Lastly, recommendations regarding the current testing state, prospective bilingual teachers' status, and future research are provided.