• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Professional Educator Standards Board

A-Z Topic Index

facebook logoteal twitter iconyoutube logo
  • Home
  • Educator pathways
    • Educators of the Deaf and visually impaired
    • First peoples’ language, culture, and oral traditions certification
    • Alternative routes to teacher certification
      • Find an alternative route program
    • Becoming an educator
      • Find a preparation program
      • Find an endorsement offering
    • Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT)
      • RWT curriculum and resources
      • RWT reports
  • Current educators
    • Assignment
      • Educational staff associates
      • Endorsements
      • Teacher
    • Certificate renewal
      • Clock hours
      • Educational leadership
      • Educator standards, SEL, CCDEI
      • Equity-based school practices
      • Government-to-government relations
      • Professional growth plans (PGPs)
      • Providers for educational leadership and equity requirements
      • STEM integration
      • Suicide prevention training
    • Human resources
      • Educator conduct
    • District workforce data
    • Educator shortage
  • Preparation programs
    • Approval
      • Become a new program
      • Change an approved program
      • Course approval
      • Offer an endorsement
      • Propose a new specialty endorsement
    • Review
      • 27-month review
      • Curriculum and instruction review
      • Indicator-based review
      • Program review results
    • Standards and requirements
      • Educator assessments
      • Endorsement competencies
      • Field placement plans
      • Instructional topic requirements
      • PGP for program completion
      • Program standards
      • Role standards
  • Paraeducator program
    • District implementation
      • District reimbursement
    • Minimum employment requirements
    • Program components
  • Resources & reports
    • Reports
    • Data portal
    • Handouts
    • Online learning
    • Professional Learning
  • Innovation to policy
    • CCDEI standards
    • Equity initiatives
    • “Grow Your Own” Initiative
    • Innovation archive
    • Workgroups
      • Advancing equity workgroup
      • Computer science specialty endorsement
      • Educational interpreters for the deaf
      • Educator professional growth
      • Interveners for the DeafBlind
      • Professional educator collaborative
    • Grants & pilots
      • Advancing equity grant
      • Alternative routes block grant
      • Educational Interpreter Grant
      • ESD alternative routes grant
      • Expanding computer science for elementary educators
      • “Grow Your Own” Pilot Program
      • LEADER initiative
      • Multiple measures pilot for the edTPA
      • Recruiting Washington Teachers – Bilingual Educators Initiative
      • Recruiting Washington Teachers
      • Teaching equity grant
    • Legislative affairs
      • Legislative updates
  • About us
    • Contact us
    • COVID-19 guidance
    • News
    • Rule making
    • Strategic plan
    • Job opportunities
    • Board meetings
      • Previous Paraeducator Board meetings and materials
      • Previous PESB meetings and materials
    • Who we are
      • About the Professional Educator Standards Board
      • About the Paraeducator Board
You are here: Home / Resources and reports / Reports / Testing barriers in Washington State report

Testing barriers in Washington State report

The cover of the testing barriers in washington state report, from September 2018. A teacher is holding a globe and educating students. The report is subtitles: Addressing disparities in teacher testing requirements for candidates of color and bilingual candidates. A report by the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB)
Click the photo to view the report.

PESB has prioritized investing in and creating a range of initiatives to close the teacher-student diversity gap. These efforts include:

  • creating more accessible, community-orientated educator pathways
  • expanding access points into the teaching profession
  • critically examining barriers caused by systemic racism that candidates may face on their journey to becoming a teacher

Download the report

  • Download the report
  • Addendum: Assessment data for 2017-18

The testing barriers workgroup

The demographic gap between the racial, cultural, and linguistic background of Washington’s students and their teachers has persisted despite intensive efforts to recruit and retain teacher candidates of color and bilingual teachers.

The testing barriers workgroup was formed to investigate testing barriers experienced by candidates of color and bilingual candidates and develop recommendations for consideration by PESB and the Washington State Legislature.

Graphic showing that 50% of students are white and 50% of students are people of color. Conversely, 89% of teachers are white and 11% are people of color.
Nearly 50% of our students identify as students of color, while only 11% of teachers identify as educators of color (Office of Public Instruction 2016-17).

Research shows that teachers of color have positive outcomes in closing the opportunity gap for students of color, as well as for white students. After consideration of literature and studies produced on behalf of this effort, the workgroup generated their final recommendations (PDF).

In their recommendations, the testing barriers work group called for the need to move away from using standardized tests as a single predictor of knowledge and skills. The workgroup also considered research that points to standardized testing’s inherent cultural and linguistic bias. As a result, standardized testing tends towards particular sets of knowledge and cultural norms, creating unfair advantages within the system. The recommendations call for a system that values all the skills that contribute to what makes a great teacher – including community knowledge, cultural responsiveness, social emotional skills, and ability to develop relationships with students and families.

 

Primary Sidebar

  • Resources and reports
    • Data portal
    • Handouts
    • Online learning
    • Professional Learning
    • Reports
      • Braille competency reports
      • Educator assessment system report
      • Educator shortage report
      • Grow Your Own teachers report
      • Testing barriers in Washington State report
      • The potential of micro-credentials in Washington state report

Footer

Seal of the state of Washington

Professional Educator Standards Board

Old Capitol Building
600 Washington Street SE
Olympia, WA 98504-7236

PESB@k12.wa.us
Paraboard@k12.wa.us

(360) 725-6275

STAY UPDATED

Sign up with your email address to receive news and event information.

Copyright © 2023 · Staff Intranet