In Alabama, a long and tortuous saga of teacher testing has gotten even more complicated. In 1981, the state began requiring new teachers to pass content tests in the subjects they teach. That law was challenged on grounds that it was racially discriminatory, and in 1985 the state dropped the test, though the lawsuit continued to wend its way through various courts for 15 years. In 2002, the state education department, Alabama State University, and the Alabama Education Association came to an agreement that requires college students who want to be teachers to pass a general knowledge test (though not a true subject-mastery test). That agreement was scheduled to be ratified by a state judge this week - until a group of Alabama State University education students filed their own petition to block the new test on discrimination grounds similar to the first complaint more than 20 years ago. Now, where would a group of education students get the money to file a lawsuit in state court? The students aren't saying, but their lawyer has represented the AEA in multiple suits before. Has AEA changed its mind on the agreement? Was the agreement a sham from the get-go? Unanswered questions and strange coincidences abound in this case, which is now scheduled to go to trial on December 20.
"Teacher testing in trouble again as ASU students oppose it," by Phillip Rawls, Associated Press, October 15, 2004
"Teacher testing under fire again," Montgomery Advertiser, October 18, 2004