Is New Jersey dumbing down standards for teachers as a new year dawns?
A-1669, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy, takes effect on January 1, 2025. Proponents believe it’s both duplicative as well as a necessary change to address difficulties recruiting teachers; critics assert that it’s bar on basic skills tests for teachers will negatively impact teacher quality.
“Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the State Board of Education shall be prohibited from requiring a commissioner-approved educator preparation program to require the completion of a commissioner-approved test of basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills including,” the new law explains, “but not limited to, the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators test, as a condition for admission.”
New Jersey’s largest teachers’ union – the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) – backed the legislation. It also happens to be a major financial backer of Democrat causes and candidates through its political, non-political, and “dark money” activities, and the public sector union’s priorities often appear to conflict with those of its members’ students.
This historic relaxation of standards comes at a time when New Jersey students continue to grappled with historic learning loss emerging from Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns; one report commissioned by the Murphy Administration cited pandemic-era closings as a major cause of the learning crisis and even discovered steep drops in basic skills competency in which, ironically, the state will no longer test its own teachers.
