Several fads ago there was a movement to grade teachers in terms of their competency — competency-based testing. Everyone knows that there are good teachers and there are bad teachers. The trouble is, it’s hard to define the categories. It’s like the Supreme Court justice who couldn’t define pornography, but knew it when he saw it. In New York State, prospective teachers must take tests in both pedagogy and subject material. That seems reasonable. There ought to be some minimum standards, so I thought that I would try my hand at setting up such requirements.

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