Greetings Future Educator,
At the end of last week, Governor Snyder signed legislation that essentially removes the Basic Skills Examination as a requirement for student teaching. This legislative changed now gives each teacher preparation institution in the state flexibility as to how they will assess each teacher education candidate’s knowledge in reading, writing, and math as required by our current national accreditor.
As you probably are aware, the SAT was the test used to determine if a candidate met the basic skills requirement. With the current change in law, the policy at UM-Flint remains the same as candidates are required to achieve a 480 on the reading/writing portion of the SAT and a 530 on the math portion of the SAT to satisfy program admission requirements.
With the new flexibility, the faculty are engaging in review of the SAT policy to determine if it is appropriate to keep the requirement, to make modifications, or to implement a completely new process. I recognize that this change impacts several students, and we are working hard to make a decision as to how the university is going to proceed with requirements for admission and student teaching. I appreciate your patience as we move through the process in reviewing the policy.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Center for Educator Preparation staff for further information at educatorprep@umflint.edu. Once a decision is made our office will communicate any changes and next steps. Please visit our webpage www.umflint.edu/cep OR www.umflint.edu/teach, and/or our social media facebook.com/umflintteach OR twitter.com/umflintteach for updates and more information.
Thomn