A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
The law, Act 1669, was passed by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June in an effort to address a shortage of teachers in the state, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass a “basic skills” test administered by the state’s Commissioner of Education.
“We need more teachers,” Democratic Sen. Jim Beach, who sponsored the bill, said according to the New Jersey Monitor. “This is the best way to get them.”
New Jersey is especially in need of math and science teachers, according to an annual report from the state’s education department.
Just months earlier, Murphy signed a similar bill into law that created an alternative pathway for teachers to sidestep the testing requirement. A powerful teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, was a driving force behind the bill, calling the testing requirement “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” Teachers in the state are paid an average of $81,102 annually, according to the National Education Association.
The New Jersey Board of Education will eliminate the requirement for most teacher candidates to pass basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills tests to gain certification. This new rule, effective January 1, 2025, excludes those seeking limited certificates of eligibility. pic.twitter.com/I96e4noqGe
— Jacqueline Tobacco (@Jax1331) December 30, 2024
New Jersey followed the example of New York, which scrapped basic literacy requirements for teachers in 2017 in the name of “diversity.”
Other states such as California and Arizona also lower requirements for teacher certification by implementing fast-track options for substitute teachers to become full-time educators and eliminating exam requirements in order to make up for shortages in the field that were worsened by Covid, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
As students struggle to regain learning losses caused by school closures during the pandemic, some states, such as Massachusetts, have opted to lower testing requirements for students in order to allow more to pass rather than make up for the lost education.
Teachers unions continue to hold major bargaining power in some blue states, pushing legislation that protects teachers despite their failure to improve learning outcomes for students. Only about half of New York students in grades three through eight tested as proficient in English and Math in the 2022 to 2023 school year despite the state spending almost twice the national average on education and New York teachers remaining some of the highest-paid in the country, according to the National Education Association.
Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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