Should Tougher Basic Skills Requirements Be Viewed as a Means of Strengthening the Teaching Force?

The study assesses the criterion-related validity of one state's set of basic skills requirements for teacher licensure. Though all 186 participants met the basic skills requirements in place when enrolled as teacher education students, the PPST Reading scores of 77 participants and the PPST Mathematics scores of 67 do not meet the state's current requirements. The magnitude of correlations between the participants' basic skills scores and their performance in student teaching provides no criterion-related support for the current requirements, and the correlations involving reading and mathematics raise questions regarding the minimal competency assumption that positive relationships exist between teaching performance and scores below the qualifying levels on basic skills tests.