How is this for pushing hard, part 2

Whitney Tilson passes on additional news from RI. Given that the state department of education certifies schools of education, RI Education Commissioner Gist also raised the minimum score required to get into RI teacher training programs.

“cut score” required to enter the teacher training program at all RI colleges. We previously had the lowest cut score in the country, tied with Guam. To set the new cut score, she asked her staff to research who had the highest in the country, and learned it was Virginia. So she set our cut score one point higher than theirs.

From Jennifer Jordan’s report in the Providence Journal:

It’s going to get harder to become a teacher in Rhode Island.

Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has made teacher quality the cornerstone of her three-month-old administration, is raising the score that aspiring teachers must achieve on a basic skills test required for admission to all of the state’s teacher training programs.

Currently, Rhode Island’s “cut score” ranks among the lowest in the nation, alongside Mississippi and Guam. Gist wants to raise it to the highest…

Gist says she intends to transform “the entire career span of a teacher,” including who is allowed to train to become a teacher, the rigor of the programs, mentoring of new teachers, support and training for veteran teachers, and the reward of higher pay for high performance…

Gist and her staff reviewed other states’ cut scores and found Virginia’s to be the highest in reading, math and writing. Gist set Rhode Island’s score one point higher than Virginia’s in each subject, saying she wants to make Rhode Island’s education system the envy of the nation.

Again, if we think we are going to swim through to federal funds on the Governor’s relationship with the President, I think we are in for a rude awakening.