Aimed at preservice teachers, the latest book by Associate Professor Emery Petchauer, titled “Navigating Teacher Licensure Exams,” explores the different obstacles presented with teacher licensure exams and how to overcome them. These high-stakes exams are what aspiring educators must pass in order to become licensed teachers.
The book tacklesthe issues embedded in the teacher licensure exam in a way that students willboth understand and benefit from. Having a resource to better understand anexam that can determine a student’s career path was one of the overarchinggoals Petchauer strived for while composing the book.
“I took theseexams when I was an undergraduate student majoring in English and SecondaryEducation,” said Petchauer, who has a dual appointment in the Department of English and Department of TeacherEducation and also serves as the English Education programcoordinator. “When Ibecame a professor, I noticed that some of my education students who performedreally well in class struggled with the exam. That didn’t make sense to me, soas a professor and scholar, when I see a problem and it doesn’t quite makesense, it’s my job to help. Seeing the students who performed well in my classand who would be great teachers struggle with the exam, and in some cases, haveto change their major, made me want to explore this problem and ultimatelywrite the book.”
Four years of research went into writing “Navigating Teacher Licensure Exams: Success and Self-Discovery on the High-Stakes Path to the Classroom,” (Routledge) which was released in December 2018. This scholarly book discusses how students pass the exam after initially failing, how they handle text anxiety and negative emotions, and how they build healthy advice networks.
“I worked closelywith a number of students as they prepared to take their own exam, andafterwards, I tried to understand how they made sense of the experience,”Petchauer said. “I spent a lot of time interviewing them as they were preparingand also working with them in study sessions. I actually went to the exam withstudents on a number of occasions to try to better understand what it was likefor them to be at an exam setting and how they experienced that. I alwaysinterviewed them afterward to get a better understanding of their experiencesand feelings after it was over.”
Tips & strategies for students
Before taking teacherlicensure exams, students often get mixed messages from their peers about thedifficulties encountered with the test. These mixed signals influence the waystudents prepare for the exam and can affect their performance. To counteractthese messages and anxieties, the book provides ways students can take controlof these messages and prepare themselves for success.
“Exams like theteacher licensure exam are often racialized as well, with racial disparities concerningwho passes the exam and who doesn’t,” Petchauer said. “For some students ofcolor, the exams are racially charged experiences, so there’s a chapter abouthow people can work through the racialized aspects of the exam so it is lesslikely to hinder their performance.”
The book alsotouches on how faculty members can better support preservice teachers andprovides them with a resource to prepare their students for the exam.
“I hope the book sheds light on the issues surrounding teacher licensure exams,” Petchauer said. “Sometimes it just takes a certain type of support for them to be able to do well. Giving these students a sound, scholarly resource to help them prepare, and also giving teacher education programs, professors, and faculty members a resource to prepare their students for the exam, these were all goals of mine during the process.”
This post, written by Kim Popiolek, originally appeared on the College of Arts & Letters website.