Wisconsin Republicans are not satisfied with giving the biggest bump in taxpayer dollars to private voucher schools, they still want to keep playing Santa for them in order to keep those lucrative campaign donations coming in. The newest gift that that the GOP want to give them is allowing them to hire teachers who can't teach:
Wisconsin elementary school teachers could become licensed without demonstrating they can effectively teach children the science of reading under a plan being considered by lawmakers.
The proposal is on the table just months after the state Legislature passed a sweeping bill attempting to improve reading outcomes by overhauling how children are taught to read, with schools now required to use a science of reading approach.
The new bipartisan plan working its way through the Legislature would exempt teachers from having to pass the Foundations of Reading test, commonly called FORT, before entering the classroom.
The argument is that removing the requirement that teachers are able to teach would help with a teacher shortage. What it will do is lower the quality of education the kids get at private schools even further:
The National Council on Teacher Quality recently studied 25 teacher reading licensure tests used by states and found only six exams were strong. One of those was Wisconsin’s FORT test, said Heather Peske, president of the council.
Peske said tests like FORT can tell prospective employers whether teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach reading effectively.
"My question is, how will you ensure that your aspiring teachers have the knowledge and skills aligned with the research on how to effectively teach reading before they enter the classroom?" Peske said.
Peske said if less than half of teachers pass the test, then that means those teachers are not prepared to teach children to read.
"It's kind of odd timing for the state to be implementing a comprehensive reading bill that is trying to better teach kids to read and better align to the science of reading, and simultaneously introducing bills that would lower the guard rails for teachers to enter the classroom," Peske said.
We already know that the goal of education privatization isn't better education. It's all about the grift. This only proves it again.
