Governor accuses Board of keeping down teaching standards

JACKSON — Gov. Phil Bryant is criticizing members of the state College Board for their opposition to increasing requirements for teaching candidates.

Bryant, in an unusual appearance at the board’s meeting yesterday, accused the board and the state’s public universities of trying to keep standards low.

The governor wants to require college students who want to enter teacher preparation programs to score 21 or higher on the ACT college test and to have a 3.0 GPA on pre-major coursework.

The colleges warn almost half of students admitted to teacher preparation in 2011-2012 wouldn’t have qualified if Bryant’s proposed standards had been in effect.

Bryant says he’s reluctantly agreed to a compromise allowing a student to win admission if they score at the national median on the Praxis teacher entry test.