Increasing Hispanics in the Educator Workforce: A Science Methods Intervention to Improve Passing Rates on an EC-6 Science Certification Examination

ABSTRACT

Although increasing numbers of teachers of color are entering the teacher pipeline, they continue to be in high demand, but short supply. Research shows teachers of color have lower pass rates on certification exams, a single factor that functions as a gatekeeper to teacher licensure. This study explores the impact of a science methods intervention on Hispanic elementary teacher certification scores. Results show the mean score for the post-intervention (241.63) was 17 points higher than the pre-intervention score (224.63) and the results were statistically significant (t = −5.816, df = 18, p = .000). In this study, not only did the Science certification scores improve, the scores for Hispanic and White EPSTs were not statistically significantly different (t = .394, df = 50, p = .695).

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-service teacher education
• early childhood/elementary education
• constructivism
• teacher certification testing
• instructional interventions/practices
• science education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).