Dissecting new law on teacher testing, after Musk comments
By: Lori Comstock
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A New Jersey law that went into affect January 1 [2025] to address an ongoing teacher shortage by eliminating certain testing required of aspiring teachers has created a soc la media frenzy of confusion amid comments made by Elon Musk to his over 211 million followers on X.
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In June 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law Assembly Bill 1669, which eliminated the requirement that individuals seeking a teacher certification would have to pass a basic skills test. The move comes as the state grapples with the challenge of hiring new teachers while retaining existing educators amid an ongoing drop in students seeking teaching degrees,exacerbated by teacher vacancies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2023 report by a state task force.
..... But as the state continues to make moves to replenish teacher shortage - including a $1 million initiative launched last month [12/2024] - the new law has cerated a firestorm Online with Musk, Tesla and SpaceX chief executive quick to criticize. In a post on his platform X on Monday, [12/06/2025] Musk shared a screenshot of an article a magazine titled "New Jersey Teachers No Longer required to Pass State's Basic Literacy Test," adding his own comments: "So teachers don't need to know how to read in New jersey? Seems like that would make it challenging to teach kids how to read."
..... As of Tuesday [01/07/2025] afternoon, Musk's post had been viewed 18.2 million times, "lied" 89,000 times and retweeted 23,000 times.
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While laws can be tricky to dissect for those without knowledge of a particular subject, this one seems to have been taken out of context.
Claim said aspiring NJ teachers don't have to know how to read
..... This is false.
..... The law states as follows: "the state Board of Education shall not require a candidate seeking any instructional certificate, except in the case of a limited certificate of eligibility or a limited certificate of eligibility with advanced standing established pursuant to P.L. 2021 c. 224 (C18A:26-2b et seq.) to complete a Commission of Education-approved test of basic reading, writing and mathematics skills including, but not limited to the Praxis core Academic Skills for Educators test, in order to obtain an instructional certificate."
..... In essence, the law states that in order to get an instructional certificate, individuals will no longer need to pass the Praxis Core Test, a basic skill test for reading, writing and math that was previously required by the state's commissioner of education. Many educators have called the test redundant, including New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who is an administrator at a public charter school in North Jersey.
..... "The test is duplicative," she wrote in a comment to Musk on X, adding that she agreed with the elimination of the basic skills test, since it was added on top of test she had already taken in specific subject areas.
....."the extra tests are a money-maker, as the original tests are sufficient to prove content knowledge," she wrote on her X page on Monday. [01/06/2025]
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To become certified in New Jersey, candidates must obtain a college degree in an acredited teacher preparation program, complete months of teaching experience inside a school stetting and pass Praxis II core subject tests specific to their degree.
Efforts to attract new teachers
..... Public schools in the garden State have continuously ranked at the top in the nation, with the state earning high marks in student achievement, school first for reading proficiency among eighth graders.
..... But the state has faced challenges attracting new teachers, with the COVID-19 pandemic placing a strain on teacher retention and a lack of college students choosing teaching as a profession over time. A state task force developed by Murphy in 2023 to address the ongoing issue found that form the 2014-2015 school year to the 2017-2018 school year, the number of teachers leaving New Jersey schools far exceeded the number of new certified teacher graduates.
..... Solutions have ranged from implementing metorship programs for newly hired teachers to prevent early burnout to increasing pay and lowering years required to reach tenure. Last month, [12/2024] the New Jersey Education department launched a $1 million imitative Teach. Inspire.New.Jersey, filled with resources to help inspire, recruit and retain teachers. The site was cerated to help streamline the teaching certification process, while also sharing stories form teachers who were awarded this year's [2024] county Teacher of the Year honor.
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Among other recommendations by the task force: Evaluate the assessments teachers are required to pass, including the possibility of eliminating the mandatory Prasis Core Academic skills for educators exam as a state requirement.
..... Email lcomstock@njheral.com; X; @LoriComstockNJH or on Facebook.