ExCET testing and its effect on teacher preparation programs and particularly physical education

Trends and information were identified from public universities and colleges in the Texas concerning requirements for admission to teacher education programs, preparation procedures for Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas (ExCET), interventions for the ExCET, and a particularly close scrutiny of physical education in these areas. The following factors were outlined areas of investigation: admission requirements for teacher preparation programs, recent curriculum changes for teacher education candidates, predictive methods for the ExCET, effect of the ExCET pretest on ExCET scores, procedures for ExCET preparation across academic disciplines, and ExCET scores of physical education versus aggregate disciplines. The descriptive data were collected from a questionnaire sent to the public university certification officers in Texas with 29 of 34 responding. Grade Point Average (GPA) and Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) score requirements for admission to teacher preparation programs were required in all the programs responding used GPA as a requirement and 28 of 29 universities used TASP scores. Most respondents reported the use of ExCET pretests (25 of 29) as preparation and barcode requirements before the ExCET. Physical Education was in the middle of the disciplines scoring 19th and 21st of 47 disciplines in first time test takers rates and fared better than 26 other disciplines. Physical Education ExCET results were analyzed from 1987 to 2000 and it was discovered that both All-Level Physical Education and Secondary Physical Education decreased first time passing rates on the ExCET until 2000.