New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed a law in June that eliminated the basic skills test requirements for aspiring teachers.
The law, Act 1669, cleared the state Senate in a 34-2 vote as part of the state’s 2025 budget and went into effect on January 1, 2025.
‘Teachers unions don’t want teachers to demonstrate basic competency.’
The legislation states, “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 … to complete a Commissioner 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.”
Democratic lawmakers argued that removing barriers to obtaining teaching certificates would be the best way to address the state’s teacher shortage.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jim Beach (D), stated, “We need more teachers. This is the best way to get them.”
While the basic skills test is no longer required, some certification tests remain in place for specific subject areas, according to the New Jersey Monitor. For example, aspiring mathematics teachers must pass a Praxis subject matter exam, and aspiring biology teachers must complete both general science and biology subject matter tests.
The New Jersey Education Association, a teachers’ union representing roughly 200,000 active and retired education professionals, led the effort to eliminate the basic skills test and several other initiatives to reduce certification requirements for aspiring teachers.
The NJEA has called the basic skills test “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” It claimed that the “one-off standardized test” could not “effectively measure the knowledge or skills needed to be a great teacher.”
Nicki Neily, the founder and president of Parents Defending Education, reacted to the elimination of the basic skills test.
“New Jersey teachers will no longer be required to pass a basic skills test to become a teacher. The New Jersey Education Association was the driving force behind the bill. Teachers unions don’t want teachers to demonstrate basic competency in reading, writing, and math before going into the classroom,” Neily stated.
In 2023, Murphy signed a similar law, Bill S1553, which formed an alternative pathway for certification that circumvented the basic skills test.
Murphy also previously signed legislation removing the Education Teacher Performance Assessment as a requirement for aspiring teachers. He claimed the move would “streamline a process that has previously acted as a barrier.”
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