The Office of Educator Excellence (OEE) occasionally receives inquiries from teachers, teacher candidates, and certification officers about requirements for retaking Michigan Tests for Teacher Certification (MTTC). OEE provides this document in response to educator preparation provider (EPP) inquiries regarding candidates who seek to expand the grade range of certain endorsements(e.g., World Languages, ESL, Health/Physical Education) or to qualify for certification after a significant amount of time has passed since program completion.

R 390.1115 of the Teacher Certification Code specifies that MTTC scores are considered valid for five years from the date a candidate successfully passes their test, consistent with common practice in measurement and assessment. A recommendation for certification or endorsement provides an assurance on the part of the EPP that a candidate demonstrates the appropriate proficiencies specified in Michigan State Board of Education-approved preparation standards at the time of the recommendation. However, there are some scenarios in which the five-year period could be extended, provided certain criteria are met.

Scenario 1

Criteria:

• Candidate successfully passed their MTTC more than five years ago.
• No significant change to the test framework has occurred since the candidate tested.
• Candidate’s EPP has confidence that the candidate meets current standards and willingly recommends certification.

Result: The candidate does not need to retest.

Rationale: Because the test framework remains unchanged, the blueprint and other test properties (e.g., relative difficulty of test forms as determined by standard setting and equating) remain unchanged. A candidate who retests in this scenario should have a similar enough test experience that the difference is not meaningful; therefore, retesting is unnecessary. EPPs wishing to exercise this option should contact Dana Utterback, Departmental Analyst, before the candidate applies for certification in the Michigan Online Educator Certification System.

Scenario 2

Criteria:

• Candidate successfully passed their MTTC more than five years ago.
• At least one significant change to the test framework has occurred since the candidate tested.
• Candidate’s EPP has confidence that the candidate meets current standards and willingly recommends certification.

Result: The candidate must retest.

Rationale: Because the test framework has changed, the blueprint and other test properties (e.g., relative difficulty of test forms as determined by standard setting and equating) have changed. A candidate who retests in this scenario would experience significant enough differences (e.g., meaningful changes to test content, changes in minimum expectations for demonstrating competency) that previous scores cannot be reasonably compared to new scores.

Both scenarios naturally raise a question of how one can determine when a test framework or preparation standards last had significant changes. The Active Endorsements and MTTC Alignment page lists when standards were last updated for each endorsement field, and dates on which the current MTTC for each field was changed significantly will be added. EPPs may also find this information in Results Analyzer.

Note that candidates who apply for certification within five years of their passing date are not required to retest, even if the test framework or program standards have undergone significant changes in that time. For further inquiries about MTTC validity, please contact Bridgett McDowell, Education Assessment Specialist.