Numbers not adding up for prospective teachers in NJ

Perhaps we should first be doing more testing of teachers rather than students!  This data from NJ speaks volumes about the low and declining caliber of people entering the teaching profession (the story is no different nationwide).  And to rebut the union canard, while more money is part of the solution, across-the-board pay increases are perhaps the LEAST cost-effective way to combat this problem...  Instead, what's needed is selective pay increases (more for highly effective teachers, math and science teachers, those willing to teach in the toughest schools, etc.) combined with more effective ways of evaluating teachers so the best ones can be rewarded and, critically, the worst ones can be removed.

Prospective  teachers in New Jersey have to master reading, writing, and -- what was that  third thing again?
 
The arithmetic is not good when it comes to new teacher candidates in the Garden State. Only 58 percent who took the required licensing exam in math in 2005-06 passed it, according to the state Department  of Education.
 
They did better in other areas; 64 percent passed the social studies test and 71 percent passed the English exam.

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Numbers not adding up for prospective teachers in NJ
 
 8/2/2007, 4:28 p.m. EDT  
 The Associated Press
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1186062250181600.xml&storylist=jersey <http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1186062250181600.xml&amp;storylist=jersey>
   

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)  Prospective teachers in New Jersey have to master reading, writing, and what was that third thing again?