School Board Grades Teachers on a Curve

So many aspiring educators flunked the state’s first basic reading-and-writing test for teachers that officials graded them on a curve. The Board of Education voted this week to adjust the passing grade to reduce the number of those who failed from 56% to 44%, prompting outrage from acting Gov. Paul Cellucci. House Speaker Thomas Finneran said he has seen the tests and was appalled that candidates couldn’t “define a noun or a verb or what democracy means or the meaning of the word ‘imminent.’ ”