An Ace Up Their Sleeves

Fund Helps Aspiring Teachers Cover Costs Of Testing

By Neil Harvey

Since its founding well over a century ago, Radford University has equipped countless students with the knowledge and skills they’ve needed to become teachers.

Now, the school is facilitating one alum’s efforts to provide aspiring educators with additional assets they need but can’t necessarily obtain through their studies or in the classroom – in particular, funds they can use to cover the registration fees for their mandatory licensing tests.

Across the state, those exams include the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment (VCLA); Praxis: Teaching Reading, Elementary; and Praxis II. The overall bill for students can reach or even exceed $500.

That's a financial hurdle that has long been on the radar of a Radford graduate and recent contributor to the school who – although she wishes to remain anonymous – is a teacher herself.

“Testing is becoming so expensive,” she said. “Future teachers have to take at least two tests and sometimes more, depending on their majors. Sometimes it's those little things that can hold a student back…. We’ve got to have a mechanism to help these students.

“Let's remove obstacles rather than putting them in their way.”

And that's exactly what she's doing. The seed money she recently donated to Radford’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) will go toward establishing a fund she’s named “Ace the Test.”

Through that program, students majoring in education – including music, foreign languages, health, physical education and other concentrations – now have the opportunity to receive monetary assistance the first time they take their tests.

“We will use this generous fund to provide undergraduate students who have demonstrated financial need and meet specific criteria, with vouchers to cover registration fees for licensure assessments,” said Debora Bays Wilbon, Ph.D., associate dean and director of field experience with CEHD.

“Ace the Test's” primary donor doesn’t want to be named or receive credit for her gifts simply because she feels that attention should go toward a larger target.

“It’s not about me. It’s about helping the next generation of teachers,” she explained, adding that she is nonetheless pleased to offer assistance to other Highlanders.

I love my alma mater and was very, very happy there. Radford made me a teacher, and it has prepared and continues to prepare so many incredible educators, she said.

There’s currently very good cause to help educators – according to a November 2022 report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the current school year saw 10,900 teachers leave the profession across Virginia, while only about 7,200 first-timers were hired. The report also showed that as of mid-August 2022, there are 3,300 teaching vacancies across the state.

Within that troublesome climate, “Ace the Test” –while still a relatively new program on campus – has already helped its first Radford student.

Alyssa Holland, an elementary education major and first-generation college student from Stephens City, Virginia, earned her diploma in interdisciplinary studies in December 2022.

Holland’s goal was to return to her hometown and teach there, at the elementary school level. Late last year, she had one final exam she needed to take to receive licensure, the RVE Elementary & Special Education test, and she learned she was eligible for a voucher through “Ace the Test.”

“It was extremely helpful to me,” Holland recalled. “Instead of worrying about paying for the registration fee, I had more time to study and prepare for the content on the test.

“I can’t thank ‘Ace the Test’ enough for helping me out during my last semester at Radford,” Holland said.

That’s the kind of assistance that “Ace the Test’s” creator would like to see paid forward by Highlander students, alums and instructors as her fund grows.

ABOUT PILLAR III

Radford University is committed to providing exceptional learning opportunities. Your support will ensure access to internships, student teaching, career and talent development and other measures to enhance the Radford experience for our students.

“One person alone cannot finance this," the donor explained. "But together, we can help ease some of the challenges our future educators face."

For more information about “Ace the Test” at Radford University or to inquire about donating to the fund, contact Interim Vice President for Advancement and University Relations Penny Helms White '85, MBA '87, at pwhite@radford.edu.