Education Dept. Says States Have Lax Standards for Teachers
The 66-page report, which is based on information states provided to the federal government, said a handful of states, including New York, Texas and North Carolina, had begun raising their requirements for qualifying teachers. But it criticized the majority of states for lax standards and noted that one test California demands that all teachers pass, the California Basic Educational Skills Test, is set at the 10th-grade level.

States also set passing grades on another common test that assesses a teacher's reading, writing and math skills "shockingly low," the report to Congress said.

Of the 29 states using the exam, known as the Praxis Pre-Professional Skills Test, only Virginia ranks passing as a score at roughly the national average in reading. Fifteen states pass teachers who read in the lowest quarter of the national average, and nine states will pass teachers in the bottom fifth of all readers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/13/education/13TEAC.html