Southeast will lower its test score requirements for the state-mandated Missouri General Education Assessment (MoGEA) test for students seeking admission to the Educator Preparation program according to College of Education, Health and Human Studies associate dean Daryl Fridley.

The altered requirements will make the program more accessible and fair for all students Fridley said, but will not lower the university's standards for the education program.

“What we did was take a close look at it and saw that most students were eventually getting in, but some were spending a lot of money,” Fridley said.

It is $25 for individual math, reading, writing, science and social studies and $49 to take the whole test he said.

He also said by lowering test requirements students will have a better chance of passing.

Southeast was using higher scores for their students compared to some other universities, he said.

He also said that higher scores did not guarantee that students would become better teachers.

“Once students get in, we feel like it is on us and our responsibility to make sure you are qualified and a high-quality teacher when you get out,” Fridley said.

He said there is a lot of social-economic diversity in the area and students come to the university from a wide range of high schools with different backgrounds.

“We don’t want to disadvantage someone who is coming from a little weaker academic background at the front end and what we tell them is we are going to do everything we can to help them,” Fridley said.

The current version of the MOGEA was adopted in 2014 and revised it in 2015. He said there is the talk of further revisions in the next couple of years.

Students looking to get into the program must complete 42-course hours, maintain a 2.75 cumulative GPA and have an A grade of C or above in several required courses along with the MoGEA to gain admission to the program.

When they get in, the idea is to get them prepared to teach, he said.

If somebody is willing to put themselves out there and keep trying, he said they feel that is a good start.