139 The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment January 2012, Vol. 9(2) © 2012 Time Taylor Academic Journals ISSN 2094-0734 Certification of Teaching Competencies at the High-School Level in Mexico: An Evaluation Model for a Social Challenge Agustin Tristán-López Institute of Evaluation and Advanced Engineering San Luis Potosi, Mexico Miguel Angel Ylizaliturri-Salcedo Informatics Department Institute of Evaluation and Advanced Engineering San Luis Potosi, Mexico Abstract This study describes the basic purposes and technical elements of a high-school teacher certification project in Mexico. It illustrates a change process, rooted in a set of validated measurement instruments that incorporates substantial and useful feedback to teachers on their strengths and weaknesses. Since its initial conception in 2001, the Certification Test for High-school Education Teachers, called ECPEMS (from the Spanish name), has met domestic and international standards. Its foundation includes design specifications of a set of instruments, a scale of measures and comprehensive reports based on a four-area model of the teacher’s professional profile (disciplinary, psycho-pedagogic, assessment, and professional teaching competencies) in three dimensions (knowledge, skills, and attitudes- values). Mexican institutions accept the model as a solution to a major challenge that crosses national bo undaries: teachers’ rejection or fear for certification, despite popular demands to improve educational results. This acceptance is largely due to the strength of the ECPEMS in providing comprehensive feedback to teachers and institutions to improve the teaching-learning process and the educational results in high schools. Keywords: High-school evaluation, Rasch model, teacher certification, teacher competencies, teacher evaluation. Introduction The need for certified teachers in high-school education voiced continuously worldwide, particularly in Latin American countries and especially in Mexico, has lead educational authorities and institutions to improve assessment efforts for many years. Some of these efforts have focused on competency models linked to labor functions that partially cover the full set of professional activities of teachers at this educational level. From an international point of view, Mexico must address its poor results in national tests, such as the National Assessment Achievement in Schools (ENLACE by its Spanish acronym), produced by the Secretary of Education (Ceneval, 2010), or in international assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), produced by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2010a). These assessments have shown that students at the high-school level are not