## Facts

- South Carolina used National Teacher Examinations (NTE) scores for decades in teacher certification, salary determination, and as a factor in state financial aid formulas to local districts.
- By 1969, the State required a minimum NTE score of 975 for teacher certification; later rules continued NTE-based minimum scores.
- The United States and intervening teacher and education groups showed that the minimum-score requirement disqualified a substantially disproportionate number of Black teacher candidates.
- The State commissioned Educational Testing Service (ETS) to conduct a content-validity study assessing whether NTE content matched South Carolina teacher-training curricula and to inform minimum-score setting.
- ETS canvassed in-state teacher-training schools and used panels of credentialed Black and White educators to evaluate curriculum alignment and to recommend minimum scores reflecting minimally adequate knowledge.
- In 1976, South Carolina adopted revised NTE-based certification rules and minimum scores, supported at trial by expert testimony that ETS methods met recognized professional validation standards.
- Plaintiffs alleged (1) an Equal Protection violation due to racially disparate effects in a state with a history of discrimination and (2) a Title VII disparate-impact violation for lack of sufficient job-related validation.

## Issues

1. Whether the State’s NTE-based certification, salary, and related policies violated Equal Protection where they had a substantial racially disparate impact on Black teachers.
2. Whether the NTE requirements violated Title VII under a disparate-impact theory because the State failed to prove the tests and cutoffs were job related and justified by business necessity.

## Decision

- The three-judge district court rejected the constitutional and Title VII liability claims and upheld South Carolina’s use of NTE scores for certification and salary decisions on the record presented.
- For Equal Protection, the court held that disparate impact, without proof of discriminatory purpose, did not establish a constitutional violation.
- For Title VII, the court found plaintiffs established prima facie disparate impact, but the State rebutted it with validation evidence supporting job-relatedness and business necessity.
- The court treated ETS’s content-validity study and supporting expert testimony as sufficient validation for the NTE’s use in the State’s certification system.
- The decision addressed liability on federal constitutional and statutory claims; issues concerning class/procedural matters and damages were reserved.
- The judgment was summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court.

## Legal Principles

- Equal Protection liability for a facially neutral practice generally requires proof of discriminatory purpose; disparate racial impact alone is insufficient.
- Under Title VII disparate-impact analysis, once plaintiffs show a substantial adverse impact, the employer or state must show the challenged test or cutoff is job related and consistent with business necessity.
- Professionally accepted validation evidence, including content-validity studies tying test content to relevant curricula or job requirements and supported by qualified expert testimony, can satisfy Title VII’s job-relatedness showing for standardized exams.
- A testing practice with significant disparate impact may be upheld where the validation record supports the legitimacy of the test’s content and the rationality of the minimum-score standard.

## Conclusion

The court upheld South Carolina’s NTE-based teacher certification and salary framework despite substantial disparate impact on Black teachers, concluding that Equal Protection required proof of discriminatory intent and that the State’s content-validity evidence established Title VII job-relatedness and business necessity for the challenged testing requirements.


United States v. South Carolina, 445 F. Supp. 1094 (D.S.C. 1977)