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300 PSS teachers to take PRAXIS exam
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Posted on Mar 02 2006
At least 300 teachers will simultaneously take the certification exams PRAXIS 1 and 2 tomorrow.
Federal Programs advisor Tim Thornburgh reported the schedule of the exam to the Board of Education yesterday during the board’s monthly meeting at the Central Office.
He said the 300 teachers from Saipan, Rota, and Tinian would take the exam at Northern Marianas College campuses on three islands.
Thornburgh said that teachers from Rota and Tinian don’t need to go to Saipan just to take the exam because NMC instructional sites both on Rota and Tinian are going to conduct the exam process.
The results of the exam would come out six weeks after the exam date, according to Thornburgh.
Public school teachers who have yet to sign up for the exams will still have two chances to take the certification exams in April and in June.
Thornburgh told the board that the teachers have been providing the Central Office “great” results with regard to taking PRAXIS. “Teachers are doing better,” he said.
He said a number of reviews have been conducted by fellow teachers, PSS officers, and the Central Office itself.
The Central Office will submit a PRAXIS status report to the U.S. Department of Education in May, as required by state officials, according to PSS associate commissioner for administrative services David M. Borja.
Borja is reminding all public school teachers in the CNMI who have yet to take the exams to do so as soon as possible.
In a letter from U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, she said the department would review each state’s progress in meeting the “Highly Qualified Teachers” goal. If a state falls short of the HQT goal by January 2006, Spellings said a revised plan must be submitted to the USDE by May 31, 2006.
PSS finance director Richard Waldo, who is currently conducting a PRAXIS II review course for 21 teachers at Marianas High School, earlier said that teachers who turned in their favorable PRAXIS test scores to his office have received at least $300 in refunds for passing both PRAXIS I and II. If the teachers also initially paid for their review classes, an additional $200 dollars are given them.
