‘No to lowering Praxis test scores’

The State Board of Education and CNMI Public School System are in agreement that lowering the passing scores for Praxis exams is inconsistent with their goal of promoting high student learning for the youth of the CNMI.

This was the decision relayed by the board and PSS to the Association of Commonwealth Teachers, which has been pushing the adoption of lower scores after the group found out that CNMI-PSS has higher cutoff scores compared to other states.

“To use the median cut scores of states with lower scores than ours would mean changing and lowering our teaching and learning standards. Doing this is inconsistent with the ultimate goal of PSS, which is high student achievement. Our goal is to improve teaching and learning. …Lowering teaching standards could have an adverse impact on student learning,” the report, prepared by PSS and BOE, stated.

PSS and the board said the Praxis set scores were based on the average scores of a group of PSS teachers and administrators and students from the School of Education at Northern Marianas College who volunteered to take Praxis I.

The report, as presented to the association, disclosed that there are no states that have a lower cut score in Praxis I than the CNMI PSS. The average cut scores in this test ranged from 172.43 to 173.90 points for 26 to 28 states that require Praxis I.

It cited Hawaii and Guam, which both have a similar cut score of 170 for all test categories in Praxis I (just like the CNMI), while the U.S. Virgin Islands, North Dakota, and Louisiana have a similar cut score of 170 for at least one of the three test categories in Praxis I.

From a sample of approximately 19 states, PSS said the CNMI PSS has higher scores on the principles of learning and teaching test for grade levels 5 to 12 by an average of 1.78 points. Of these 19 states, PSS has a higher cut score than 12 states in Praxis II by an average of 2.20 points.

The report said the average number of states with higher Praxis II cut scores in English, math, science, and social studies ranges from 10 to 17 points.

“The highest Praxis II cut score is in English, 164, which is 6 points higher than the CNMI; while the lowest Praxis cut score is 143, which is 15 points lower than the CNMI. However, the average score from the sample of 29 states that require Praxis II English Language Arts is 155.72, which reflect a 2.28 point difference,” states the report.