Teachers without PRAXIS to become ‘subs’

Teachers whose contracts will expire after Aug. 5, 2005 will still be hired even if they have not taken and passed the PRAXIS test, albeit only as “substitute” teachers.

Public School System associate commissioner David M. Borja disclosed this new policy during the monthly Board of Education meeting last week.

Borja said the board made a policy that PRAXIS is compulsory and if the contract ends before August 2005, they would be renewed for one year but only as a substitute teacher.

If their contracts end after August 2005, Borja said they would be rehired until they pass PRAXIS 1 and 2.

“We just want to make sure we prepare a contract that ends in August 2006,” he said.

The board is giving CNMI public schools teachers until August 2006, otherwise, their contract will not be renewed even as substitute teachers.

Commissioner on Education Rita H. Inos earlier said PRAXIS is mandated by the “Highly Qualified Teacher” requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 as well as the Board of Education, which made PRAXIS a CNMI requirement in July 2004.

She also said the CNMI is not the only state requiring PRAXIS. Inos said PRAXIS is used by 40 states and three territories to meet the rigorous test of teacher core knowledge competency as required by the NCLB Act of 2001.

Inos said in the board meeting last week that her office is flying trainers from the University of Guam for PRAXIS training. She said the professional development trainers would conduct the workshop this July for the local public school teachers.

Borja added that this is part of their encouragement and support to the teachers in taking the required examination. He said the training would focus on the professional development in the core areas of concerns for the teachers such as Language Arts, Mathematics and Social Studies. He said the training would only take two weeks.

Teacher representative Ambrose Bennett is appealing to public school teachers to participate in the training for their own benefit. He said as far as he was told during the board meeting, the teachers will also get paid for the training, though, he said he would still verify with the board the amount of the allowance PSS would provide the teachers.

The board said they are continually encouraging teachers to take PRAXIS. Federal programs advisor Tim Thornburg earlier said 40 other states in the mainland have required teachers to pass the test not only for stability in the school system but also for “portability.”

He said PSS chose to make PRAXIS a requirement due to “portability issue” that if one teacher is qualified to teach in the CNMI then that teacher is also qualified in 40 other states.

Thornburg said that teachers who passed PRAXIS could be hired immediately anywhere in the United States simply because they passed the test.

PSS director of finance Richard Waldo, who recently concluded his PRAXIS review with teachers, confirmed that teachers who do not take and pass the PRAXIS would definitely not be hired anymore.

“It’s bye-bye for them,” he said. Waldo said teachers who have not taken the exam yet do not need to worry because as long as they do their job by reviewing, they will pass be able to the PRAXIS.