‘SPED teachers not exempt from PRAXIS requirement’

Special Education teachers are not exempt from taking PRAXIS I and II as the exams are part and parcel of the Board of Education’s continuing effort to achieve “highly qualified teachers” in the CNMI.

Special Education coordinator Joanne Nicholls said the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’s definition of “highly qualified teacher” requires even special education teachers to take PRAXIS as part of their certification.

PSS associate commissioner for administrative services David M. Borja said SPED teachers must also satisfy the HQT requirement for CNMI public school teachers. Initially, PRAXIS I was a requirement for the teachers, Borja said, but if they are teaching a specific subject content area, then they must also take and pass PRAXIS II.

The question of whether SPED teachers are included in the certification requirement was raised during the regular monthly Board of Education meeting held last week at the PSS office on Capitol Hill.

Currently, there are 47 teachers under the PSS Special Education program. There are also 132 teacher aides assisting these SPED teachers.

Figures on the number teachers who have taken and passed PRAXIS are not yet in, said Nicholls.

The CNMI has currently over 723 students enrolled in the Special Education program.

The PSS is anticipating that the vast majority of CNMI teachers will be taking the PRAXIS tests during the next six testing dates beginning this September, according to PSS Federal Programs advisor Tim Thornburgh.

He said the PSS would offer PRAXIS II refresher courses at least three more times before the Aug. 1, 2006 deadline for teachers to have taken and passed the exams.

The dates for these refresher courses will be on Dec. 26 to Jan. 6, to meet the test date of Jan. 7. Another review classes will be held on April 10 to15 to meet the test date on April 29. Thornburgh said the dates in June will be determined and announced later this year.

Thornburgh said that PSS is doing all it can to help the teachers meet the “highly qualified teachers” standards of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Board of Education regulations require teachers to have attained at least a bachelor’s degree, to obtain at least a 5-year certification, and to pass the applicable PRAXIS exams.