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Associate commissioner to take PRAXIS test today
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Posted on Mar 04 2005
Much as Public School System associate commissioner David M. Borja would like to attend today’s teachers’ union meeting at Kagman III Community Center, he said he would be preoccupied with other matters.
“I would love attend it but I’m going to take the PRAXIS test,” said Borja. The Education associate commissioner is taking his PRAXIS I exam today at 7:30am at the Northern Marianas College where he enlisted for the exam.
Borja admitted that the exam would be his first PRAXIS exam but he plans to take the second level after this.
Borja said the reason why he is being open about this is that he wants people to know that even administrators will take the test, so teachers have nothing to worry about when taking the test.
Although this is the first PRAXIS test for Borja, he said he had taken other kinds of exams as prerequisites for teacher employment. Borja took and passed exams such as the National Teachers Exam.
He admitted that the exam is for his personal interest but, at the same time, he will be able to discuss the matter with more authority when teachers talk to him about the exam and its degree of difficulty. “I guess you just have to be confident when you take it,” he said.
The minimum passing mark for the CNMI is set at 170.
Borja said his own daughter took the test and passed it well above that mark. He said his daughter told him that the exam was really easy, especially if exam takers are prepared.
Borja recalled that when he left the military in 1994, he had to renew his teacher certificate by taking the national teachers exam. He said the exam might be different by name but both PRAXIS and the National Teachers’ Exam measure the competence of teachers across the nation.
PSS director of finance Richard Waldo also recently passed the advance PRAXIS exam. Borja said that Waldo took the exam on Guam and passed with flying colors.
Borja would like to tell teachers who are preparing for the exam to relax and prepare, adding that he is sure that they too would pass the test.
He said that he would know the results of his exam today in two weeks’ time.
