Teachers left with online option for PRAXIS I test

Teachers who have yet to register for the regular PRAXIS I test scheduled for this September have no more recourse but to take the examination online.

This, after Public School System director of finance Richard Waldo announced that the deadline for the regular pen-and-paper test for PRAXIS I has lapsed.

The regular test would be held at the Northern Marianas College on Sept. 17 and the end of the registration for the regular test now leaves non-registrants only the option of signing up online and then taking the same test online.

“They do not have any option but to register for [the] online test,” he said. Waldo reiterated that it is now too late to apply for the regular test. “But if they would register for online testing they might make it.”

He, however, said that there might still be a slim chance NMC may still reconsider and urged teachers who have yet to sign up to go to the college and plead their cases.

In a related story, Waldo held his own PRAXIS I review from March 1 to June 7 for the test scheduled last June.

He is glad to inform the public that among the students who attended his review and took the PRAXIS I test, 13 of them passed the test.

“All my students, except one, who took the PRAXIS I exam in June 2005, passed all three parts,” he said. One of his students was his wife, but Waldo said unfortunately she did not pass the Math part.

He said his wife only got 169 in math, just a point short of passing the mark, but was able to pass both reading and writing.

Waldo would be conducting another review class this coming Aug. 6. He said he is inviting teachers to take part on the review, which he said is not connected with PSS. The review course will be held at the Marianas High School SPED Room J102 and will cost participants $99 for the entire instruction. Registration is at 9am on Aug. 6 at the same classroom.

He said the review would be held Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Tuesday and Thursday classes will be held from 6:30pm to 9pm, while Saturday classes will be held from 9am to 11:10am. The entire review course will be from Aug. 6 to Sept. 13, 2005.

Waldo, a Certified Public Accountant with a master’s degree, has been conducting this type of training since 1979 in cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He will be holding the review course for the first time in the CNMI. He has taught mathematics and reading courses for the past 26 years.

Participants, however, will still have to buy or borrow their own books. Waldo recommends the 3rd edition of Barron’s How to Prepare for Praxis by Dr. Robert D. Postman, the 3rd edition of CliffsTest Prep Praxis I and PPST, and the Kaplan Praxis Review.