MHS, GES lead preliminary PRAXIS data

Marianas High School and Garapan Elementary School currently have the most number of teachers to pass the certification exams PRAXIS 1 and 2, according to the most current data provided by the Public School System.

Based on the March 4 results gathered by PSS federal adviser Tim Thornburgh, MHS has the most high school teachers passing the test, with 32 of its 75 teachers acing PRAXIS 1.

GES, for its part, leads the elementary level with 18 of its teachers successfully hurdling PRAXIS 1.

William S. Reyes Elementary School follows GES, with 13 of its 31 teachers passing PRAXIS 1. Oleai Elementary School ranks third with 10 of its 30 elementary teachers passing the certification test.

It’s a different picture, however, for MHS and GES with regards to the PRAXIS 2 requirement.

According to Thornburgh, only 10 of 75 MHS teachers who have taken the higher-level exam passed it, while nine of GES’ teachers have successfully hurdled PRAXIS 2.

Thornburgh said the overall success rate for teachers taking PRAXIS 2 is at 82 percent, while that of PRAXIS 1 is at 70 percent.

He added that, of the 612 public school teachers, 491or 80 percent have either signed up or have taken PRAXIS 1, while only 394 teachers have thus far signed up and taken PRAXIS 2.

There are only three remaining dates to take PRAXIS 1 and 2: April 29, June 6, and Aug. 5.

Teachers who will take the final date of the certification exams will fall behind the Aug. 1 deadline set by the federal government for all public school teachers to pass PRAXIS.

Thornburgh said those teachers who will take the exam in August would have to be hired under a substitute teacher program “because, obviously, they did not meet the deadline.”

He said the results of the exam are given back to the teachers at least two months from the test dates. Thus teachers who would take the August test date would be substitute teachers until they receive their certification results.

Public school teachers are required to have a bachelor’s degree, obtain full state certification, and pass the Praxis exams to be deemed “highly qualified.”

Thornburgh, together with the Associate Commissioner for Administrative Services David M. Borja, will present the preliminary data to all public school principals in the CNMI in their meeting today at the Pacific Resource for Education and Learning at MHS.

The Central Office will submit a PRAXIS status report to the U.S. Department of Education in May, as required by state officials.