It’s administrative bullshit, I say. To get certified to teach high school art in Vermont, I have to take the Praxis tests first. Great for NOOBS, but…
Even though I am certified in Massachusetts, passed their test, taught art there for a year, have an MFA in painting, took 5 grad level art ed classes, and recently taught 6 college art classes in Vermont, I have to pass the tests.
Now I have to pass tests in reading, writing, and math. The same tests you need to pass to get into an undergrad art ed program. Tests which have nothing to do with what I want to do. And tests which I will fail.
So I guess my big question is- how I do I pass these these stupid tests which prove nothing in my field so I can get certified? Anybody have any tips or suggestions? I SUCK at math, my highest class in HS was algebra, 15 years ago. There appears to be calculus and trigonometry on the test, which has nothing to do with teaching art. Strangely, I don’t have to take the art general knowledge test.
Anybody else ever been in this situation? How did you cope? Did you pass?
I don’t have any good advice. Certification for educators in this and other states focuses most of the time on things that don’t matter at all, and fails to prevent total morons from becoming teachers.
I don’t know much about the Praxis exams, but I assume there must be study books/guides available, as well as tutors. Have you looked into that at all?
I took the Praxis I last fall. (I live in PA, but it’s the same test.)
It’s really not that difficult. The reading comprehension passages aren’t taken from a graduate-level physics textbook, the math is basic algebra, and the grammar section doesn’t ask you to parse Shakespeare. I knocked it out of the park, and as anyone here will tell you, I’m not exactly the smartest one here.
I will suggest that you take it at a computer testing center; for some reason, it seems easier and less stressful to do it there, rather than at a paper-and-pencil site.
That being said, who told you you had to take the Praxis? If it was anyone other than the Vermont Department of Education, I’d call them and find out if there is a reciprocal licensing agreement between VT and MA. If it was the Vermont Department of Education, well, have a good time.
At least there’s a test to take. Here in California, the Dept. of Education covers K-14 (kindergarten through community college). My Ph.D. qualifies me to teach my subjects to all levels, freshmen through Ph.D. (with the occasional high schooler in the summers), at the state’s four-year colleges (the University of California and California State University systems), but because the subject of my degree is not on the master list I am not qualified to teach the same courses at the community colleges. There’s no remedy short of getting another graduate degree.
ETA: That’s not strictly true, but the path to recognizing a different degree as “equivalent to X” is labyrinthine.
And to the OP: it sounds a bit like the part that’s worrying you is the math. A lot of teachers are genuinely freaked out by math. I teach future teachers, and what they do is just memorize the procedures for the test and get through it. I think that’s a terrible strategy for someone teaching math, but for your case, it would be all right. Some of these are very stupid people, and I rarely say that about human beings. You’ll be fine.
