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I think Praxis is primarily a cash cow, to be honest. Turning out minimally well-rounded educators is a secondary benefit to raking in $$$.
Texas has their own set of certification tests and I found all of them way too easy.
The content tests were a breeze..I was done with the Technology EC-12 in 15 minutes
The Math tests took the longest but that's because I double checked all of my answers.
And, as another poster stated, some of these teachers brag about how many times they had to take the tests before passing. I'd be embarrassed to be telling folks about taking the test 6 times.
I think Praxis is primarily a cash cow, to be honest. Turning out minimally well-rounded educators is a secondary benefit to raking in $$$.
I can't disagree with you there.
Don't get me started on ETS.
My assertion, though, is that at least they weed out some. That not true for business majors, architects, sociology majors, urban planning, criminal justice...you get the picture.
I am simply reviewing all the math I know I need to review. Plus, I will take any and all math courses needed. This running from math has gone on long enough, at least for me. It has been a long time since I took math courses, and I was never very good back then at math. Speaking for me,at least, when a person really needs to learn something as an adult that person is able to learn, if determined to learn. Back in high school, I never thought I could do well in some subjects.
Do high schools these days generally hire only native speakers to teach foreign languages? When I attended middle and high school, the language teachers generally were not native speakers. In fact, I remember only one substitute teacher who was a native speaker. No other language teacher was a native speaker. At the local community college, only one teacher is a native speaker.
There is limited instruction in Chinese in my area, and the teachers of that language are all native speakers. Job listings for Chinese teachers for local schools will always ask for native speakers or the equivalent. I use Chinese as an example. I am not 100% sure, but in job listings for other languages, I think they ask for native speakers. Yet, the teachers usually are not native speakers.
Last edited by katnip kid; 04-23-2015 at 04:36 AM..
Reason: add something
Do high schools these days generally hire only native speakers to teach foreign languages? When I attended middle and high school, the language teachers generally were not native speakers. In fact, I remember only one substitute teacher who was a native speaker. No other language teacher was a native speaker. At the local community college, only one teacher is a native speaker.
There is limited instruction in Chinese in my area, and the teachers of that language are all native speakers. Job listings for Chinese teachers for local schools will always ask for native speakers or the equivalent. I use Chinese as an example. I am not 100% sure, but in job listings for other languages, I think they ask for native speakers. Yet, the teachers usually are not native speakers.
Our schools tend to hire native speakers but they are much harder to find. My understanding is that there is a big difference between being fluent and being able to pass the language certification tests. Even harder is finding native speakers that want to teach at an elementary level. We may have one HS Spanish teacher that is not a native language speaker, but they were hired years ago.
Finding qualified native speakers (who actually want to teach) are hard to find outside of the major metro areas like NY or LA. Even harder for some language like French or German.
The requirements for a native speaker always discouraged me from going further in a language. Yet, few, if any, native speakers were hired.
Depends on the region. It is about 50/50 where I am - but all of us non-francophones either lived in a French region or did full immersion from K to BEd. The whole "native speaker" requirement is dwindling in SLA (second language acquisition) as it is becoming clear that nonnative speakers can be equal, if not better.
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