A Praxis test is one of a series of American teacher certification exams written and administered by the Educational Testing Service. Various Praxis tests are usually required before, during, and after teacher training courses in the U.S.
To be certified to teach in most U.S. states, one must earn qualifying scores on all parts of the Praxis I and certain Praxis II Content Area Assessments.
The Praxis I, or Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST), consists of three exams: reading, writing, and mathematics. In most colleges and universities, a passing score must be earned for admission to teacher education. In most states, a passing score must be earned before the teacher education graduate can apply for his or her teaching license or certificate.
The Praxis II assessments cover many different subject areas. Each education major requires a different combination of Praxis II exams. In some states, students must pass these exams before being accepted into the student teaching component of the program. Many states use the Praxis II tests as a way to determine highly qualified status under the No Child Left Behind Act.
The Praxis III occurs during the entry year of teaching. A trained assessor visits the entry year teacher in their classroom and observes a lesson. The Praxis III also consists of a pre-observation interview and a post-observation interview to be completed the day of the observation.
It replaced the National Teacher Examination (NTE), also administered by ETS.
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School counselors or pre-service school counselors who are planning to take the Praxis II School Counseling and Guidance exam may benefit from The School Counselor’s Study Guide for Credentialing Exams (Schellenberg, 2012), published by Routledge, is the only study guide currently on the market that is based on the ASCA School Counselor Competencies, CACREP Standards, NBCC NCSCE content requirements, and the NCATE and NBPTS Standards. The study guide prepares users for the NCSCE, Praxis II School Counseling Specialty Exam, NBPTS School Counseling national certification exam, Comprehensive School Counselor Education program exams, and State certification exams for professional school counseling. Highlights of the text include: case scenarios, guided reflections, end of chapter and full-length practice tests with justifications for correct and incorrect responses, and a foreword written by the ASCA President for 2012-2013. The author of the study guide is Dr. Rita Schellenberg, an associate professor and director of the school counseling program for Liberty University. Dr. Schellenberg has over a decade of experience as a licensed professional school counselor in public schools at both the elementary and secondary levels and is also a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. Her national credentials include National Certified School Counselor (NCSC), National Certified School Counselor (NCSC), Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC), and Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS). More information about the credentialing exam study guide can be found at www.thenewschoolcounselor.com.
Examples of states that require teaching candidates to pass their state-specific tests, in lieu of the Praxis: