Arizona Educator Exams Update Arizona Educator Exams: What You Need to Know Kortney Zesiger, M Ed. 1

Arizona Educator Exams Update Arizona’s Educator Exams are computer-based and consist of both NES® (National Evaluation Series™) tests and Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments (AEPA) tests. 2

Requirements  Subject and Professional Knowledge exams are required for Arizona certification per ARS§15-533(A)  Candidates take two types of assessments:  Professional Knowledge Exams – to assess pedagogy  Subject Knowledge Exams – to assess content competency  Special education candidates will need to take subject knowledge exams in order to be highly qualified. Federal highly qualified requirements are usually met by passing specific subject knowledge exams 3

Benefits to Examinees  Exam Fees – NES computer-based exams will cost $95 compared to the former paper-based (no longer available) fee of $115  Accessibility – Computer-based testing centers allow examinees year- round testing in Arizona centers and over 200 centers nationwide, and selected sites worldwide  Availability – Testing centers are open 5 to 6 days per week (depending on the site)  Preliminary Results – Candidates will receive preliminary results prior to leaving the testing center for all exams without a constructed (written) response component available within 2-4 weeks of test administration. 4

Preparing to Test  The intent of all subject knowledge exams is to assess that an individual knows the subjects they are certified to teach  NES/AEPA Subject Knowledge exams are aligned to Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards and applicable Arizona and national academic standards  NES Professional Knowledge exams are aligned to InTASC (now Arizona’s professional teaching standards)  § 5

Preparing to Test 6 Free Preparation Materials: (  Organization and structure of NES  Testing tips  Test profile  Test framework  Video- How to prepare for your teacher certification test  Video- Pearson professional centers tour Additional testing tips:

Preparing to Test 7  Improved Preparation Materials:  Full Length Online Practice Exams: comprehensive feedback on performance, interactive diagnostic reporting, and sample test questions with explanations  Comprehensive Study Guides: a diagnostic test pinpointing areas to focus your study, with sample test questions with explanations for each correct answer, in-depth coverage of each test competency, review questions at the end of each chapter, and a guide to additional resources sample test questions with explanations

Preparation Implications  Out of State Students/new hires  Seeking Arizona certification- must take NES exams required for the appropriate certificate being pursued.  Seeking out of state certification- take the tests required for their state certification ** Students using Arizona certification to reciprocate to another state must take Arizona exams 8

NES Exams – Content Areas  Elementary Education  English Language Arts  History  Biology  Chemistry  Dance  General Science  Physical Education  Physics  Mathematics  School Library Media Specialist  Art  Music  Health  Business Education  Special Education  Middle Grades Mathematics  Middle Grades English Language Arts  Middle Grades General Science  Middle Grades Social Science  Theater  World Language Exams:  Spanish  French  German  Chinese (Mandarin) 9

AEPA– Content Areas  Constitutions of the United States of America  Dance  Early Childhood  Earth Science  Economics  Geography  Political Science/American Government  Principal Subtest I,II  Reading Endorsement  SPED- Early Childhood  SPED- ED,HI,LD,MR,OHI,S&P,S&L,VI  Superintendent 10

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Score Reporting  Candidates must choose Arizona as a reporting state when registering for an exam or bring official results to ADE for certification purposes  Districts/schools may choose to accept preliminary results for highly qualified purposes  LEAs have the ability to search for any Arizona certified educator through the common logon-HQTA for test history 12

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Score Reporting Continued  NES without constructed response- Immediate preliminary results and official results within two weeks  AEPA without constructed response- Immediate preliminary results and official results within four weeks  NES with constructed response- Official results within four weeks  AEPA with constructed response- Official response within six weeks available within 2-4 weeks of test administration. 16

Recruitment/Reciprocity  Know Arizona’s certification requirements PRIOR to recruitment.  Do the out of state candidates hold a teaching certificate?  Does Arizona have a comparable certificate when recruiting candidates out of state? (Valid, Clear, Comparable)  Are you matching the candidates current certificate with an appropriate position? 17

Recruitment/Reciprocity Do we accept the required tests from the recruiting state as a comparable test? available within 2-4 weeks of test administration. 18

Recruitment/Reciprocity  ONLY IF…  Test is less than ten years old  Comparable exam states "Passed” on the score report  Applicant already has a clean, valid and comparable certificate they are reciprocating. 19

Recruitment/Reciprocity  Are you communicating other reciprocity issues to potential candidates? (SEI, US/AZ constitution)  Check for certificate vs. endorsement 20

Recruitment/Reciprocity  Encourage partnerships with Arizona educator preparation programs (EPPs)  Communicate shortages to ADE and EPPs  Respond to survey from ADE/me  available within 2-4 weeks of test administration. 21

What’s New  The AEPA principal exam was recently updated  Now in two subtests  Principal subtest I (181)  Principal subtest II (281)  Candidates must pass both subtests for principal certificate  Superintendent test is under revision  Merging AEPA and NES websites in early

Additional Information     within 2-4 weeks of test administration. 23