Special Education Certification Testing Update
March 26, 2012
Basic Skills Test
Praxis I - Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) from ETS is the old basic skills test covering reading, writing, and math. It is still acceptable as a certification test under the following two scenarios:
- All three PPST tests were passed prior to April 2, 2012.
- If only one or two of the thee PPST tests were passed prior to April 2, 2012, the remaining test(s) may be passed after April 2 and the PPST scores will still count for certification purposes.
- PPST tests may be taken in paper/pencil format on selected dates or on computer at Prometric Test Centers by appointment year-round.
Pre-service Academic Performance Assessment (PAPA) from Pearson Evaluation is the new basic skills test covering reading, writing, and math. It becomes available on April 2, 2012 and it must be taken by all undergraduate certification candidates who do not fit into either of the two scenarios listed above.
- PAPA is available only on computer. It is available year-round by appointment at Pearson Professional Centers.
- All three PAPA modules must be taken the first time. If retesting is required, only the module(s) that has not been passed needs to be retaken.
NOTE: Effective March 2012, post-bacc candidates do NOT have to take a basic skills test for certification purposes in PA.
Special Education Content Test
The new content tests for Special Education certification are the Special Education PreK-8 Test and the Special Education 7-12 Test. Both are part of the new Pennsylvania Educator Certification Test (PECT) series offered by Pearson Evaluation Systems. Additional information about the Special Education tests and registration for the Special Education tests is available at http://www.pa.nesinc.com/
The PECT series of tests is currently available only by appointment at Pearson Professional Centers. A list of all current centers is available at the PECT website listed above. The two listed centers closest to Shippensburg University are:
Pearson Professional Center, 801 East Park Drive, Harrisburg, PA 717-564-6755
Pearson Professional Center, 205 Granite Run Drive, Lancaster, PA 717-569-0056
Remember that all test scores must be reported to Shippensburg University.