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The Department has moved to 135 Santilli Highway in Everett. The Department's office and Licensure Welcome Center are open. The new location has free parking and is a short walk from the Wellington station on the MBTA's Orange Line.
For Immediate Release
Friday, September 25, 1998
Contact:Alan Safran

State Department of Education Provides Additional Study Materials to Teacher Test Candidates

MALDEN - Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll announced today that new study materials are now available to prospective educators preparing for the two-part Massachusetts Teacher Tests. A new 55-page "Test Information Booklet" was mailed to all candidates registered for the October 3 test, and was made available on the internet at http://www.mtel.nesinc.com/MA_SG_opener.asp on Tuesday, September 22. The booklet is part of ongoing outreach efforts by the Massachusetts Department of Education to inform prospective educators and the public about the tests, now required of all candidates for certification as educators in Massachusetts. In addition to this booklet, test objectives for both the Communication and Literacy Skills Test and subject tests are available on the Department's website and through education departments at the state colleges and universities. Sample questions and answers for the Communication and Literacy Skills test have also been available to test takers on the internet since July 2. Additionally, the Department is holding briefings with education college administrators on some of the actual questions and answers from the April and July tests. Included in the newly-released booklet are sample multiple-choice and essay items for both the reading and writing sections of the Communication and Literacy Skills test and sample multiple-choice items for the most popular of the 40 subject tests, with good and poor sample responses provided for each of the open response items. The sample items include four questions which actually appeared on the April test. The booklet also provides test objectives for each section of the test and specific details about the format of each of the subject tests. "I encourage test candidates to use these materials to become better informed about the tests. We hope this information will help reduce some of the anxieties prospective educators may have in preparing to take the tests," Commissioner Driscoll said. The tests were given for the first time in April as a new condition for certification as required by the 1993 Education Reform Act. The tests require candidates for certification as public school educators to take and pass a test of communication and literacy skills and a test of knowledge of subject matter, in order to measure their ability to communicate effectively both with students and with parents and to measure their knowledge of the subject they intend to teach. Massachusetts regular public school educators must be certified by the state first in order to seek employment locally. For additional information, visit the Department of Education website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mtel/.



Last Updated: September 25, 1998



 
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