VCLA

The second test required for acceptance into the career switcher program is the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment. You are required to take both the reading and writing parts of the test. The reading section is just reading comprehesion. The writing section includes multiple choice questions to check your knowledge of spelling, punctuation, grammar etc.. There are also two writing assigments. Each test is scheduled for 2 hours for a total of 4 hours. You can spend any part of the four hours on either test. I spent about 3 hours and 45 minutes on the test and was busy the entire time. As expected I did better on the reading comprehension than the writing part. I still passed with plenty of room to spare. To prepare, I looked at the example test questions on-line and I also looked at a book on grammar and punctuation about a week before the test. I'm not sure how you would study for a test like this. You either know it or you don't based upon many years of use.

Both the Praxis II and VCLA tests are required for college students who are going into education. You have to pass both tests to be accepted into the education departments at their schools. Since less than 50% of the students pass the mathematics content test on their first try, it must be discouraging wanting to get in the department and not being able to start because of your test scores.

I was definitely the oldest person taking the VCLA test by about 30 years. It was stange to be in the classroom environment but it didn't bother me too much. Next I will talk about the validity of the Praxis standards for new math teachers.