The Ministry of Higher Education announced it is reinstating the standardized testing requirements laid out in Norm 09-15. Those applying to study education and opt for positions in public schools, need to pass the same standardized admission test used for education students in Puerto Rico.
The number of those passing the test has not met expectations and many in higher education have advocated for more inclusiveness. After much debate, the Ministry said late last week, that the universities that grant degrees in education need to keep the standardized tests for the incoming students. The same norm allows for remedial work as needed to help the potential teachers pass the tests on a second attempt.
Advocates of an easier test had complained that few students were passing the tests. But the decision was met with many protests of educators who said the intention of the norm issued in 2015 is to raise the level of the educators as a first step to raise the quality of education here. The debates revealed that most of those now applying for the tests came from households where the parents had only elementary level education levels and themselves had graduated with serious deficiencies. It is apparent the career of education is not attracting the better Dominican students.
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Diario Libre
25 April 2021