How to Prepare for the ORELA Test
The state of Oregon has a teacher certification program. All teachers who are otherwise qualified must also take the ORELA test to get certified for work as an Oregon teacher in public schools. Teachers should learn the resources to prepare for the test.
In all, there are 27 Oregon Educator Licensure Assessments exams. including one for Multiple Subjects. To find out all the ORELA test subjects for which you need Oregon teacher certification, go to the "Tests" page on the Pearson Education ORELA website. Pearson is the testing agency that administers these Oregon teacher exams. You can find a link to that page and links to other valuable pages in the Resources section at the bottom of this article.
Once you hit that page, then you can click on any subject to be taken to a dedicated information page for that ORELA subject. You can find out the fees for that certification test and other important details. The fee for these tests is typically $95 but may vary by subject. Details like the test date and test sites for that ORELA exam subject are also included.
More importantly, you will see a link near the bottom of each page to find ORELA preparation information. View a sample of the ORELA English Language Arts exam preparation page in the Resources below.
Unfortunately, it is pretty typical of state teacher certification testing programs to be vague about how to prepare for these tests. ORELA is really no different. Other than generic test-taking tips that you can get on each preparation page, the most you are going to get is an ORELA exam content outline. You can access those outlines on each exam preparation page.
To pass these tests, you would then generally need to hunt down or use old textbooks for classes in that subject. This would include both books used in the classes you will be teaching and books on the same subject used in college. Teachers should use the ORELA test content outlines to select study textbooks and to make sure they have studied all relevant areas of the Oregon teacher certification test they are taking.
Pearson does have some additional study guides that may help in certain subjects for the ORELA. However, they are generic in nature and may not be completely suitable for the Oregon teacher certification exams. Those offers can be seen from the NES Prep link in the Resources below. There is also a generic NES practice test that could be good for getting used to the ORELA exam format.
As always, having discussions with teachers that are already certified to get tips on the test can always be beneficial. Just remember that some teachers who have been around a long time may give advice that is no longer relevant due to updates on some ORELA tests.
Resources:
Pearson Education: Tests (ORELA Exam Subjects)
Pearson: ORELA English Language Arts Preparation Page
Pearson: NES Prep
Pearson: NES Practice
