Meeting of the Board of Regents | July 2007

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Program Completer Performance on New York State Teacher Certification Examinations
DATE:	July 11, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goal 3
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Information

 

Based on 2005-06 New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) pass rate data, what institutions are required to submit corrective action plans to the Department?

 

Proposed Handling

 

For information.

 

Procedural History

 

Pass rate data for the State teacher certification examinations is used to meet accountability requirements under Part 52.21(2)(iv) of the Commissioner's Regulations and Federal law (Title II, Higher Education Act).

 

Background Information

 

Enhanced Accountability: When the Regents enacted its teaching policy Teaching to Higher Standards: New York’s Commitment, it required that the students at an institution have an 80 percent pass rate on all the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations required for the first-level certificate [prior to 2004 the certificate was a provisional certificate and required the passage of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) and the Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written (ATS-W)]. In 2004, with the introduction of the new certification structure, students who received an initial certificate were now required to pass the LAST, ATW-W and the Content Specialty Test (CST) in the area of their teaching certificate. Therefore, beginning with the 2004-2005 year, teacher preparation institutions were held accountable for 80 percent of their students passing all three of these examinations.  Institutions must maintain an 80 percent pass rate for all program completers on each examination. If an institution is identified as having a pass rate of less than 80 percent on any of the examinations, it is required to submit a corrective action plan to the Department for review and approval. Both the State Education Department and the U.S. Department of Education use these test results as one measure to help ensure high standards of quality in teacher education programs.  Examination results are used in the following way to identify institutions:

 

• For both the LAST and ATS-W examinations, the Department uses pass rate data to identify institutions for corrective action when they have 10 or more examination scores in the given year.

 

• Beginning with 2004 - 2005 test scores, pass rates on individual CSTs have been used to determine whether an institution is in the low-performing category. The Department uses CST data to determine whether an institution satisfies the 80 percent pass rate only when the institution has 30 or more scores on a given CST.  Data from up to the three most recent years is accumulated to reach a total of at least 30 scores, beginning with 2004-2005 data as the base year. If an institution does not meet the minimum 80 percent pass rate on a CST examination, the Department advises the institution to prepare a corrective action plan to address the area of the CST.

 

Corrective Action Based on 2005-2006 NYSTCE Results

 

Based on 2005-2006 LAST, ATS-W, and/or single or multi-year CST examination results, the following institutions will be required to submit corrective action plans for the Department's review and approval:  Boricua College, CUNY Queens College, Daemen College, Mercy College (Bronx), Mount Saint Mary College, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Touro College (Flatbush and Manhattan). Refer to Appendix A for NYSTCE data for 2005-2006 program completers and Appendix B for institutions that will be required to submit corrective action plans.  

 

Recommendation

 

N/A

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

N/A

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment

Appendix B: 2005-2006 Low Performing Institutions

Institution	Test with < 80% Pass Rate			Note
	Test	No. Tested	Pass Rate
Boricua College	Multi-subject	46	78%*	2004-2005 test results: 20 took the test, 15 passed with a pass rate of 75%. 2005-2006 test results: 26 took the test, 21 passed with a pass rate of 81%.
CUNY Queens College	English CST	72	79%	-
Daemen College	Social Studies CST	36	75%*	2004-2005 test results: 25 took the test, 19 passed with a pass rate of 76%. 2005-2006 test results: 11 took the test, 8 passed with a pass rate of 73%.
Mercy College (Bronx)	Multi-subject CST	79	75%	-
Mercy College (Bronx)	Students W/Dis CST	42	57%	-
Mount St. Mary College	Social Studies	39	74%*	2004-2005 test results: 18 took the test, 12 passed with a pass rate of 67%. 2005-2006 test results: 21 took the test, 17 passed with a pass rate of 81%.
Rochester Institute of Technology	Deaf and Hard of Hearing CST	32	72%*	2004-2005 test results: 17 took the test, 13 passed with a pass rate of 76%. 2005-2006 test results: 15 took the test, 10 passed with a pass rate of 67%.
Touro College (Manhattan Campus)	Students W/Dis CST	494	69%	-
Touro College (Flatbush Campus)	Students W/Dis CST	227	74%	-

*Combined pass rate for 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. The Department uses CST data to determine whether an institution satisfies the 80 percent pass rate only when the institution has 30 or more scores on a given CST.  Data from up to the three most recent years is accumulated to reach a total of at least 30 scores, beginning with 2004-2005 data as the base year.