The Ohio Board of Regents has released the second in a series of annual comprehensive performance reports on educator preparation programs in Ohio. The reports show 5X’s programs are preparing graduates for successful teaching careers.
The Educator Preparation Performance Reports, which include performance data on the metrics identified for teacher and principal preparation programs, provide valuable information for students, parents and educators.
“When you look at outcomes, our programs do very well,” said Dan Mahony, Ph.D., dean and professor at Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services. “Do our graduates teach well when they are in the classroom? The data indicates that they do. They did better than the state average, even though we had a higher percentage of graduates at high poverty schools. The data indicates our graduates are successful even in situations that might be more difficult.”
This is only the second year the reports have been prepared. They show Kent State’s student teachers and graduates credit the university’s program for having big impact on their success.
“This is an area where we did extraordinarily well,” Mahony said.
Ohio’s value-added data provides educators a new measure of student performance. Kent State exceeded the state average on graduates classified as most effective (21 percent vs. 15 percent) and the percentage classified as average or above (75 percent vs. 66 percent).
Kent State’s program completers exceeded the state average on the ACT – English (27.8 vs. 23.49), reading (29.1 vs. 25.6), math (26.8 vs. 22.79), and undergraduate grade point average, or GPA (3.51 vs. 3.45). For math teachers in grades 7 – 12, Kent State’s completers had higher math ACT scores (29.4) and higher undergraduate GPAs (3.59).
The Graduate Survey was a new addition to the state’s Educator Preparation Program Performance Reports this year.
“We do even better on this one,” Mahony said. “Of the 49 items, Kent State exceeded the state average on 45 metrics.”
Mahony acknowledges the reports do have limitations.
“With things such as the Praxis pass rate, each university counts completers in a different way, so sometimes it’s hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison,” he said.
Praxis tests are taken by individuals entering the teaching profession as part of the certification process required by many states and professional licensing organizations.
The reports highlight Kent State’s success and also indicate areas for improvement, Mahony said.
“Any evaluation is not just helpful in determining current success, but also in identifying areas where we can do better,” he said.
The identification of metrics and the report format were developed in collaboration with representatives from 13 public and 38 private educator preparation institutions in Ohio, state agencies and organizations. The Ohio Board of Regents worked with the Ohio Department of Education and higher education institutions to collect data on the following identified preparation metrics for the annual reports. The reported metrics include:
- Licensure Test Scores
- Value-added Data
- Candidate Academic Measures
- Field/Clinical Experiences
- Pre-Service Teacher Candidate Survey Results
- Resident Educator Survey Results
- Resident Educator Persistence Data
- Excellence and Innovation Initiatives
- National Accreditation
There are 51 institutions in Ohio with programs that were evaluated, resulting in more than 500 performance reports. There is also one state report issued and a separate report for each of the 51 institutions. Although the Ohio Board of Regents will use the metrics included in the performance reports for program review and approval, the reports do not include a ranking of programs and do not assign letter grades. Performance reports are published at the end of each calendar year.
For more information about Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, visit
www.kent.edu/ehhs.
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Media Contacts:
Dan Mahony, dmahony@kent.edu, 330-672-2202
Bob Burford, rburford@kent.edu, 330-672-8516