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Saturday, May 25, 2002

By Bill Schackner and Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

How well Pennsylvania school teachers know the subjects they teach seems to depend on the colleges where they were trained.

	Online chart: Testing the teachers

A day after releasing controversial data that showed not all K-12 teachers are equally prepared, the state yesterday offered a second wave of numbers that appear to present teacher preparation campuses with some tough questions of their own to answer.

Among public campuses, six, including California, Edinboro and Slippery Rock universities in Western Pennsylvania, graduated teachers who performed significantly below the state norm when tested for basic skills in one or more areas of math or reading. Three private campuses also graduated teachers who scored significantly below the state norm in at least one of those areas, including Carlow College and Duquesne University.

Four public universities, including Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Penn State University, produced teachers who scored significantly above the norm in at least one math or reading area. Six private colleges also achieved that, including Grove City College.

The results are part of a $7.5 million testing project undertaken by a consultant for the state Department of Education. A debate already is shaping up over the validity of the findings and what, if anything, they say about the quality of teacher training in Pennsylvania.

Most of the 92 teacher preparation campuses, including the University of Pittsburgh, produced graduates who neither tested substantially above or below the state norm.

Officials at campuses whose alumni scored below the norm said some of the graduates passed through their campuses many years ago, and thus were not trained under new, improved programs.

Beyond that, said Pitt Education Dean Alan Lesgold, the low number of teachers who were tested in some K-12 schools and the type of tests they chose to take left him wondering how controlled the sampling of teachers really was.

"I won't say there's nothing there, because some of what I'm seeing makes perfect sense. Clearly this is a reasonable measurement," he said.

"But in terms of telling us what to do it's not very interesting to know how the people trained [on our campuses] 30 years ago did," he said. "Professors come and go. Curriculum changes."

The test results do, however, distinguish among the average scores for recent graduates and those who completed their campus studies years ago, yielding some intriguing findings.

For example, a review of four of the region's largest teacher preparation universities -- Pitt, Duquesne, Indiana and Penn State -- reveals that for reasons not readily apparent, many of the teachers who most frequently scored above the state averages in math and reading graduated from the universities between 1985 and 1993.

They also often outscored fellow alumni who graduated more recently as well as those who finished school decades earlier.

Also according to results released yesterday, graduates from the four schools who had math or reading specialist certifications scored consistently well in their areas of expertise.

Graduates from the four schools who were certified in health, vocation education and special education most often scored below the state averages in math and reading.

The most notable exceptions were Penn State graduates who were special education teachers in elementary schools. Those teachers scored well on elementary math and reading exams.

Colleges and universities across the state could use such data about the performance of their graduates to re-examine and fine tune their educational programs, said Education Department spokeswoman Gretchen Toner.

The basic test of reading and math skills was given to teachers statewide late last year. It consisted of 40 multiple-choice questions in math and reading, and test questions were aligned to state standards at each school level, state officials said.

For example, high school teachers were quizzed on high school-level reading and math; elementary teachers answered elementary-level questions.

Reading tests included comprehension questions and questions about literary elements and devices; math questions covered areas from estimation to statistics.

Some teacher preparation campuses showed up repeatedly in the findings for having graduates who performed substantially above or below the norms:

California University graduates scored 1 point below the state norm in elementary mathematics; 2 points below the middle school level mathematics norm; 1 point below the elementary reading norm, 2 points below the middle school reading norm and 2 points below the norm in secondary school reading.

Cheyney University scored 6 points below the state norm for elementary math; 10 points below the norm for middle school math; and 5 points below the elementary reading norm;

Grove City College scored 3 points above the elementary math norm; 2 points above the elementary reading norm; 3 points above the norm for middle school reading and 2 points above the norm for secondary school reading.

Reaction from the schools to the test results was mixed.

"We don't even know how many alumni took the test. Statistics can say anything," said California spokeswoman Michele McCoy. "We're looking at a 50-page report that we just received yesterday."

At Grove City, Charles W. Dunn, dean of the school of arts and letters, said education majors entering his campus typically have high SAT scores, including an average of 1270 expected for the upcoming fall class, and they are required to take a second major. To the extent those norms have led his school's graduates to perform well in the workplace, he is pleased.

But some strong test performers "can't teach their way out of a paper bag," Dunn said. "The test is important but we shouldn't reach broad sweeping conclusions about it."

The state is paying $7.5 million to Educational Testing Services, the company that also administers the SAT, to test 115,000 public school teachers in the state. The tests, generally called PDAP for Professional Development Assistance Program, will be conducted over five years, with about 20 percent of the state's teachers participating each year.

Results for teachers in 154 districts and for the teacher preparation colleges can be found on the Education Department Web site at www.pde.state.pa.us