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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Ericca Reynolds (reynoldse@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
5/13/2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES-The Louisiana Board of Regents has assigned Northwestern State University's College of Education a grade of "A" for the performance of regular and alternate certification program completers on the state teachers' examination, also known as PRAXIS. The Board of Regents awarded the College of Education $7,500 for last year's passage rate which was 97 percent. Schools with passage rates of 92-97 percent received an "A."
NSU increased its pass rate on the latest round of tests to 99 percent. The Higher Education Act of 1998 requires all institutions in the United States with teacher preparation programs to issue annual institutional reports which contain information specified by the U.S. Department of Education.
During the first phase of the accountability system, the performance of regular and alternate certification students on PRAXIS was assessed. Grades are based upon either the passage rates of the last academic year or the average of the passage rates of the last two academic years, whichever is higher.
In the future, additional factors will be assessed to examine such areas as ratings of programs by for year alternate certification program completers; ratings of programs by first year teachers' mentors; retention of teachers after three years of teaching; and university-district partnerships.
"The purpose of this accountability system is to clearly
demonstrate to the public that all universities and colleges in
the state are working diligently to produce quality teachers who
work effectively with PK-12 students," said Dr. John Tollett,
dean of the College of Education.
Tollett says the monetary award will be used to fund professional
development activities for the NSU faculty. Recently, these funds
have been used to send five of the faculty to Washington, D.C.
for accreditation training.
"We are extremely pleased to be recognized as a high performance institution," said Tollett. "We will continue to meet the standard for exemplary status."