Another “report card” meant to make public education more accountable is expected to take shape today. Teachers colleges and preparation programs nationwide are supposed to report on how well their students performed while taking their state teacher-licensing exams during the 1999-2000 school year.

        This yardstick is supposed to help measure the performance of schools and college programs that train new teachers.

        The reports go to each state, which is then required to forward that data to the U.S. Department of Education by Oct. 7. The department will compile a national report to deliver to Congress by April 7, 2002.

        Congress made such annual reports mandatory in 1998 through amendments to the Higher Education Act.

        In Ohio, where 50 colleges and preparatory programs train teachers, compliance has been labor-intensive. Some schools reported 600-700 test-takers.

        Kentucky's 26 teacher-education programs each had nine to 400 students who took the exam last year.

        Teachers colleges whose students do well will have bragging rights.

        But those at the bottom of the rankings must publish that result. A persistently poor performance risks the loss of federal training money.

        At the University of Cincinnati, Lawrence Johnson, dean of the College of Education, cautioned against misusing the state and national report cards.

        Fifty states use too many tests with too many passing scores to make comparisons valid, he said. And Ohio's pass/fail system is too simplistic to provide true accountability.

        Also, the required reports do not indicate whether a school reaches out to minorities or to first-generation college students, who tend to get low first scores on standardized tests, he said. But often these people have the skills to become fine teachers.

        To avoid simplistic interpretations of schools' test results, Ohio is adding contextual information to its report to Congress, Dr. Johnson said.

        Many schools, states and testing agencies reported problems collecting data accurate enough to satisfy Congress.

        But not Kentucky, said Phillip Rogers, who is coordinating data collection for the state. Teacher-training programs there began filling out similar reports two years ago, when Congress' demands became clear, he said.

        “I just didn't want a train wreck,” he said.

        Kentucky's individual school reports will be on time, and its statewide report to Washington will be ready long before the Oct. 7 deadline, he predicted.

        Ohio has had a tougher time, state officials said. Coincidental to the new federal requirements, Ohio already was changing and toughening its teacher-licensing program. Some schools are expected to be late sending test results to Columbus.

        Even so, Ohio Department of Education officials expect to meet the federal reporting deadline.

        Marilyn Braatz, spokeswoman for the department's Center for the Teaching Profession, said Ohio will use its annual test results to rank its teacher-training programs as “high performing,” “performing,” “at-risk” and “low-performing” institutions.

        One immediate benefit to the new reporting card system: Teaching programs can still get high marks even if their future teachers test poorly in the subjects they wish to teach — math, biology, English, etc.

        Those subjects are taught by different departments in a college or university, Kentucky's Dr. Rogers said. The test results will help colleges of education hold those other departments accountable for the way they educate future educators.

        For too long the problem was “not taken very seriously,” he said, but “now it's very high-stakes.”

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