Ohio student teachers did so well on many parts of their state licensing exam that few points separated top and bottom groups in scores released this month.

        Private Catholic schools in Southwest Ohio had the highest summary scores on the Praxis II tests:

        • Xavier University, 96 percent.

        • College of Mount St. Joseph, 95.

        • University of Dayton, 95.

        Among Tristate public schools, Miami University was best (94), followed by Wright State (93), the Uni versity of Cincinnati (91) and Shawnee State (87).

        Northern Kentucky University scored 96 and Thomas More College hit 94 on the same Praxis II exam.

        Despite its 87, Shawnee State scored best among Ohio's open admissions state schools on many parts of the summary figure.

        “While there's room for improvement, there's nothing to get uptight about,” David Todt, head of teacher education at Shawnee, said, noting how few points separated top and bottom groups.

        “We all did very well and we've got to do better,” added Lawrence J. Johnson, dean of UC's college of edu cation.

        Students may retake the Praxis II licensing exam until they succeed. Ohio will not license them to teach until they pass.

        The scores are required by the federal government in the new effort to make teacher-training programs accountable. Test-takers generally were students who graduated in the 1999-2000 school year.

        The Ohio Department of Education said Ohio graduates did better than test-takers in 35 states using the Praxis II. Eight states use different tests to qualify students for teaching licenses. Seven use no test.

        Ohio schools also were ranked according to which quartile (or roughly a quarter of the total number of Ohio teacher training programs) where their summary scores placed them. The top quartile was 95-100. The second quartile was 92-94, the third, 88-91, and the fourth, 87 or less.

        The top quartile included XU, UD, MSJ and 12 more schools; the second included Miami, Wright State and 11 more schools; the third included UC and another nine other programs; the bottom quartile included Shawnee State and nine other schools.

        That kind of grouping hurts, UC's Dr. Johnson said, because a 91 would be an A or A- in most classes.

        Ohio State, with 97 percent, is the only state school in the top quarter. However, OSU also is the only state school that has only a graduate program in teacher training.

        The federal government also required each state to set up another ranking that indicates which schools need help, again, using grads' summary scores:

        • Successful means state approval and student Praxis II scores of 70 percent or higher for five consecutive years.

        • Conditional describes schools with summary per centage of 70 percent or less with two-year approvals.

        • Low performance includes schools that are conditional for three consecutive years. If they don't improve, they lose state approval for their teacher ed programs.

        Those three designations are new this year, so no one is in the low range.

        However, Robert Hite, director of ODE's center for the teaching profession, said two (Central State University with a 42 percent and Notre Dame College of Ohio with 70 percent) are conditional because of Praxis II scores.

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