USF near bottom in state analysis of teacher preparation programs

The Florida Department of Education is looking at FCAT scores to help gauge the effectiveness of the state’s teacher preparation programs. And according to its first analysis, the University of South Florida College of Education doesn’t look so good by comparison.

A draft report obtained by the Gradebook shows how rookie teachers from different programs – be they university colleges of education, community college programs or district alternative certification programs – fared in 2007-08, based on how well their students performed on the math and reading FCAT.

The DOE determined what percentage of rookies from each institution had 50 percent or more of their students making learning gains. And then, using “value tables” – which you can read more about here – it determined what percentage were “high performing.”

USF – a huge pipeline for teachers in the Tampa Bay area – had 76 percent of its graduates in the first category, which puts it ninth among the 10 state university programs. Florida International was tops at 85 percent. The University of West Florida was last at 70 percent.

USF had 15 percent of its graduates in the second category, putting it at No. 6. Again, FIU led the pack, with 23 percent. Florida A&M University was last with 7 percent.

For now, we should probably take the results with a grain of salt. This kind of analysis is new, so it’s unclear how much the numbers may change from year to year. The DOE is crunching 2008-09 numbers and we’re told that should be available soon.

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Comments

[InternCircle]

The best Intern site I have seen with a social networking aspect is www.interncircle.com It seems be very informative and is a new site.

[John G]

Why would anyone want to teach in Florida? Education here is extremely political. Most of the money is wasted on overpaid administrators trying to create their own empires with a bad case of mission creap (or is it crap). Carl Kuttler at St. Petersburg College is a fine example and now he wants his political buddy Mayor Rick Baker to be president of the college.

[ron matus]

Hi 8:34, all the USF data from the different campuses is lumped together.

[Pinellas parent and teacher]

Is this referring to USF Tampa or all the USF locations? I have to say, it has been 5 years since I graduated and three of those years I am proud to say 100% of my students passed FCAT. The other year more all but one student passed. Hoping for the same results this year.

Thank you USF! Let's face it - regardless of school -- you get what you put into a program!

[Gabriel]

Schools in Vermont have been rated at the top for educational & curriculum and instructional gains for their students.
Why doesn't anyone take a serious look at what they've done right for their students and duplicate it here? Why does everyone in this state have to try and 'reinvent the wheel'? It's called common sense. Are you telling me that no one in the educational circles in this state can't just do that? I find that very hard to believe. Or is it true, that Academic Floridians lack common sense?

[Ms. Pencil has left the building]

Boardwatcher -

Actually, there is at least one LMS librarian, who is, yes, certified to teach as well, in Pinellas Co. I hear this person is trying to get out, tho. Do you blame them? I don't.

[Fund Education!!!]

The only value of a teacher and this study is the FCAT. A teacher is accountable for a test that the student is not. Third grade teachers are the only teachers that have an advantage. Their students have to pass to move to the next grade. How do you judge the art teacher beginner teacher? A one day test is inadequate data to judge anything.

[boardwatcher]

uppity woman,

You couldn't rate a Master of Library Science degree in any case because the main requirements to be a librarian in Pinellas County are a teaching certificate and a library science certification (though I don't doubt that there are librarians in the system with an MLS).

So while a teacher can be a librarian, a librarian with an MLS and no teaching certification cannot. Something wrong with that, don't you think?

[Sherman Dorn]

I'm a little befuddled, Ron: for 9 of the 10 university based programs, somewhere between three-quarters and seven-eighths of rookie (brand new, green) teachers had students showing some evidence of learning gains. Any of those 9 should be considered failing or "near bottom"? And with such a restricted range on a complex measure, any of those 9 should be considered substantially different from others? Given the relative crudity and jury-rigged nature of the state's "having some learning gains" definition, even larger differences should be taken with three truckloads of salt, and these are pretty small, towards the upper range of what one might expect. If one believed that the statistics were great measures, the state's university-based programs look pretty good.

For a much better way of looking at teacher-ed outcomes, please go look at the Louisiana value-added analysis of that state's revised teacher education programs, developed over a number of years, methodologically cautious, and ... err, about three orders of magnitude more careful in drawing program conclusions than your first-cut statement here.

[I hate politicians]

Argo for Life- I didn't give UWF a bad name. They did (at least the college of ed.). I received an additional degree for UWF from their Biology Department. It was a great experience and wonderful education. Dr. Winters was an absolute gem. But I was disappointed with the drop off from the ed. dept. when I received an additional degree. Please don't tell me to change majors. I have 3 degrees and knew what I wanted. I just expected more. I certainly paid for it.

[uppity woman]

What correlating data is available that shows the percentages of teachers from the various state universities, community colleges and teacher prep programs who went to to high VS low performing schools?

Is it possible that more USF students went to work in lower performing schools than did students from Florida International University?

What about teachers from these programs that teach in subjects that are not measured by the FCAT?

What percentage of the "rookie teachers" were teaching in FCAT testing subjects (which at that time was only English, Reading and Math)?

This might be one of the most ridiculous accumulations of pseudo data that has been contrived into being a viable statistic. There appears to be little to no correlating data, little to no baseline measure and frequent comparisons of unlike instances.

Perhaps there should be a study of the number of over due library books at high schools and use that to rate the effectiveness of Masters of Library Science degree programs.

[FloridaTeacher]

Wrong ruler being used here to measure teachers- FCAT has no correlation with the quality of teaching where that teaching is based on a specified curriculum, except to show that some students perform better on the given material in test conditions- it has no direct connection with the teachin that preceeded the test. What matters far more is the performance of the teacher on the job as a communicator of concepts and ideas that educate the students. Would you judge a UPS driver delivering packages locally on the on-time record of UPS freight flights? What does he have to do with the pilot's skills or the weather conditions? Apples and oranges again.

I received 2 post-graduate degrees from USF College of Education and use the training and knowledge I obtained in my daily work. Those degrees were of great value to me and the instructional training I received was excellent- most of my teachers were in employed practice, so their experiential relevance was beneficial.
Among them was the late Dr. John Long, former superintendent of Pasco Schools and many in-service professionals who worked by day and taught by night. USF was a beneficial experience that started my career and that of many of my fellow teachers.

[Teach]

Silly Rabbit, that is all the colleges and universities are about. I transferred her from the college of Notre Dame and USF would not take my credits from there....really? I even had teacher course credits that would not transfer. For example, I took a 8 credit math course on teaching math but USF would not except that for the 4 credit course they taught. To top it off, the USF teacher sucked and I actually referred back to my 8 credit class textbook because the $100+ book for the USF course was horrible.
Wish I could turn back time and go back.

[terminator]

NEWSFLASH:
State of FloriDUH ranked near the bottom in public education and political leadership.

Gee, being called the worst by the worst doesn't really hurt so much does it USF?

[JohnM]

State schools have better teaching staffs than "research" and private schools. Think about it. Private schools select their student population from kids who can learn in a closet with the lights turned off. State institutions accept the best of the rest. More people go to state schools than private schools and receive a quality education from the state schools. The professors at private schools just get more "research" awards and never really affect student's lives. The state schools provide an education for the "people." This is just another "smoke and mirror" routine designed to get someone (who probably went to a state school) elected.

[What's up with this?]

It is amazing how so much in Florida education is measured against the 'FCAT yardstick."

Wonder if USF data is just USF-Tampa, or is all lumped together with USF-St. Pete with its outreach teachers programs such as at PHCC?

[Argo For Life]

Silly Rabbit,

I am sorry that you feel that way about your education from UWF. I also attended UWF and received my BA degree in Political Science. My experience was awesome and my teachers were great. I attended FSU for my master's degree and UWF helped me be prepared for the next level. You need to take responsibility for your educational experience. If you did not like your major, you should have changed it. Stop giving UWF a bad name. I would like see how the data was collected from the DOE. There is no such thing as a perfect study or report. The Escambia School System is getting better, but is still ranked low compared to the rest of Florida.

Argo For Life

[silly rabbit]

I attended the University of West Florida 16 years ago and received an education degree. The university did little to prepare me except take my money. I learned almost everything in my final internship. Luckily, my education degree is not my only one so I actually attained some useful skills. It's a shame. They could have done so much better.