SUBJECT:

Several months ago I informed you that one of the accountability standards for New York State institutions of higher education with teacher education programs would henceforth be the success rates of teacher education program completers on New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCEs). Over the past several months staff have been working with lists of 1998-99 program completers, matching them with test scores, and compiling general information on teacher education programs. This extensive data compilation project was designed to meet both State accountability requirements under 8NYCRR 52.21 and the Federal statutory provisions of Title II, Sections 207 and 208 of the reauthorized Higher Education Act. It will also establish a database that will inform future program registration decisions. This memo will bring you up to date on that data collection and reporting effort.

After I notified you [CEO 99-12, dated December 3, 1999] of the new requirement, the schedule for implementation of the Federal law was revised to make the 1999-2000 cohort of program completers the first which must be reported for Federal purposes. Therefore, the 1998-99 data collected this past year will be considered a "pilot" data set and will be used for State purposes only. Moreover, difficulties in processing the initial 1998-99 program completer data received from the 112 colleges (plus branch campuses) impeded the reporting of results to the Board of Regents until their meeting scheduled for September 14, 2000. We anticipate considerable public interest in that presentation. Data will be offered at that September meeting at the institutional level only, rather than for individuals or for specific teacher education programs.

As I previously noted, difficulties were encountered in processing this initial year's "pilot" data. We will use the lessons learned to design a better process and schedule for data production and reporting to ease the burden to colleges with teacher education programs. I have appended to this memo a draft schedule for your verification/checking of the 1998-99 data and for collecting, processing, and reporting the 1999-2000 program-completer data.

Each institution with one or more registered teacher education programs must identify a staff member as a Title II Coordinator, whose duties will include:

• Maintaining contact with Office of Teaching via the Internet for policy/processing updates,
• Reporting required program completer data to the State in a timely and accurate fashion (NYSED-HEA II electronic data forms),
• Providing background information on registered teacher education programs,
• Checking the accuracy of summary institutional reports produced by the State for Federal reporting purposes, and
• Ensuring that summary institutional data (starting with the 1999-2000 data) are reported in catalogs, bulletins, websites, and other public documents as required by Federal laws.

Generally, it will probably be most advantageous to choose the HEDS Coordinator at your institution to be the Title II Coordinator. It will be necessary for the coordinator to work with contacts within teacher education and other departments of your institution. A web-based list-serve will be created to serve as a two-way information conduit for these data-reporting efforts. To the greatest extent possible, this data reporting effort will be conducted via the Internet.

After you determine who will serve as the Title II Coordinator for your institution, please register that person's name, telephone, fax number, and email address at [email protected]. Please feel free also to comment on any of the materials appended or ask questions about this process. We will expect your response by September 10, 2000.

Appended to this mailing please find the following items for you to share with your Title II Coordinator:

1. Schedule for data processing and reporting.
2. Flow chart for data processing.
3. Description of data checking and verification procedures--how to challenge or change data.
4. Sample of tests taken matching log (checking and verification report).
5. Sample of an annual institutional report.
6. A paper copy of the new survey form for institutional and program-level data collection (1999-2000 data). Please note that a new, improved, electronic, version of this data-collection instrument is available on the Internet at http://www.highered.nysed.gov/oris/forms.htm.

In addition, an electronic format for listing your 1999-2000 program completers will be available by October 1. For each program completer, the following information will be gathered: partial Social Security Number (last 5 digits); name (last, first, MI); date of birth; degree granted; certificate area(s) for which the candidate was prepared (certificate code and name). You may wish to begin early to gather these required data for transmittal via the web between October 1 and December 1.

HEDS Coordinators
Charles C. Mackey
Joseph P. Frey