By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ,
In an effort to shake up institutions that have been criticized as too insular and inert, his administration released scorecards on Wednesday for a dozen teacher-preparation programs in the city.
Public and private education schools are being evaluated in various ways, including how many graduates are certified in high-needs areas like special education and whether their teachers have been able to increase student test scores.
The release of the scorecards places the city at the forefront of a national effort, backed by the Obama administration, to use data to upend the teaching profession and the pathways to it. Critics have said subpar teaching programs too often hamper school systems, churning out graduates familiar with theory but lacking in practical classroom skills. A study by the National Council on Teacher Quality released in June argued that teaching colleges were too lenient in their admissions criteria and had not adequately prepared teachers in subjects like reading, math and science.
The results released on Wednesday showed that even some of the country’s most prestigious programs have room for improvement. For example, one in five recent graduates of teaching programs at Columbia University and New York University were given low marks for how much they were able to improve student test scores; by contrast, 1 in 10 teachers who graduated from City College of New York received poor marks.
City officials cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from the data, saying the numbers were meant to provoke conversation, not rivalry. They noted that sample sizes were small; that test scores were available only in certain grades, in math and English; and that the data reflected only information from the past four years.
But in New York City, where competitive streaks are widespread, education leaders could not resist a little jockeying.
David M. Steiner, dean of Hunter College School of Education, said the results would prompt schools like Columbia and N.Y.U. to rethink elements of their program.
“These are places that are very well known for their research and scholarship,” Dr. Steiner, a former state education commissioner, said. “Is it possible that they need to pay more attention to their clinical preparation of teachers?”
Thomas James, provost of Teachers College at Columbia, said the reports prompted the school to examine how closely its curriculum aligned with city academic standards. He said the data also spurred interest in increasing the number of teachers who pursue certification in special education, where city data showed the school lagged behind its peers.
“We can see more clearly what the greatest needs are,” Dr. James said. “The direction we’re going is to have more comprehensive and better planning.”
Other education school leaders were not as enamored of the city’s decision to broaden its interests to higher education.
Alfred S. Posamentier, dean of the Mercy College School of Education, which was credited with sending the largest percentage of its teachers to schools with the greatest needs, said it would be more useful if education officials compared teaching data over a longer period.
“It’s nice to look at, it somehow verifies what I already knew, but it’s not going to change anything,” Dr. Posamentier said.
The city’s data-driven foray into the world of higher education is also likely to encounter resistance from professors and graduates of schools that did not fare as well on the reports. Some have objected to the idea of judging teachers on the basis of student test scores, arguing for a more nuanced approach. And because graduates of Teachers College and N.Y.U. are in demand at high-performing schools, where test scores are already approaching the top of the scale, they may have a harder time showing improvement.
City education officials noted that the scorecards this year were only a beginning. They said the results were mostly positive, showing that recent hires generally received high marks in the classroom.
David A. Weiner, a deputy chancellor in the city’s Education Department, said that for too long, city governments and universities had worked in isolation. The reports, he said, would help bridge that divide.
“It can’t just be the universities; it can’t just be the school system,” Mr. Weiner said. “We want a highly effective teacher in every single classroom, and every single university president says the same thing.”
Under the city’s system, teaching programs were evaluated on six measures. The city looked at the number of teachers that were placed in low-performing schools and the number of teachers certified in areas with high demand, like math, science, special education and English as a second language. Touro College had the largest percentage of teachers certified in special education, at 86 percent, double the citywide average.
The city also factored in teacher performance, including whether recent hires were denied tenure and whether they received an unsatisfactory rating from principals. For teachers of reading or math in grades four through eight, the city looked at student progress on state tests.
Teacher retention was also considered. Citywide, 80 percent of recent hires still worked as teachers in the system three years later. But for several schools that serve large populations of New York City natives, the numbers were higher.
More than 90 percent of recent graduates of Queens College and St. John’s University, for instance, were still working as teachers after three years. By contrast, 72 percent of students from Teachers College still worked in the system three years later. (Teachers College noted that it serves a large population of students from out of state, and that many eventually return home to work.)
The city said it had no plans to award letter grades to universities, as it has done with public schools and restaurants, saying education officials were focused on identifying and sharing effective practices. Next year, the scorecards will expand to include more rigorous teacher evaluations developed by the state. And this fall, the city plans to release similar reports for teachers certified through alternative pathways, like Teach for America.
City officials said New York would be the first urban district to compare teaching programs. Ohio and Tennessee have also started evaluating elements of university teaching programs. And New York State, which will require new teachers to complete a more stringent certification process beginning in 2014, plans to start delivering feedback to teaching schools this fall.
The federal education secretary, Arne Duncan, said that he saw New York’s efforts as “a major step forward, and one from which others can learn.”
“It puts the record of preparation programs, including their impact on student learning, into sharp focus,” he continued.
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