Title II Institutional Report-Common Questions:

Q. What is Title II?

A. Title II is part of the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) for institutions of higher education. It outlines public disclosure requirements dictated by the U.S. Department of Education and Congress.

Title II includes a new national reporting system for institutions with a teacher preparation program that enrolls students receiving federal assistance under the HEA. The goal of this reporting system is to identify and compare the quality of the programs offered by these approximately 1,300 institutions.

The government will look at students' test scores--in areas such as basic skills, knowledge of content areas in which the student will teach, and pedagogy skills--as their main comparison point. It is important to note that, although some states do not mandate testing in these areas, Virginia requires Praxis I of all those seeking licensure and Praxis II is specified subject areas.

The first year that institutions throughout the country submitted data under Title II was for the1999-2000 academic year. Information is sent to each state's government, which compiles a report of all the state's schools and submits it to the U.S. Department of Education and to Congress.

Q. Under Title II, what information are colleges and universities with teacher preparation programs required to report?

A. Each year, they must report certain information to the state and to the general public. This information includes:
· How many of the programs' "completers" pass assessments required by the state for teacher licensure or certification
· The statewide pass rate on those assessments
· Basic program information, such as the number of students in each program and the faculty-to-student ratios

Q. When is this information available?

A. April 9, 2001 was the first deadline for the institutions of higher education to submit Title II information to the state and the public. This information covered a set academic year of Sept. 1, 1999 to Aug. 31, 2000. In the future, April 7 will be the annual deadline for distributing updated information to the state and the public. (April 7 was a Saturday in 2001.)

Q. What exactly will happen to the information submitted to the state?

A. On October 8, 2001 (and the same date each year thereafter), each state will report information about that state's programs to the U.S. Department of Education and the public.

This reporting will include:

· State licensing and certification requirements
· Alternative routes to certification
· Pass rates for teacher certification candidates: statewide, for each institution of higher education and for each alternative route
· Rankings of institutions by pass rates
· Information on the use of waivers of regular certification or licensure requirements, and the percentage of teachers with such waivers
· State criteria for assessing the performance of teacher preparation programs
· Other areas, such as standards, that affect the overall quality of new teachers
· Supplemental information the state believes is important to providing necessary context

On April 8, 2002, the U.S. Department of Education then will report to Congress and the public:

· Overview tables on licensing and certification requirements, types of certificates, alternative routes and waivers
· State and jurisdiction profiles
· Summary of efforts to improve teacher preparation and quality

Q. Will I be able to use Title II information to accurately compare programs in different states?

A. No. Teacher licensing requirements, as well as cutoff scores for tests, vary from state to state, even when different states use the same licensing exam. Some colleges and universities recommend their students to the state for licensure before they take the state tests; others after. Some don't even recommend a student for licensure if the student fails the test. In those states, colleges would have a100 percent pass rate. Likewise practices vary among the approved programs in Virginia, especially regarding Praxis II.

Q. Are there any other issues that affect how to compare schools' data?

A. Yes. It's important to note that pass rates reflect a percentage of a school's graduates meet the minimum standard, rather than whether individual graduates from particular colleges excelled on their exams.

Q. How do I get a copy of Virginia Tech's Title II report?

A. You may view and print the report online. A summary of the data also appears in the university catalog.

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