Teacher education program accountability: In search of meaningful outcomes evidence

Teacher education programs are being held to increased scrutiny as regulations such as the federal Title II Accountability Provisions of the Higher Education Act mandate the collection and reporting of outcomes evidence of teacher preparation program effectiveness. This study adds to the base of empirical research in this field by testing for relationships between pre-existing institutional characteristics, such as students' academic caliber or ethnicity, and currently used indicators of teacher education program quality such as cohort completion rates and certification test pass rate results. Using Michigan teacher education programs as the sample population, statistical analysis confirmed the presence of significant correlations between average freshman ACT scores and certification test pass rates, between average freshman ACT scores and cohort completion rates, and between the percentage of minority candidates in a teacher education program and the same two outcomes measures, certification test pass rates and cohort completion rates. Correlations found between currently used indicators of program quality and other institutional and program characteristics call into question the validity of using current forms of outcomes evidence as measures of program quality. Findings suggest certification test score results and cohort completion rates may simply reflect pre-existing candidate characteristics and may not provide meaningful measures of teacher education program influence. Study conclusions support the need for additional empirical research to identify more accurate, valid, and reliable measures of teacher education program quality.