Talk about "defining success." For years, all 32 of Michigan's teacher-training institutions reported that 100 percent of their graduates passed state certification exams. However, a report from the Michigan education department found that those pass rates actually ranged from 66 to 97 percent for first-time test takers. Turns out this discrepancy is caused by the colleges' habit of reporting only those who pass the certification test as "graduates" of their programs. Perfection is easy when your logic is circular! Jerry Robbins, head of the Michigan Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and dean of education at Eastern Michigan University, described the report as "meaningless," since the passage rates include scores for all kinds of tests averaged together. Maybe, but perhaps not so meaningless as what his college has heretofore reported.
"Michigan's 32 teacher college grads not as perfect as schools report," by Judy Putnam, Associated Press, August 3, 2004