AUSTIN In the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE) first-ever national report card on educational issues, St. Edward's University was reported to have had a 97% pass rate for its test takers and ranked 20th out of the 86 institutions in Texas with educator preparation programs.

The recently released document, "The Initial Report of the Secretary on the Quality of Teacher Preparation," provides the percentage of teaching candidates who passed each of the assessments. The state uses these assessments for teacher certification and licensure, disaggregated and ranked, by the teacher preparation programs in that state from which teaching candidates received their most recent degrees.

This report was required by congressional legislation passed in 1998. You may view the report in its entirety at the following Internet location:

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/News/teacherprep/