Teaching & Learning Becoming an Educator
Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL)

Annual Summary of Candidate Passing Rates by Test: Cumulative for All Candidates and by Gender, Ethnicity, and Primary Language
Program Year: September 2005 – July 2006

Copyright © 2007 by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure and MTEL are trademarks, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s).

Description of Report

Data presented in this report are from the five MTEL test administrations for the 2005 – 2006 program year, including September 10, 2005, November 19, 2005, March 4, 2006, May 13, 2006, and July 22, 2006.

This report presents the percent of candidates (i.e., test takers) who passed the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure on their initial or subsequent attempt(s). The percent passing is based on each candidate's best attempt during the program year.

This report includes, for the state and by gender, ethnicity, and primary language:

• the total number of candidates who took the Communication and Literacy Skills Test - Reading and Writing subtests and the percent passing both the Reading and Writing subtests;
• the total number of candidates who took the Communication and Literacy Skills Test - Reading subtest and the percent passing the Reading subtest;
• the total number of candidates who took the Communication and Literacy Skills Test - Writing subtest and the percent passing the Writing subtest;
• the total number of candidates who took a subject test and the percent passing the subject test;
• the total number of candidates who took the Vocational Technical Literacy Skills Test - Reading and Writing subtests and the percent passing both the Reading and Writing subtests;
• the total number of candidates who took the Vocational Technical Literacy Skills Test - Reading subtest and the percent passing the Reading subtest; and
• the total number of candidates who took the Vocational Technical Literacy Skills Test - Writing subtest and the percent passing the Writing subtest

Candidate passing status is based on a compensatory scoring model in which higher scores on one section of the test may compensate for lower scores on another section of the test.

Data are supplied for all test fields for which the number of unique test takers is 10 or more for the 2005 – 2006 program year. Candidates are reported only once for each field in which they have tested.

Within reporting category, data are provided for each response option (e.g., male, female) for which 10 or more candidates have tested in the field in the program year. Results based on fewer than 10 candidates are not included in this report (except for the "No Response" category) to protect confidentiality of scores of individual candidates; in this case the percent passing (% Pass) is designated as "- -".

Interpretive Cautions and Notes

1. Reporting group designations for gender, ethnicity, and primary language are based on self-reported information provided by candidates during the registration process. The questions about gender and ethnicity are labeled "optional" for registration purposes and some candidates did not respond to these questions.

2. Extreme caution should be used in interpreting data for small numbers of candidates.

3. The candidates for whom results are presented in this document may not reflect the same proportion of all the types and capabilities of candidates in the population who will take the tests in the future.

Annual Summary of Test Taker Counts by Gender*
Program Year 2005-2006

*Each test field row contains the number of candidates who took the test during the program year.

Annual Summary of Test Taker Counts by Ethnicity*
Program Year 2005-2006

*Each test field row contains the number of candidates who took the test during the program year.

Annual Summary of Test Taker Counts by Primary Language*
Program Year 2005-2006

*Each test field row contains the number of candidates who took the test during the program year.