CSI/CUNY News Release
	For Immediate Release - Wednesday, June 11, 2003

CSI leads the way in preparing teachers
98 percent of students pass state licensing exams

Nearly 17,000 students took one or both of the examinations for teacher certification in New York State in the 2001-2002 academic year.  These tests include the Liberal Arts and Science Test (LAST) and the Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written.

While almost all of the public and private colleges preparing students to be teachers met the state's requirement that at least 80 percent of the students taking the exams pass them, a few institutions have attained perfect, or near-perfect pass rates.

The College of Staten Island (CSI), a long-time leader in teacher education was ranked best in The City University of New York (CUNY) with 98 percent of CSI students passing both exams according to State Education Department data released June 10, 2003.

Other leading colleges where students passed both exams include Fordham (with a 100 percent pass rate), Columbia (with a 99 percent pass rate), and New York University (NYU; with a 98 percent pass rate).

"We are justly proud of the fact that our CSI students, who pay a public school tuition, can compete so successfully,” said CSI President Marlene Springer.
 

Some of the above information was adapted from reports by the NY Post and the NY Times.

CSI's education department provides initial preparation and graduate programs for teaching at the preschool level and in elementary and secondary schools, as well as graduate programs in Childhood Education, Adolescence Education, and Special Education.

CSI also offers a Sixth-Year Certificate program in Education Supervision and Administration.

Programs in CSI's education department meet the Teacher Education guidelines of the New York State Department of Education.

The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a senior college of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban university. CSI offers 35 academic programs, 15 graduate degree programs, and challenging doctoral programs to 12,000 students.

CSI's 204-acre landscaped campus, one of the largest in NYC, is fully accessible and contains an advanced, networked infrastructure to support technology-based teaching, learning, and research. For more information, visit www.csi.cuny.edu

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