ASU Students Maintain 100% Passing Rate on TExES Test

Angelo State University students have maintained a 100 percent passing rate on the Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) teacher certification test for secondary mathematics for the 19th straight year, said a press release Thursday.

Six ASU students took the TExES in December and January and passed with an average score of 278 out of 300, which is considerably higher than last year’s state average score of 239. ASU’s perfect passing rate streak began in 1998, and since then, all 178 of the ASU students who have taken the secondary mathematics exam, after completing the ASU mathematics program, have passed.

ASU students passing the secondary mathematics test this year, to keep the streak alive, were Trent Campbell of Merkel, Martin Jaso-Perez of Lometa, Sarah Lara of Winters, Shanna Rawls of Wall, Cerbi Ritchey of Big Spring, and Jared Romine of Coleman.

Dr. Dionne Bailey, professor of mathematics, teaches the capstone course that the students must complete as a final preparation for the TExES.

“This long streak demonstrates that the mathematics teacher preparation program here at ASU continues to successfully prepare pre-service mathematics teachers for the state exam,” stated Bailey. “As in previous years, these students worked extremely hard in the capstone course. In addition, these six students devoted time during their winter break to prepare for the state exam in order to pass it before the beginning of the spring semester.”

This was the second year for Bailey to teach the capstone course after taking over from Ellen Moreland, who developed the curriculum and taught the capstone course for the first 17 years of the perfect passing rate streak. Moreland won ASU’s inaugural Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award for her efforts in 2009.

“Ellen developed a curriculum that has proven to prepare our mathematics students for the wide array of questions that span mathematical knowledge from all four years of undergraduate mathematics course work,” Bailey said. “Also, the capstone instructor cannot successfully prepare the students for the state exam without a strong mathematics program and faculty that serve our students well.”

For more information, contact Bailey at 325-486-5425 or [email protected].