Riverside, Calif., May, 2000--Hyperventilated press releases might say that La Sierra University represents academic quality, but Larry McCloskey has something better to support this fact: He's got the numbers.

Ever since the test scores have come in from the most recent Biology Major Field Test, the chair of the La Sierra biology department can't stop sharing his numbers. On the nation's most authoritative standardized exams, last year's La Sierra senior biology majors scored in the 89th percentile.

Every year, thousands of biology majors at colleges and universities across North America take the Biology Major Field Test. The test is administered by Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service, the nation's premier educational measurement company.

Students are tested in four major subsections: Cell Biology; Molecular Biology and Genetics; Organismal Biology; and Population Biology, Evolution and Ecology.

In Spring 1999, 17 La Sierra biology seniors sat for the test and their average scores put them in the 89th percentile of all the students tested nationally. The fact that La Sierra scored better than 89 percent of all other biology programs represents the high caliber of La Sierra students, McCloskey said. It also places the university among the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities.

"This shows that our students are getting an education that places them among the nation's best," said McCloskey, who has served as department chair since 1996.

The strength of the university's biology program was particularly evident in the test's "Cell Biology" subsection. In Spring 1999, La Sierra students scored in the 95th percentile, or better than 95 percent of all other students who took the text. The cell biology average for the last four years put La Sierra in the 84th percentile.

Other subsections broke down the following way:

• Molecular Biology and Genetics: 85th percentile for Spring 1999 seniors; four-year average, 77th percentile.
• Organismal Biology: 81st percentile; four-year average, 54th percentile.
• Population Biology, Evolution and Ecology: 69th percentile; four-year average, 52nd percentile.

The Class of 1999 was a particularly strong one, McCloskey said, and nearly all of the students who took the field test are now studying in prestigious medical or graduate schools. "I would stack these students up with the best anywhere," said the biology chair.

But some credit for their strong academic performances must also be given to his faculty colleagues, McCloskey said, a group that has fashioned a rigorous research-driven undergraduate program. La Sierra biology majors are pushed to conduct major biological research alongside their professors, and last year a number of students were credited as co-authors on academic papers. Students also presented papers with their professors at several national academic conferences.

While the test scores exhibited the overall strength of the university's biology program, McCloskey said the scores also pointed to areas where the university's biology curriculum can get even stronger. During the 1999-2000 school year, biology faculty designed a major curriculum revision for the biology major, and the changes will be implemented in the coming school year.

"The objective is to give our students as well-rounded an academic experience as they can find anywhere," McCloskey said. "So many of our graduates come back to us and say: 'I was a little worried about how competitive I would be, coming from a smaller school.' But they tell us they were every bit as prepared as their peers from bigger and more well-known schools."

And if it sounds like hype, don't just read the press release: Just look at the La Sierra Biology Department's numbers.

# # # 

Larry McCloskey's e-mail is: lmcclosk@lasierra.edu