Summary of the Case Greenville College School of Education Teacher Education Programs December 10-12, 2013

Transcription

1 Summary of the Case Greenville College School of Education Teacher Education Programs December 10-12, 2013 The Summary of the Case is written by the auditors and approved by program faculty. The Summary reflects the auditors understanding of the case the faculty are making for accreditation. Authorship and approval of the Inquiry Brief: The Inquiry Brief was written by Mark Lamb and Brian K. Reinhard, and was approved by the School of Education faculty on December 10, Introduction: Greenville College is located in a rural section of south-west Illinois. Greenville College was founded in 1892 by the Free Methodist Church with the intent to provide a distinctive, Christ-centered college education for men and women.faith and community are pillars of the learning process at Greenville College. Transformation occurs as students experience meaningful change both in and out of the classroom. Greenville College provides a quality liberal arts education for over 1,600 students. The institution offers over 50 undergraduate majors as well as adult and graduate programs available online or at partnership locations. Greenville College s mission states that programs empower students for lives of character and service through a transforming Christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies. In addition, the institution s strategic vision includes: Greenville College will acquire national recognition for Christ-centered educational excellence, integrating faith with learning and curricular with co-curricular experiences, all framed by the institution s historic Wesleyan theological tradition. We will use technology and partnerships to expand our undergraduate and graduate programs in both on-site and on-line venues. Our student body will continue to grow in numbers, and we will grow as a community that seeks to understand, appreciate, and embrace all peoples and cultures. The Teacher Education Program offers initial certification through twelve undergraduate programs, which lead to certification in early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education, and through a Master of Arts in Teaching degree, which leads to certification in elementary, secondary, and special education. The elementary program is offered on the Greenville campus, and also through our UTEP program at Lewis and Clark Community College, in Grafton, IL (LCC); Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL (KC); and Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, IL (LCU). The MAT program is offered on the Greenville campus, and also at Lincoln Christian University, Kaskaskia College and Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, IL (SWIC). Greenville College also offers coursework which may lead to LBS1, TESL and middle school endorsements. These programs currently serve over 400 teacher candidates. A Master of Arts in Education (MAE) degree is also available for working professionals. The MAE-Reading program prepares students for certification as a reading teacher or reading specialist. Other non-certification MAE programs include Literacy Instruction (MAE-LI), Curriculum and Instruction (MAE-C&I), Coaching (MAE-C) and special education (MAE-SPED).

2 The in the Program s Conceptual Framework, which was originally aligned to NCATE Standards and underwent its last major revision in 2010, a portion of which is included here. These goals and objectives continue to provide a foundational basis for the claims that the faculty makes about Greenville College Teacher Education Program Completers which are discussed in Section 2 (refer to TEAC/CAEP Community Resource page in D2L for the complete narrative of the Conceptual Framework and Knowledge Base and a reference list for it and the entire program overview section). The conceptual framework provides the philosophical basis for the undergraduate and graduate professional education programs. The teacher education governing Unit is recognized as a Standing Committee by Greenville College and consists of: advisors of education majors, all full-time teacher education faculty, program directors, partnership liaisons, Director of Clinical Practice in Education, Director of Field Experiences in Education, Director of Assessment for Teacher Education, and a representative from the Library as voting members; and the Registrar, admissions representative, Associate Vice-President of Innovation & Technology, and the Dean of the School of Education as non-voting members. This group has governance responsibility for the Program and comprises the Committee on Teacher Education. Because membership in COTE is based on faculty and administrative roles rather than election or appointment, all members of COTE are ex officio. All aspects of the conceptual framework, beginning with the mission statement and theme and progressing through the various Program elements with defined rationale and the knowledge base, represent a central thread of purpose for teacher candidates. It is readily available to all full time and adjunct faculty, professional practitioners, cooperating teachers, and candidates. Additionally, core elements of the framework are embedded in the language of courses and key assessments. The framework components presuppose the program develops educators develops educators who: Understand the context of education Develop appropriate knowledge, skills, and dispositions Support diversity Integrate theory with practice Experience transformative learning Promote lifelong learning Foster 21 st century skills The conceptual framework provides the context, philosophy, and rationale for competencies (see 12 Program outcomes listed in the IB), which we expect the candidates will attain. It also specifies the dispositions necessary to promote equity, to integrate learning theories with practice, to thoughtfully incorporate emerging technologies into classroom instruction, and to promote life-long learning. Candidates are expected to show a commitment to these competencies and dispositions as they eagerly engage in a transformative journey while they progress through the Program. The Teacher Education Program consists of 9 faculty members and has only ranged between 7 and 9 faculty since The program graduated 91students in and enrolled 418 students in , and for and the following results were identified and are presented in Table 1.

3 Option Name Table 1 Greenville College Teacher Educaation Program Options Level (UG, grad, post-bacc) Number of completers inprevious academic year Number of students enrolled in current academic year Early Childhood Education UG 3 20 Elementary Education Secondary Education (overall) 62 MAT (24), UG (38) 22 MAT (8), UG (14) 112-MAT (43), UG (69) 43-MAT (9), UG (34) Biology UG 1 3 Chemistry English 2 MAT (1), UG (1) 2 MAT (1), UG (1) History MAT 3 14 Math 4 MAT (2), UG (2) Music (K-12) UG 2 11 Physical Education (K-12) 6 MAT (1), UG (5) Physics Spanish (K-12) UG 1 2 Special Education (K-12) UG 1 9 Reading - MA Grad Program claims: Based on the Program s conceptual framework and as an intentional outcome of the objectives stated above, the teacher education faculty at Greenville College makes the following four claims about School of Education graduates. 1) Professional Knowledge of Content (related to TEAC Quality Principle 1.1 Subject matter knowledge): Graduates of the teacher education program

4 demonstrate sufficient subject matter competence in order to positively impact student learning. 2) Professional Knowledge of Pedagogy (related to TEAC Quality Principle 1.2 Pedagogical knowledge) Graduates of the teacher education program demonstrate current and appropriately-researched knowledge of pedagogy, as well as evidence of the ability to practically apply this knowledge in diverse settings with a wide variety of learners. 3) Professional Knowledge of Students (related to TEAC Quality Principle 1.3 Caring and effective teaching skill, and 1.4.2): Graduates of the teacher education program demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge of student development theories and formal/informal assessment strategies to promote a positive, caring learning environment and to provide meaningful learning experiences for a diverse student population. 4) Operational Knowledge of Effective Teaching Dispositions (related to TEAC Quality Principle 1.3 and 1.4): Graduates of the teacher education program demonstrate dispositions which are necessary to be a competent and caring teacher. Evidence supporting the claims Evidence of these claims is demonstrated by: an acceptable GPA in overall course work, content-area course work and professional course work; successful completion of course-embedded assignments, which are aligned to the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards; successful completion of the six Key Assessments listed below; and observed evidence of the subsequent candidate dispositions, which relate specifically to Claim #4 and TEAC Principles 1.3 and 1.4. Beginning in May of 2007 the Illinois State Board of Education began to require that teacher education programs develop at least five and no more than eight key assessments to provide evidence that specific outcomes or standards had been mastered by a candidate. Beginning with academic year, the School of Education Faculty developed and approved the following documentation regarding the rationale for using these six key assessments. The GC Teacher Education Program is required to have assessment data on all teacher candidates seeking initial certification and has specified 6 key assessments that are necessary to provide evidence that the program produces competent, caring, and qualified teachers. Two of the key assessments are state-developed and stateadministered and the other 4 key assessments are GC-developed and GCadministered. The assessors include EDU course instructors, clinical experience instructors, college consultants, and cooperating teachers. Key Assessment 1 Illinois Content Area Test This test is a state-administered test of content knowledge. Students take the content area test that is appropriate for the discipline in which they are seeking licensure. They must receive a passing score (240) on this test before they are allowed to student teach.

5 Key Assessment 2 Content Knowledge -Education Showcase Portfolio (GCdeveloped) The Education Showcase Portfolio (formerly Professional Performance Portfolio) serves as one of the primary means by which teacher candidates will demonstrate their content knowledge. This key assessment was modeled after the Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 2 Content Knowledge, which covers a much broader range of knowledge and skills than merely book knowledge. The portfolio looks at how the candidate uses their content knowledge in action as a teacher. In this way it addresses content knowledge practically and appropriately enhances Key Assessment 1 (rather than being another standardized pen and paper assessment). The portfolio consists of artifacts that draw from a number of different professional courses, clinicals, practica, and student teaching. Because this constitutes one of the methods of triangulating data concerning the content knowledge of our candidates, there is no high-stakes cut score. However, we would consider a candidate who scores, on average, below a 2.75 on a 4-point scale to require some remediation efforts. Key Assessment 3 Assessment of Candidates Ability to Plan Instruction ( GCdeveloped) Although our students write numerous lesson plans during their training, many of those lesson plans are done with limited knowledge of students. For Key Assessment 3, students prepare a complete lesson plan, which includes a preconference (which in this case is done electronically), a lesson observation, and a postconference (refer to Key Assessment 3 Rubric in Appendix F). This key assessment explores the teacher candidate s ability to use a professional knowledge base of content, students, and pedagogy to make instructional decisions. In particular, we are asking students to be thoughtful about the nature of the task, the learning environment, and the type of discourse (teacher-student and student-student interactions), both in planning and administering the lesson. Because of the professional expertise required, it will typically be administered during clinicals or student teaching, depending on the program. Beginning in the Fall Semester 2012 we will be in the pilot stage for converting Key Assessment 3 and Key Assessment 5 into the edtpa, and by Fall 2014 Key Assessment 3 will be evidenced by successful completion of the Teacher Performance Assessment edtpa. As with Key Assessment 2, there is no highstakes cut score. However, we would consider a candidate who scores, on average, below a 2.75 on a 4-point scale to require some remediation efforts. Key Assessment 4 Clinical Practice Assessment ( GC-developed) This assessment allows us to collect information about the nature of the student teacher s planned tasks/learning experiences, the learning environment that is fostered, and the discourse and interaction patterns that are utilized, in addition to examining elements of professionalism and dispositions. This assessment is based on observations of teacher candidates during student teaching (undergraduate), practica (graduate), and/or clinical experiences. The cut score for the final student teaching evaluation is 2.75 for the average score combining the Cooperating Teacher and the College Consultant evaluations. Key Assessment 5 Candidates Impact on Students Learning (GC-developed) Key Assessment 5 (see KA5 rubric in Appendix F) requires the teacher candidate to submit

6 work samples which demonstrate their ability to: (1) develop targeted, appropriate learning objectives; (2) plan instruction to use learner s strengths and address students needs (3) monitor student learning and use this as a source for reflection to inform subsequent instruction; and (4) use assessment results to ascertain the extent to which student learning was impacted. This assessment will be administered in either methods courses, clinical courses, or student teaching (varies by program). Beginning in the Fall Semester 2012 we will be in the pilot stage for converting Key Assessment 3 and Key Assessment 5 into the edtpa, and by Fall 2014 Key Assessment 5 may be evidenced by successful completion of the Teacher Performance Assessment edtpa. Similar to Key Assessments 2 and 3, there is no high-stakes cut score. However, we would consider a candidate who scores, on average, below a 2.75 on a 4-point scale to require some remediation efforts. Key Assessment 6 Assessment of Professional Teaching This is a state-developed and state-administered test. Teacher candidates must pass this test (240 or above) in order to receive certification and be a program completer. It is usually taken during or immediately following student teaching. The program faculty places some, but not high confidence in the processes used by the ISBE for examining and documenting the reliability and validity of the Illinois Content- Area Test and the APT as being appropriate measures of content and pedagogical knowledge. Therefore, we rely on multiple assessments of students. The faculty monitors students overall GPA throughout the program. Though GPA is not a highly reliable indicator, we are making attempts to run correlations with GPA and the State s Content Area Test. Key Assessments 2, 3, 5, the Greenville College Dispositions, as well as alumni and employer questionnaires are used as additional evidence that our candidates meet the program claims. A detailed description of the assessments will be provided in Section 3. Furthermore, as a result of ongoing quality control and this internal audit, a number of changes have already been implemented and others are underway, which will be discussed in more detail in Section 5. As will be evident in Section 3, the School of Education uses a wide variety of data as evidence that our candidates develop proficiency regarding the GC Teacher Education Claims and the related TEAC Quality Principle 1 themes. These include: state and nationally standardized tests; key assessments; overall GPA; content area GPA; observation and evaluation of field experiences in diverse settings; and evaluation of student teaching (or practicum for MAE-R) by both College Instructors and practicing public educators. The Faculty and Staff of the School of Education believe that a candidate who completes the program has shown proficiency in our key assessments as well as the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (ILPTS), and has adequately demonstrated dispositions which we believe are important to becoming a competent, caring and qualified educator. Internal audit:

7 The internal audit included an overall 10% random sample of students across all programs and included students. The organization of the audit was according to the TEAC components listed in the TEAC materials and included audit probes about curriculum faculty, candidates, and resources. The internal audit committee probed 28 and found the quality control system to be working as designed. Plans for program improvement The faculty was asked on numerous occasions to review and speak into the different drafts of the inquiry brief. Multiple faculty meetings were used to discuss progress on the internal audit and different sections of the brief. On Wednesday, November 7, 2012, the faculty met to discuss the results of the internal audit and to dialog about the questions listed above. Notes from that meeting are summarized below. The holistic judgment of the faculty is that the Quality Control System at Greenville College is effective and working as it is designed. The faculty noted that changes to the program primarily come from three areas:the faculty takes students feedback and course evaluations quite seriously and many improvements have come from individual faculty members making adjustments to courses and from the faculty discussing student feedback in our regularly scheduled meetings. 1) Anecdotal dialogs with students, with other faculty, and with practicing public educators (including GC alumni) who participate in our K-12 Advisory Council have also provided the impetus for discussion at faculty meetings and subsequent changes to the program. 2) Both assessments designed by our faculty and state standardized assessments consistently provide data that is used to evaluate our program and either make changes if necessary or decide that no major change is warranted. The faculty discussed times when a course had been added (i.e. POL210, MTH 142) in response to both quantitative and qualitative feedback. In another instance, the faculty looked at lower scores on a standardized assessment and decided against major change after realizing the test was generally taken by candidates while they were only half way through the course which primarily targeted that skill. The faculty agreed that both the qualitative feedback from students and colleagues and the quantitative feedback from standardized assessments can serve as early alarms, and provide good opportunities to continually re-evaluate the program. In addition to the numerous recent changes already underway before the official internal audit, the faculty suggests the following further action: 1) The new state requirement for implementing the edtpa provides a good opportunity to re-evaluate all courses in all programs in an effort to identify key

8 assignments/projects which we already use and/or develop new ones. These will not only prepare our students for success on this high-stakes assessment, but will further complement our goal of producing competent, caring, and qualified teachers who are prepared to serve in a culturally diverse world. 2) The current catalog has just been updated and printed (new print version every two years). This gives the faculty ample opportunity to review the course description in the catalog, comparing it with the syllabus for each course and deciding if changes are necessary before the next iteration of the print catalog. The online version of the catalog should be updated as revisions are made. 3) As noted in the audit findings, files always need to be checked carefully. Though very few instances of error were found, we want to make sure all of our program completers have official record of meeting all checkpoints. 4) A few areas need to be reviewed and improved, especially regarding the MAT program. Discussions and quality improvement plans related to the edtpa will address one of the concerns regarding a pre-student teaching key assignment. Another area involves improved communication between the office of clinical practice and the advisor, and subsequent remediation with students who are flagged in their pre-student teaching field experiences. Finally, all programs will be reviewed in the next year as we prepare to take them back before the ISBE for approval based on the new licensure levels. This will give ample opportunity to thoroughly review the MAT program alignment to standards and examine what changes need to be made, specifically regarding the new middle school licensure standards when they are released. 1 The Greenville College Teacher Preparation Programs offers options at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate level in: Early-Childhood Education Elementary Education Secondary Education o Biology o Chemistry o English o History o Math o Music (K-12) o Physical Education (K-12) o Physics o Spanish (K-12) o Special Education (K-12) Reading Master of Arts The state of Illinois, at its discretion, offers licensure to program completers in these option areas.