CAEP Review, 05 Advanced Licensure Report (AY 0 AY 04) The at St Cloud State University is offered at the graduate level with two tracks of programming. When applying to Graduate Studies, students select either a Certificate in ECSE to receive a Minnesota ECSE teaching license or a Master s of Science Degree program, which includes ECSE licensure and research coursework. The ECSE Certificate Program is offered as an initial license or advanced license to prepare educators to provide services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families. The ECSE Program contains some courses pertaining to infants and toddlers with disabilities (Birth years) and another set of courses pertaining to preschoolers with disabilities ( 7 years). For the purposes of this report, those courses pertaining to infants and Toddlers shall be referred to as Early Intervention (EI) while coursework focused on 7 year old range will be referred to as ECSE (ECSE). Teacher Candidate Performance on Key Assessments. To meet Minnesota Board of Teaching program approval requirements, ECSE faculty selected three courses that are offered at the initial stage of ECSE coursework, mid-way through ECSE coursework, and near the end of the ECSE program. From each of these three courses, key assessments were identified for tracking student academic progress. Early in the ECSE Advanced Program coursework, CFS 6: Foundations of EC/ECSE is offered when students complete a Disability Categorical Project to define all special education categorical definitions and eligibility criteria according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (00). Mid-way through the ECSE coursework sequence, students take CFS 6: Analysis of Families with Disabilities when they conduct an interview with a parent of a child with disabilities. As culminating coursework in the ECSE Advanced Program, ECSE students participate in student teaching, CFS 680: Infant Toddler Student Teaching and CFS 68: Preschool Student Teaching, where ECSE Student Teaching Evaluations are completed to evaluate student teaching performance. Each of these course expectations serves as key assessments for the ECSE Advanced Program. Overall, ECSE Advanced ECSE students performed very well in completing the Key Assessments at the initial, mid-way, and at the end stage of their academic career. The mean score for each Key Assessment calculated to a letter grade of A, which was true for the range in scores as well. For those evaluative data results for Student Teaching derived from Summative Evaluation Form items, each Advanced Teacher Candidate received a letter grade of for both Infant Toddler and Preschool Student Teaching. This excellence in academic performance was true for all three years of student progress data reported on for this CAEP Review. Table displays these academic student performance results for the ECSE Advanced Program. March, 05
CAEP Review, 05 Table. Key Assessment Performance by ECSE Advanced Students by Year. 0 0 0-0 0-04 CFS 6: Categorical Disability Project (n = 7 ) 05 total pts M = 95 90.4% * (N=8) 90 total pts M = 88.4 98.% Range = 9-04 87.8% - 99% Range = 87-90 97% - 00% CFS 6: Parent Interview (n = ) 5 total pts M = 9.7 96% Range = 5 4 9% - 99% (N=9) 5 total pts M = 9 95.% Range = 9-04 87.8% - 99% (N=6) 5 total pts M = 9.8 96% Range = 4 9.5% - 98.4% CFS 680: Assume Role of Early Interventionist Ability to work effectively with parents for home programming. Plan, teach, and evaluate all lessons and activities. Ability to self-evaluate teaching effectiveness. 0 0 Ratings f (-5) n = 5 /5 /5 /5 /5 /5 /5 0-0* Rubric f (n = ) - - - 0 04 Rubric f (n=7) - 5 - - 5 - - 4 - CFS 68: Assume Role of ECSE Teacher March, 05 0 0 Ratings of -5 (n = 5) 0-0* Rubric f (n = ) Set up environment and clean-up. 5/5 - Plan, teach, and evaluate all lessons and activities. Ability to self-evaluate teaching effectiveness. /5 /5 - - /5 /5 /5 - - 0 04 Rubric f (n = 7) - 5 - - 5 - - 5 -
CAEP Review, 05 Because Key Assessments were identified for the ECSE Advanced Program in AY 0-04, some performance data were not available. For CFS 6: Disability Categorical Project, data are available for two of the three year period. For CFS 680 and CFS 68: Summative Evaluations, data were available for of the 6 Teacher Candidates who student taught from AY 0 through AY 04. It is important to note that the ECSE Student Teaching Evaluation Instruments were revised during the time period reported for program review purposes. (see attachments) Thus, our Key Assessment data were collected in two different formats; one by a Likert Rating Scale and the other by a Rubric. The knowledge, skills, and dispositions evaluated across both instruments remained the same. The specific measurement criteria did change. When the rubric-based evaluation tool was pilot testing in AY 0-0, both ECSE Teaching Candidates and ECSE Cooperating Teachers indicated a preference for changing the evaluation measurement criteria. ECSE Advanced Program Improvement Suggestion: ) To better describe student success and promote enhanced data-based program improvement, it is recommended the ECSE Advanced Program faculty (in conjunction with the CFS Advisory Board) determine thresholds of success in student performance for each Key Assessment. By doing so, the performance description can be more useful and meaningful. ) To provide more reliable and valid key assessment results, it would be important to conduct reliability studies for the instruments used to measure student performance. Since the ECSE Advanced Program is a relatively small graduate level program ECSE Advanced Program Student Teaching Practica Description ECSE Student Teaching. The culminating experience for Advanced ECSE Licensure students includes the successful completion of CFS 680: Infant Toddler Student Teaching (-4 credits) and CFS 68: Preschool Student Teaching (-4 credits). Each student teaching experience spans 8 weeks for a total of 6 weeks of student teaching. The ECSE Advanced Program at SCSU does make provisions for Advanced Students who have previous licensed teaching experience in a public school system. The number of weeks in student teaching, and thus the variable credits for CFS 680 and CFS 68, are determined according to specific program criteria employed during ECSE student teaching application procedures. Application Procedures. ECSE Advanced Program graduate students who are eligible for student teaching complete an advising session where the following is completed: - An updated ECSE Program Plan of Study (see attached). March, 05
CAEP Review, 05 - An ECSE Student Teaching Agreement (see attached). - A Review of Experience Form if appropriate (see attached). The Plan of Study is a template used as an overall review of required coursework for each ECSE graduate student individually. These templates are completed in a draft form at the beginning of a student s experience in the ECSE Program. Prior to student teaching near the end of a student s ECSE Licensure Program coursework, The Plan of Study is updated as a final copy, which is then signed by both the student and ECSE Program advisor. The ECSE Student Teaching Agreement is a tiered set of criteria developed by CFS faculty members and Office of Clinical Experience staff for use in determining the number of weeks an Advanced ECSE Teacher Candidate will student teach. The criteria must be met on an individual basis with documentation that is kept on file. Reducing the number of weeks of a student teaching experience is conditional upon successfully meeting ECSE teaching competences per the ECSE Teacher Candidate s Performance Based Evaluation, conducted by both Cooperating Teacher and University Supervisor throughout each ECSE student teaching experience. Student teaching can be extended or discontinued according to onsite student teaching evaluative feedback. In the case where Advanced ECSE Teacher Candidates do not demonstrate sufficient progress toward meeting ECSE competencies (even after a written and signed Action Plan is put in place), Teacher Candidates are not recommended for ECSE licensure. If a Teacher Candidate is eligible for a reduced number of weeks in ECSE Student Teaching by meeting the criteria of the ECSE Student Teaching Agreement, the Teacher Candidate must provide a signed and completed Review of Experience Form. The licensed teacher s educational supervisor completes this form to document previous teaching experience. ECSE Teacher Candidate Success. The majority of ECSE Teacher Candidates over the past five years who have applied for student teaching have received a Minnesota ECSE Teacher license. Figure displays both initial and advanced ECSE Licensure program according to those who have applied and received a Minnesota Teaching License in ECSE. Of the 5 Teacher Candidates, 4 were unable to meet ECSE Student Teaching competencies. Overall, 47 Teacher Candidates were recommended for ECSE Teaching Licensure. CAVEAT: When considering only the number of Teacher Candidates in the ECSE Advanced Licensure Program by academic year, the breakdown is as follows: Table. ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidate by Academic Year 0-0 0-0 0-04 n = 5 n = 6 n = 7 March, 05 4
CAEP Review, 05 Figure. Initial and Advanced ECSE Teacher Candidates by Calendar Year 9 8 7 6 5 4 Advanced Initial No License 0 00 0 0 0 04 ECSE Advanced Program Field Experiences. Field Experiences are defined as direct contact hours with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families, which are embedded in ECSE coursework at an early, mid-point, and end of the training program. Specific program approval information is available upon request. Student Teaching Site Selection. Once the Application Process for the ECSE Advanced Program in the CFS Department is completed, the requests are forward to the Office of Clinical Experiences (OCE) where the placements are secured. The OCE placement process follows the same procedures as those that are employed for initial licensure programs throughout the School of Education student teaching programs. Length of Student Teaching Experience. Most Teacher Candidates in the Advanced ECSE Program spend 8 weeks in student teaching at both the Birth year level and 8 weeks at the year 7 year level of EI/ECSE programming. Then entire student teaching experience spans 6 weeks all together. In some cases, those Teacher Candidates who have a previous teaching license in either Special Education or Early Childhood Education may student teach for 6 weeks if experience can be documented at either or both the Infant Toddler level or the Preschool level. Since these Teacher Candidates are required to pay for tuition that covers 8 weeks of student teachers, most Teacher Candidates in this situation March, 05 5
CAEP Review, 05 elect to student teach for the full 8 weeks. The ECSE Student Teaching Agreement must be completed to document prior teaching experience. Some ECSE Teacher Candidates are teaching EI or ECSE on a licensure variance in a Minnesota public school district when they are eligible for student teaching. If a Teacher Candidate has written documentation of teaching EI or ECSE for one year, student teaching may be reduced to 4 weeks. In the case of having taught EI or ECSE for either two or three years, student teaching may be reduced to a two to three week period of time. Performance Based Evaluative data are collected in both settings; first in the Teacher Candidate s program where teaching on a licensure variance and later in an alternative student teaching setting. Teacher Candidates are recommended for full ECSE licensure upon meeting all student teaching competencies. Table 4 demonstrates that even with the ECSE Student Teaching Agreement that accounts for prior teaching experience, most ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidates successfully complete at least 6 weeks in ECSE student teaching with the majority completing 8 weeks in a student teaching site. Table. Licensed ECSE Teacher Candidate by Weeks in Placement and Year 0-0 0-0 0-04 Total Sites CFS 680 (B- yr) Student Teaching Weeks 8 weeks 4 9 6 weeks - weeks CFS 68 (-5 yr) Student Teaching Weeks 8 weeks 7 6 weeks - weeks Performance Expectations. Student Teaching EI and ECSE Competencies or Outcomes are set for the Birth year level and 7 year level that are derived from the Core Skills Special Education: ECSE as required by the Minnesota Board of Teaching (BOT). These Core Skills guide the performance expectations for student teaching. In preparation to student teach in the Advanced ECSE Program, these Core Skills also guide the student learning outcomes for each course in the ECSE course sequence. In particular, the Student Teaching Competencies or Outcomes form the basis of the Methods coursework content. Performance Expectations are communicated to the Teacher Candidates in comprehensive syllabi that are first shared with graduate students in the ECSE Advanced Program during Methods coursework. Each Teacher Candidate then receives the Student Teaching Syllabi, one syllabus for CFS 680 and one syllabus for CFS 68, at the beginning of their student teaching experience. March, 05 6
CAEP Review, 05 Performance expectations in the ECSE Advanced Program are documented in two ways: ) First, both Cooperating Teachers and University Supervisors for each ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidate complete three direct observations throughout each student teaching experience. Knowledge, skills, and disposition performance data were gathered and shared with the Teacher Candidate. For the AY 0 0, Observation Reports were drafted and kept on file. The rubric-based Formative and Summative Evaluation Instruments was employed throughout AY 0 0 and AY 0 04 for both formative and summative evaluation purposes. The rubric-based evaluation feedback replaced the observation Reports. (see page - of this report for a full description of these two evaluation instruments) ) Second, each Teacher Candidate is expected to create two Portfolios of Assignments (one portfolio for CFS 680 and one portfolio for CFS 68) where each assignment is directly connected to the specific Student Teaching Outcomes as depicted in Table below. Each assignment addresses specific elements of the Student Teaching Outcomes to document a Teacher Candidate s progress toward competency-based performance in EI or ECSE teaching skills. Currently, these assignments are used to document competency-based performance for those teaching skills that the University Supervisor does not have an opportunity to observe directly. For instance, during AY 0-0 in CFS 68, of the 8 ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidates, the University Supervisor observed /8 Teacher Candidates interacting directly with parents during at one or more of their direct observations. The remaining Teacher Candidates ability to interact with parents was documented per Portfolio Assignments. ECSE Teacher Candidate Supervision. Cooperating Teachers who is licensed in ECSE and have at least three years of teaching experience supervise Teacher Candidates in the Advanced ECSE Program when student teaching. Over the past three years, faculty members who meet the Minnesota Board of Teaching requirements (ECSE teaching licensed or school-based experience equivalency) provide university supervision on site for Teacher Candidates. Both Cooperating Teachers and University Supervisors complete three direct observations of Teacher Candidates teaching practices as formative assessment feedback. In terms of summative feedback, Cooperating Teachers and University Supervisors complete the ECSE Summative Evaluation Form and a letter of recommendation that serve as a final report on the student teaching experience. In addition, Cooperating Teachers complete a midterm evaluation to ensure that Teacher Candidates are striving toward ECSE competencies appropriately. All feedback is shared with Teacher Candidates periodically throughout the student teaching experience. To facilitate clear communication regarding student teaching expectations, the University Supervisor, Cooperating Teacher, and Teacher Candidate meet once at the beginning March, 05 7
CAEP Review, 05 of each student teaching placement. To conclude the student teaching experience, a final meeting is conducted as a review of the student teaching experience. Teacher Candidate Performance in ECSE Student Teaching. In order to understand how ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidates performed across all Student Teaching Competencies, a frequency count of the ratings for one year of data where data were available. For the ECSE Student Teaching Rubric-based data, a frequency count was conducted to determine the most frequently occurring level of performance of each Teacher Candidate for each area of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. These results are presented in Tables 4 and 5 according to University Supervisors (US) and Cooperating Teachers (CT). Table 4. Performance Based Results by USs & CTs in B-yr Student Teaching 0-0* (n = 4) 0-0* (n = ) 0-04 (n = 7) I. Personal & Professional Behavior II. Assessment III. Lesson Planning IV. Instruction US CT US CT US CT 00% () 00% () 00% (7) 4/4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 4/4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 50% () 00% () 8% () 9% () 80% () 80% () 90% () 50% () 00% () 66% () 8% () 9% () 80% () 90% () 00% () 50% () 00% (4) 8% - 9% 9% () 80% - 90% 90% () 00% (7) 00% () 00% (5) 8% -00% 00% () 80% - 90% 00% () March, 05 8
CAEP Review, 05 V. Behavior Management /4 /4 /4 /4 50% () 75% () 50% () 75% () 50% () 75% (4) 50% () 75% VI. Family Involvement /4 /4 75% () 75% () 75% (5) 75% (5) /4 /4 00% () 00% () 00% () * Some data were not available for this academic year. Table 5. Performance Based Results by USs & CTs in -7 yr Student Teaching 0-0* (n = 4) 0-0* (n = ) 0-04 (n = 7) I. Personal & Professional Behavior II. Assessment III. Lesson Planning US CT US CT US CT 00% () 00% () 00% (7) 4/4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 IV. Instruction /4 4/4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 /4 50% () 00% () 7% () 8% () 9% () 80% () 50% () 00% () 66% () 8% () 9% () 70% () 80% () 00% () 50% () 00% (5) 7% - 9% 9% () 70% - 90% 00% (7) 00% () 00% (5) 7% - 9% 00% () 70% - 90% March, 05 9
CAEP Review, 05 V. Behavior Management /4 /5 /4 /4 /5 /4 80% () 90% () 50% () 75% () 90% () 50% () 75% () 90% () 50% () 75% (4) 00% () 50% () 75% VI. Family Involvement /4 /4 /4 /4 75% () 00% () 75% () 00% () /4 /4 * Some data were not available for this academic year. 75% (4) 00% () 75% (5) 00% () Evidence on Impact on Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Student Learning. To demonstrate the impact that Advanced ECSE Teacher Candidates have on student learning, data were analyzed for items selected from the ECSE Student Teaching Evaluation Form that are thought to pertain to student learning. These findings are presented in Tables 6 and 7. Table 6. Performance Results by USs & CTs in B-yr Student Teaching 0-0* (n = 5) 0-0* (n = ) 0-04 (n = 7) Records observations and interpret data in terms of educational programming for children. Ability to translate IFSP goals and objectives into an educational program. US CT US CT US CT /5 /5 /5 /5 - - - - 5 March, 05 0
CAEP Review, 05 Develops and utilizes data collection systems. /5 /5-6 - - 4 Adapts to changes in the learning situation and makes necessary adaptations. Manages individual s behavior appropriately. /5 /5 /5 /5 /5 /5 - - - - 5 6 - - 5-4 Ability to interact with parents regarding child s progress, needs, and home behavior. 5/5 5/5 - - * Some data were not available for this academic year. Table 7. Performance Results by USs & CTs in yr 7yr Student Teaching 0-0* (n = 5) 0-0* (n = ) 0-04 (n = 7) Records observations and interpret data in terms of educational programming for children. Ability to translate IEP goals and objectives into US CT US CT US CT /5 /5 /5 /5 - - 5 March, 05
CAEP Review, 05 an educational /5 /5 - - - 5 program. Develops and utilizes data collection systems. /5 /5-6 - 5 - Adapts to changes in the learning situation and makes necessary adaptations. Manages individual s behavior appropriately. /5 /5 /5 /5 - - - 6 - - 5-4 Ability to interact with parents regarding child s progress, needs, and home behavior. 5/5 5/5 - - * Some data were not available for this academic year. Diverse Setting Experience. ECSE Advanced Program Student Teaching sites are selected from the geographic area surrounding St Cloud, Minnesota unless the Teacher Candidate requests a placement outside of this region. ECSE Student Teaching placements are typically selected by the availability of an ECSE Cooperating Teacher, which is necessary to ensure that specific criteria are met in the placement process. Some state level data are available for some of the schools in which ECSE Advanced ECSE Teacher Candidates are placed. For instance, over the three years span that this report covers, 4 placements were secured ECSE Advanced Teacher Candidates. All of these placements were diverse in terms of infant, toddler, and preschoolers ability levels. Infants and toddlers must be eligible for special education early intervention services while preschoolers with disabilities attend early childhood programs for children with and without disabilities. March, 05
CAEP Review, 05 To determine diversity by number of students of color, To determine economic diversity of these ECSE Advanced Program placements, Public School Review (http://www.publicschoolreview.com) posts minority enrollment according to the percentage of students of color within the entire school population. Percent of minority enrollment is provided for Minnesota preschools across the ECSE Advanced Program placements. Table 8. ECSE Advanced Program by Students of Color in Setting by Year. Setting Location with % Students of Color 0-0 0-0 0-04 Anoka (5%) Annandale (5%) Big Lake (%) Lakeville (0%) Norwood (7%) St Cloud (%) Annandale (5%) St Cloud (%) Monticello (8%) Foley (%) Hinckley (6%) Upsala (4%) Pine City (6%) St Cloud (%) State Average 04 8% To determine economic diversity of these ECSE Advanced Program placements, the only data available for ECSE programs are at the district level. ECSE Programs (PreK) programs in the State of Minnesota are typically half day programs, which do not include either breakfast or lunch at school. Since school district data indicate economic diversity by free and reduced lunch eligibility, these data do not apply to diversity levels of ECSE Advanced Program student teaching placement sites. March, 05