Secondary Education Students’ Competency Development
Step 1: Student Learning Outcome
Graduates will:
- Demonstrate a strong foundation of knowledge
- Implement effective practice
- Use current technologies for teaching and learning
Step 2: Methods and Measures
Direct Assessment: All candidates are assessed on indicators of knowledge and competence using the following direct measures: course grades; writing assignment; culminating assignment
Data sources used to assess for this SLO: course grades, 2014 Survey for Advanced Programs from One Year Out, Advanced Program Unit-Wide Key Writing Assignments for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years and, capstone course pass rates.
Assignments are administered in courses each semester and are scored by course instructors on a rubric. Passing criteria for assignments are included on each rubric used for scoring.
Example Rubric (Advanced Program Unit-Wide Key Writing Assignment):
| Content, Structure, & Style | Exceeds Expectation (5-6) | At Expectation (4) | Below Expectation (1-3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completeness of Response & Quality/Clarity of Thought | Addresses the topic clearly and responds effectively to all aspects of the task; ideas are well-developed; explores the issues thoughtfully and in depth. | Addresses the topic clearly, but may respond to some aspects of the task more effectively than others; shows some depth and clarity of thought. | May treat the topic casually, simplistically or repetitively; lacks focus, or demonstrates confused or simplistic thinking; often fails to communicate ideas; distorts or neglects aspects of the task; presenting generalizations without adequate and appropriate support |
| Organization, Sequence of Ideas/Focus | Organization is excellent in terms of bridges and transitions; paper remains focused with no wandering to unrelated topics; minor points are related to the thesis; ideas flow in sensible sequence; discussion of area is complete before transitioning to another. | Generally good presentation with either bridges or headings but not all the time; paper is generally focused with text following the order presented in the introduction; relationship of ideas made evident | Few clues are used so that text organization is a challenge to reader; relationship of ideas to thesis is vague; text jumps from topic to topic in shotgun approach; reader must work to keep up with flow of ideas. |
| Accuracy of Content/Vocabulary | Information is accurate and attributed to correct resources; pragmatic suggestions are appropriate to question; appropriate reading terms are employed and well defined. | Information is accurate in description but some resources or definitions are weak. | Errors are present in either content and/or resources and examples; response contains poorly defined terms; definitions are faulty; information attributed to incorrect sources |
| Resources/Support/ Examples | Authorities are thoughtfully selected from a wide array of sources and applied appropriately to content; examples are given and well developed for the topic | Ideas generally supported by professionally sound resources however, only general resources repeatedly cited; too few or too many examples are provided | Few resources presented or resources cited limited to class texts; examples are given but no definitions or explanations are provided |
Indirect Assessment: All candidates are assessed on indicators of knowledge and competence following surveys - midpoint, exit, graduate and employer (selected items).
Surveys are administered electronically (i.e., Qualtrics) by the College Assessment Office. All enrolled candidates (identified at each survey point), are invited via email to complete the survey. Passing criteria for assignments are included on each rubric used for scoring.
Example Survey (Advanced Programs from One Year Out):
| As a graduate student in this program…... | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree (1) | Agree (2) | Disagree (3) | Strongly Disagree (4) | |
| I am well prepared to collaborate with other professionals in school settings | m | m | m | m |
| I am well prepared to use technology to support teaching and learning, or as appropriate to my role in schools. | m | m | m | m |
| Q11 I am well prepared with knowledge of the foundational research that informs my field of study. | m | m | m | m |
| I am well prepared to successfully explain the key concepts in my field of study. | m | m | m | m |
| I am well prepared to accept leadership roles. | m | m | m | m |
Step 3: Criteria for Success
Direct Assessment (Course grades and assignments): A minimum of 75% of candidates will meet the required criteria for passing.
Indirect Assessment (Surveys - midpoint, exit, graduate and employer (selected items): A minimum of 75% of candidates will have an average rating of 3 or higher.
Step 4: Results
Direct Assessment (Course grades and assignments): An analysis of grades during 2012-2014 demonstrated candidate’s strong foundation of program and curriculum knowledge in their coursework. Overall pass rates for candidates met the unit criteria for grades.
Overall pass rate for graduate courses in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 was consistently above 90%. In the capstone courses (EDSC 594 and EDSC 595), where candidates are required to pass a comprehensive examination or develop a final project, the average pass rate in 2012-2013 was 100% and the average pass rate in 2013-2014 was 88%. Based on the unit criteria for overall pass rates, candidates in all advanced programs met and exceeded the passing standard of 75%.
Analysis of the data from the Advanced Program Unit-Wide Key Writing Assignments for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years revealed that 100% and 90% of candidates’ performed “at expectation.”
Indirect Assessment (survey): The data from the 2014 Survey for Advanced Programs from One Year out indicated that 100% of graduates from 2012-13 felt they were, “well prepared to successfully explain the key concepts in [their] fields of study.” Of the same graduates, 100% reported that they were, “well prepared to accept leadership roles”. Both of these overall averages indicated that the unit criteria (75% or higher) on the survey were met.
Step 5: Improvement Actions
Although candidate’s met the passing standards during 2012-2014 for this outcome, there were key areas identified for improvement. For example, based on 2013 Midpoint Survey results in the area of quality online instruction, 85.7% of candidates indicated that they felt faculty delivered effective online instruction, compared to 93.8% unit wide. Based on these results, the program faculty also examined the qualitative data from the same survey. Qualitative data revealed patterns of strengths and concerns around the areas of instructor presence, timeliness of feedback, responsiveness to email or posted questions, and overall teaching effectiveness.
In response to the above, for the 13-14 academic year, graduate faculty reserved all or part of their monthly graduate committee meetings for sharing best practices, resources, and technologies around the topic of effective teaching in online settings. These activities support the meaningful integration of technology to enhance teaching and learning and to improve online instruction. In order to maintain and increase the current levels of performance in their programs they also determined that faculty will need to continue learning about the latest technological innovations and updates in order to stay abreast of the rapid changes that are occurring in the 21st century.
