Assessment and Accreditation

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) engages in the assessment of student learning and program improvement through the comprehensive work of the GSE Assessment Steering Committee, which was formed in Fall, 2006. The GSE will have an accreditation visit in Fall 2009 by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) at the same time. The GSE Assessment Committee meets every week for 2 hours and works on the planning and implementation of our assessment system (see Meeting Agendas & Minutes).

The following are tasks that the GSE Assessment Steering Committee accomplished from Fall 2006 to Spring 2007:

  • Revising the GSE Conceptual Framework (GSE Mission, Vision, Goals & Purposes, and Guiding Principles) with the feedback from faculty, advisory council, supervisors and cooperating teachers.
  • Planning of the assessment system through defining transition points (Admission, Mid-Point, Completion and Follow-up) for all the GSE programs.
  • Developing an assessment website to share information on assessment efforts with the faculty, students, and community members.
  • Developing the assessment tools (Letters of Reference form, Writing Statement Scoring Guide, Work Sample and Field Experience Scoring Guides, Exit Survey and Follow-up Survey) for each transition point throughout the whole year.
  • Searching for and purchasing the data management system (TK20) that enables the GSE to collect systematic and ongoing data on each transition point.
  • Piloting TK20 in two elementary cohorts in Spring 2007.
  • Informing GSE faculty on assessment efforts in every GSE Faculty Meeting.
  • Collecting data on SPED and GTEP.
  • Getting continuous feedback from individual department/programs.
  • The GSE Exit Survey was applied at the end of Spring 2007 and the results were shared with department chairs in Summer 2007.
  • The GSE started implementing TK20 to collect systematic data on transition points in Summer 2007 with the majority of programs.
  • One TK20 orientation was held in Summer 2007 for faculty, supervisors, cooperating teachers, and students. Another will be held in Fall 2007.

Future Plans:

  • There will be two TK20 orientations in Summer 2007 and Fall 2007 for faculty, supervisors, cooperating teachers and students.
  • The assessment tools will be validated during 2007-08 academic year.
  • The GSE Exit Survey data will be entered and analyzed in Summer 2007 and the results will be presented in the GSE Faculty Retreat in Fall 2007.
  • The Online Application for major programs will be piloted in the 2007-08 Accademic Year.