SACS Reaffirmation
| Objective | Leadership Skills | |
| Graduate candidates will demonstrate their developing leadership skills through mentoring paraprofessionals, designing staff development programs, and conducting school-wide literacy needs assessments. Associated Goals: Constituency Satisfaction, Quality And Effectiveness, Visibility And Impact |
| Indicator | Projects For Leadership Development An analysis of Reading Specialist test domain level data, an examination of the new IRA standards, and an analysis of candidate products in 2005-06 prompted the reading faculty to establish this as an objective for the 2006-07 year. Implement, collect and analyze literacy coaching RDG 675. |
| Criteria | Assessments of Leadership Development 1. Using the Rubric for Mentoring 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 2. Using the Rubric for Staff Development 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 3. Using the Rubric for Literacy Needs Assessments 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. |
| Finding | Analysis of Leadership Development 1. An analysis of the rubrics related to leadership development indicates that 75% of the candidates exceeded expectations and 25% met expectations. |
| Action | Review of Professional and Leadership Development Because the RDG MED candidates do well on rubrics assessing professional and leadership development the faculty wanted to review the rubrics for rigor. |
| Objective | Professional Development | |
| Graduate reading students engage in continuing professional development. Associated Goals: Constituency Satisfaction, Quality And Effectiveness |
| Indicator | Projects For Professional Development 1. Implement, collect and analyze Professional Change Projects in RDG 530. 2. Implement, collect and analyze candidate inquiry projects related to professional development in RDG 598 and 590. |
| Criteria | Assessment of Professional Development 1. Using the Rubric for Professional Change 90% of RDG 530 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 2. Using the Rubric for Professional development Inquiry 90% of RDG 561 and 590 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. |
| Finding | Analysis of Professional Development 1. An analysis of the rubrics related to professional development indicates that 75% of the candidates exceeded expectations and 25% met expectations. |
| Action | Professional and Leadership Development 1. During the implementation phase of this project it was noted that "buy-in" from school administrators varied greatly from school to school and some teachers had to modify their projects in order to meet the course requirements. The faculty determined that a more hands-on approach was needed between the university professor, the candidate, and his/her school administrator. The faculty determined that these assignments would be better suited to the new RDG 690, the Internship course in order that the professor, the student, and local school officials could work together to determine an appropriate internship project that would meet our program standards as well as meet needs of the local districts. This will lessen the large amount of professional development work required in the RDG 675 course, allowing a better focus on the Literacy School Profile and the Learner Assessment Profile. |
| Objective | Align Reading Masters With Reading Specialist Standards | |
| Graduate Reading Faculty will align the reading master's curriculum with state Reading Specialist standards and the International Reading Association's new standards for Reading Specialists (Goal 1).
Associated Goals: Quality And Effectiveness |
| Indicator | Correlate Standards 1. All master's level reading syllabi will include a matrix that correlates state and IRA standards with instructional objectives. 2. A matrix combining all courses will be prepared. |
| Criteria | Correlate State and IRA Standards 1. All master''s level reading syllabi will include a matrix that correlates state and IRA standards with instructional objectives. 2. The matrix of all courses will indicate that all state and IRA standards are covered in the master''s reading program. |
| Finding | Correlate State & IRA Standards 1. All Reading Master''s courses include a matrix of state and IRA standards matched by instructional objective. 2. A composite analysis of these syllabi indicated that our program lacked a) a necessary emphasis in opportunities for our candidates to develop literacy coaching skills, b) our courses emphasized research and writing more than the state or national standards called for. |
| Action | Curriculum Alignment As a direct result of the curriculum re-alignment with the International Reading Association Advanced Standards and the state reading specialist standards the faculty have modified the program curriculum by requesting to delete RDG 639, a second research course, and add a new internship course in its place, RDG 690. In addition, the faculty found that some course activities were repetitive and replaced them with activities that can be used to demonstrate candidate competence in lesson planning and student assessment. |
| Objective | Leadership Skills | |
| Graduate candidates will demonstrate their developing leadership skills through mentoring paraprofessionals, designing staff development programs, and conducting school-wide literacy needs assessments. Associated Goals: Constituency Satisfaction, Quality And Effectiveness, Visibility And Impact |
| Indicator | Projects For Leadership Development An analysis of Reading Specialist test domain level data, an examination of the new IRA standards, and an analysis of candidate products in 2005-06 prompted the reading faculty to establish this as an objective for the 2006-07 year. Implement, collect and analyze literacy coaching RDG 675. |
| Criteria | Assessments of Leadership Development 1. Using the Rubric for Mentoring 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 2. Using the Rubric for Staff Development 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 3. Using the Rubric for Literacy Needs Assessments 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. |
| Finding | Analysis of Leadership Development 1. An analysis of the rubrics related to leadership development indicates that 75% of the candidates exceeded expectations and 25% met expectations. |
| Action | Review of Professional and Leadership Development Because the RDG MED candidates do well on rubrics assessing professional and leadership development the faculty wanted to review the rubrics for rigor. |
| Objective | Professional Development | |
| Graduate reading students engage in continuing professional development. Associated Goals: Constituency Satisfaction, Quality And Effectiveness |
| Indicator | Projects For Professional Development 1. Implement, collect and analyze Professional Change Projects in RDG 530. 2. Implement, collect and analyze candidate inquiry projects related to professional development in RDG 598 and 590. |
| Criteria | Assessment of Professional Development 1. Using the Rubric for Professional Change 90% of RDG 530 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 2. Using the Rubric for Professional development Inquiry 90% of RDG 561 and 590 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. |
| Finding | Analysis of Professional Development 1. An analysis of the rubrics related to professional development indicates that 75% of the candidates exceeded expectations and 25% met expectations. |
| Action | Professional and Leadership Development 1. During the implementation phase of this project it was noted that "buy-in" from school administrators varied greatly from school to school and some teachers had to modify their projects in order to meet the course requirements. The faculty determined that a more hands-on approach was needed between the university professor, the candidate, and his/her school administrator. The faculty determined that these assignments would be better suited to the new RDG 690, the Internship course in order that the professor, the student, and local school officials could work together to determine an appropriate internship project that would meet our program standards as well as meet needs of the local districts. This will lessen the large amount of professional development work required in the RDG 675 course, allowing a better focus on the Literacy School Profile and the Learner Assessment Profile. |
| Objective | Standards Of Proficiency | |
| Graduate Reading Specialist candidates will meet or exceed the established standards of proficiency in the knowledge and skills required for Texas Reading Specialist Certification.
Associated Goals: Quality And Effectiveness |
| Indicator | Candidates' Reading Specialist Certification State Scores Global scores on all domains of the standardized TExES Reading Specialist Certification examination. |
| Criteria | TExES Reading Specialist Standards 1. Candidates will successfully complete all required coursework prior to taking the Reading Specialist exam. 2. 90% or more test-takers will pass the TExES exam for the Reading Specialist at the initial administration. 3. Candidates will meet or exceed state mean scores on the Reading Specialist TExES examination. |
| Finding | TExES Reading Specialist Exam 1. Graduates successfully completing all coursework and the portfolio defense were approved to register for the TExES Reading Specialist examination. 2. Two RDG MEd graduates took the state exam and both passed. 100% pass rate. |
| Action | Standardized test data Program faculty reviewed performance data for graduates on the TExES Reading Specialist Exam and were surprised to realize that 50% or less of our graduate actually take the state examination. Faculty will investigate the reasons in-state students do not take the exam. They will also develop more stringent measures for gathering data for all candidates since more than half are not participating in the state test. |
| Objective | Leadership Skills | |
| Graduate candidates will demonstrate their developing leadership skills through mentoring paraprofessionals, designing staff development programs, and conducting school-wide literacy needs assessments. Associated Goals: Constituency Satisfaction, Quality And Effectiveness, Visibility And Impact |
| Indicator | Projects For Leadership Development An analysis of Reading Specialist test domain level data, an examination of the new IRA standards, and an analysis of candidate products in 2005-06 prompted the reading faculty to establish this as an objective for the 2006-07 year. Implement, collect and analyze literacy coaching RDG 675. |
| Criteria | Assessments of Leadership Development 1. Using the Rubric for Mentoring 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 2. Using the Rubric for Staff Development 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. 3. Using the Rubric for Literacy Needs Assessments 90% of RDG 675 candidates will meet or exceed expectations on the assignment. |
| Finding | Analysis of Leadership Development 1. An analysis of the rubrics related to leadership development indicates that 75% of the candidates exceeded expectations and 25% met expectations. |
| Action | Review of Professional and Leadership Development Because the RDG MED candidates do well on rubrics assessing professional and leadership development the faculty wanted to review the rubrics for rigor. |