SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Secondary Education (SED)
Secondary Education (SED)
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Effective Lesson Planning |
| Objective |
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Secondary education candidates will be able to plan an effective lesson. |
| Indicator |
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During the classes of Methods Block, normally the first semester senior year, the students write multiple lesson plans. Each student selects the best lesson plan in each content area (math, English language arts, science, and social studies, etc.) to submit as their best representation of a Lesson Plan in that content area. The lesson plans are scored/evaluated on information documented in stating the lesson goals, objectives, rationale, standards, materials, classroom setting, student needs, focus, procedures, design of implementation, and closure of the lesson. The Lesson Plan assessment allows our candidates to demonstrate their understanding of: *Establishing a lesson framework; *Designing a supportive learning environment; *Incorporating Instructional strategies; and, *Implementing Evaluation strategies. A rubric is used to score each of the componets in the Lesson Plan. A minimum score of 2 or Acceptable with sub scores of a 2 or better (3 - Target) or the teacher candidate must re-do the lesson plan. The purpose of this assessment is to provide opportunities for the candidates to demonstrate their ability to plan, implements, assess, and modify instruction for diverse groups of learners adn to develop and teach a lesson that involves fundamental concepts in the candidate's content area. |
| Criterion |
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90% of candidates during the 2014-2015 academic year will achieve a score of "3" on the Methods Block Lesson Plan. The lesson plan format is in place and ready to use. From the Findings, the lesson plan rubric will continue to be adjusted to give not only a score on the four sections of the lesson plan, but also to provide an overall score of 3, 2, or 1. Teacher candidates will be given the opportunity to redo and resubmit a lesson plan that scores a 1 (Unacceptable). The Methods Block Lesson Plans will be appropriate format to measure a variety of learning outcomes. The content of the items in this assessment relate directly to the planning, implementation, and assessment of instruction that teachers encounter when teaching. Using the Findings from 2013-2014, instructors will focus instruction more specifically on the requirements for the quality completion of the four parts of the Lesson Plan: Establishing the Lesson Framework, Designing Supportive Learning Environments, Instructional Strategies, and Evaluation Strategies. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on the instruction for Evaluation Strategies, the lowest performing part of the Lesson Plan. This will be monitored regularly throughout the school year. Additions to the lesson plan have been made to include literacy strategies, differentiated instruction, accomodations/modifications, and English Language Learner strategies to aid the candidates in recognizing diverse school populations. We anticipate that our increased focus on evaluation strategies, a weakness now for two years in a row, will have improved this area. |
| Finding |
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The lesson plan addresses the teacher candidates' ability to develop a variety of lessons that demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of how to select the appropriate teaching and learning activities; ability to plan for equitable assessment strategies to analyzing student learning; and create learning enviroments conducive to learning experiences. There were 136 candidates to submit a lesson plan. The follow is the aggregate data for each component of the Lesson Plan:
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Actions for Objective:
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86% of the teacher candidates scored a 3 on the Methods Block Lesson Plan. While the 90% criteria was not met, 100% of the teacher candidates scored a 2 or 3. This is Acceptable and Target ratings. Strategies are continuing to be employed in all of the Secondary Methods courses which address the lower-scoring areas of the lesson plan (Designing Supportive Learning Environments) |
| GOAL: Certification |
| Objective |
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Secondary education candidates will be able to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and dispositions of effective teaching and learning of secondary students. |
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All candidates seeking initial certification, advanced teacher certification, or certifications for other school personnel must take two or more of the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES) with a minimum score of 240 out of 300 or roughly 80% passing rate to be certified to teach in Texas. These examinations directly correspond to the state content competencies that have been identified for the certification desired. These content competencies are aligned with and based on the appropriate state standards and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) statements, which describe the state mandated curriculum for students. Each TExES examination is criterion-referenced and is designed to measure a candidate's level of content knowledge and skills appropriate for educators in the State of Texas. Each test was collaboratively developed by the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC), National Evaluation Systems, Inc. (NES), an independent corporation specializing in educational measurements, with additional participation by committees of Texas educators. Individual test items developed to measure the state competencies were reviewed and rated by the various committees of Texas educators to ensure appropriateness of content and difficulty, clarity, and accuracy. These committees also ensured that the test items matched the appropriate competencies and were free from potential ethnicity, gender, and regional biases. The committees also helped prepare scoring rubrics for written response items and training materials for those who would score the tests. Separate standard-setting panels were convened to review statistical data about candidate scores from initial pilot studies of the tests during their development. Recommendations were forwarded to the SBEC, which made the final decisions about establishing passing scores. TExES examinations are centrally administered by SBEC and NES at pre-determined sites and on pre-established dates across Texas similar to many of the national achievement tests. This regime provides for a professional, equitable, and secure testing environment for candidates. Alternative testing arrangements are also permitted for those requiring special consideration. Sites are selected after a careful review of security and accessibility potential, and the quality of overall testing conditions. Tests are scored centrally. The Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) EC-12 exam is taken by all candidates seeking certification. The test framework is divided into four domains.
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| Criterion |
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93% of secondary education candidates will pass the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination the first time. While the accountability system for the state examines scores for each completer cohort and provides for students to repeat the examination if they are not successful on the first attempt, the analysis of pass rates which will be presented here represent the pass rates on the first attempt for all PPR exams taken in 2015-2016, through May of 2016 (completers of the program will not be reported until this day). From the 2013-2014 findings, strategies to increase the percentage of first time exam takers will continue. In addition, those strategies will include more effort to address the lower-scoring areas so as to increase the percentage passing scores of first time exam takers. Last year the weakness that emerged revolved around assessment. We anticipate that our increased focus in this area will show improvement. |
| Finding |
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97% of secondary teacher candidates passed the EC-12 Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination. There were 150 attempts and 145 passed. |
Actions for Objective:
There are no actions for this objective.
There are no actions for this objective.
| GOAL: Effective Teaching |
| Objective |
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| Secondary education candidates will demonstrate elements of effective teaching. |
| Indicator |
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The Teacher Work Sample (TWS), adapted from The Renaissance Partnership for Improving Teacher Quality Project (http://fp.uni.edu/itq), is a performance assessment designed to demonstrate evidence of Sam Houston State University candidates' ability to facilitate learning for all students. This sample illustrates the candidate's ability to plan, implement, modify and assess instruction during their student teaching semester. Prior to the student teaching semester, candidates choose one (12 to 14 week placement) or two (6 to 7 week placements). During the first 6 to 7 weeks of their placement, candidates are required to create and teach a unit as a Teacher Work Sample. After consulting with their mentor teacher about the unit focus, candidates teach a minimum of five lessons from the unit in their mentor's classroom. Additionally, the candidates are evaluated on their unit planning and teaching of unit lessons. They are also required to reflect on their decision-making and teaching practice including their impact on student learning. The Teacher Work Sample (TWS) focuses on seven teaching processes that are crucial for effective/reflective teaching and must be considered when planning for the learning of all students. Each process is defined by a performance standard, specific task, a student prompt and a rubric that identify the desired performance of the candidate related to that process. As recommended by the Renaissance Group, each candidate's Teacher Work Sample is blindly scored by a minimum of two trained scorers. Each scorer evaluates and assigns a score of three(target), two (acceptable), or one (unacceptable) to each indicator, Additionally an overall score of three, two or one is given to each of the seven processes as well as and an overall three, two or one to the entire Teacher Work Sample. If the first two scorers agree on the overall Teacher Work Sample score, the scoring process is complete. However, if the two scorers do not agree the Teacher Work Sample is scored for a third, possibly fourth time, until agreement is reached. For this reason, the data presented in the following charts represents the number of scorings not the number of Teacher Work Samples scored. Once agreement is reached on the Teacher Work Sample score, the overall scores are sent to the student teachers. |
| Criterion |
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75% of candidates in the 2014-2015 academic year will achieve a score of "3" on the Teacher Work Sample. As recommended by the Renaissance Group, each candidate's Teacher Work Sample is blindly scored by a minimum of two trained scorers. Each scorer evaluates and assigns a score of three(target), two (acceptable), or one (unacceptable) to each indicator, Additionally an overall score of three, two or one is given to each of the seven processes as well as and an overall three, two or one to the entire Teacher Work Sample. If the first two scorers agree on the overall Teacher Work Sample score, the scoring process is complete. However, if the two scorers do not agree the Teacher Work Sample is scored for a third, possibly fourth time, until agreement is reached. For this reason, the data presented in the following charts represents the number of scorings not the number of Teacher Work Samples scored. Once agreement is reached on the Teacher Work Sample score, the overall scores are sent to the student teachers. Using the desegregation of data report on the Teacher Work Sample, the focus will be to adjust the instruction on each of the seven processes of the TWS, addressing the areas of weakness reflected in the disaggregated data report. This will be assessed regularly throughout the school year. Two weaknesses emerged last year were and Contextual Factors and Design For Instruction. We anticipate that our increased focus in these areas will find these areas improved |
| Finding |
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The reporting data for the TWS provided by the college now designates the percentage of matching scores. That is, what percentage of test takers received matching scores of 3 on two blind reviews, what percentage received matching scores of 2, etc. The score of candidates receiving matching 3's was 57.0%. The score of candidates receiving matching 2's was 38.0%. If we examine scores of matching 2's and matching 3's (acceptable and target), the score was 95%. The disaggregated candidate mean scores are as follows:
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Actions for Objective:
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Each semester, the faculty in the Secondary Methods Program, plan and implement new strategies based on assessment data to assist our candidates in successfully completing the Teacher Work Sample. This is evident in that 96.6% of all candidates met the minimum standard. Of the test takers, 53.6% received matching scores of 3, while 44.0% received matching scores of 2. Since 95% of candidates demonstrated mastery on this assessment, the faculty would like to focus on improving modifications for instruction for all students. Our candidates must be able to demonstrate planning, implementing instruction, assessing instruction and modifying instruction for all learners. The TWS component which was lowest overall was Design for Instruction; therefore, this component will be addressed by the Secondary Methods faculty in order to come up with a plan to improve candidates’ scores. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Goal: Effective Lesson Planning
Using the Findings from 2012-2013, instructors will focus instruction more specifically on the requirements for the quality completion of the four parts of the Lesson Plan: Establishing the Lesson Framework, Designing Supportive Learning Environments, Instructional Strategies, and Evaluation Strategies. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on the instruction for Evaluation Strategies, the lowest performing part of the Lesson Plan. This will be monitored regularly throughout the school year. Goal: Certification Based on the findings of the 2012-2013 TExES scores, the low-scoring areas will be address through concentrated focus. A "workshop" will be conducted as an additional tutorial over the different sections of the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination. Goal: Effective Teaching Ongoing emphasis on the components of the TWS, during the Methods Block semester (when a modified TWS is performed), along with prompt and extensive feedback on the components and modified TWS will prove beneficial in the teacher candidates' preparation for success on the TWS performed during student teaching; as with the above two objectives, the CISE program educators plan to focus on changes within our own classroom practice to bolster this objective in the future. These changes will focus largely on assessment and special populations. |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Goal: Effective Lesson Planning
Using the Findings from 2013-2014, instructors focused instruction more specifically on the requirements for the quality completion of the four parts of the Lesson Plan: Establishing the Lesson Framework, Designing Supportive Learning Environments, Instructional Strategies, and Evaluation Strategies. In addition, more emphasis was placed on the instruction for Evaluation Strategies (Assessment), the lowest performing part of the Lesson Plan. As a result, all the teacher candidates in the Secondary Education program scored either a "2" or "3" in the Evaluation Strategies section of the lesson plan. 15.44% of teacher candidates scored a "2" and 84.56% scored a "3" Goal: Certification Based on the findings of the 2013-2014 TExES scores, the low-scoring areas were addressed through a concentrated focus. It was stated that a "workshop" would be conducted as an additional tutorial over the different sections of the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination; however, the a dedicated workshop did not occur due to resources. As a team, it was decided that each instructor would dedicate time during each class to reviewing the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination. Some instructors invited a guest speaker to discuss test taking strategies specific to this certification exam. As a result, 97% teacher candidates in the Secondary Education program passed the Pedadgogy and Professionalism Responbilities Certification Examination. Goal: Effective Teaching As with the above two objectives, the CISE program educators focused on changes within our own classroom practice to bolster the weak components. The two areas of weakness emerged last year - Assessment Plan and Analysis of Student Learning. Efforts among instructors in the CISE program to focus on these weaknesses lead to an increase in mean for the Assessment Plan from 2.46 to 2.47 and the Assessment of Student Learning increased from 2.44 to 2.50. For the overall scores of the TWS, 57% scored a "3"; 38% scored a "2"; and 5% scored a "1." The "1's" revised and resubmitted their TWS and successfully scored a 2 or 3. |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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Goal: Effective Lesson Planning
Using the Findings from 2013-2014, instructors will focus instruction more specifically on the requirements for the quality completion of the four parts of the Lesson Plan: Establishing the Lesson Framework, Designing Supportive Learning Environments, Instructional Strategies, and Evaluation Strategies. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on the instruction for Designing Supportive Learning Environments, the lowest performing part of the Lesson Plan. New material has been added to the Methods block courses to provide additional strategies, evaluation, and support for special populations.This will be monitored regularly throughout the school year during monthly Secondary Education Program team meetings. Goal: Certification Based on the findings of the 2013-2014 TExES scores, the low-scoring areas will be address through concentrated focus. A "workshop" will be conducted as an additional tutorial over the different sections of the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination. Additional exposure to the representative (practice) test will ensure the candidates are familiar to the types of questions asked on the PPR. A handout has been provided to the candidates that concisely describes the TELPAS English Language Learner levels. Candidates refer to this document frequently throughout their Methods block and are encouraged to keep it as a reference for studying for the PPR examination. Goal: Effective Teaching Ongoing emphasis on the components of the TWS, during the Methods Block semester (when a modified TWS is performed), along with prompt and extensive feedback on the components and modified TWS will prove beneficial in the teacher candidates' preparation for success on the TWS performed during student teaching; as with the above two objectives, the CISE program educators plan to focus on changes within our own classroom practice to bolster this objective in the future. These changes will focus largely on assessment, instructional strategies, and special populations. Candidates write each component of the modified TWS; submits it for instructor and peer review; re-writes the component based on feedback; submits it again for grading. Candidates are given an opportunity to redo the assignment if it does not meet the "Target" score. |