Using Accreditation to Increase the Evidence Base of Teacher Education (i.e., Using evidence to move faculty toward evidence) Sandra B. Cohen Director of Teacher Education Curry School of Education University of Virginia

University of Virginia Curry School of Education: Context Twenty program areas in Curry School – 9 program areas in TED Approximately 973 full-time students in Curry School of Education 528 in teacher education 13/yr. in reading education on-grounds –70/yr. off-grounds 30/yr. in administration/supervision on grounds –300/yr. off-grounds 100 full-time instructional faculty in Curry –32 faculty directly involved in teaching in TED 33 Research & project faculty

Curry School Teacher Education (TED): Context Bachelor of Arts/Master of Teaching (5-year dual degree program ) –College of Arts & Sciences & Curry School of Education Leads to B.A., M.T., licensure & endorsement Graduating class of approximately 110 students/year Average SATs - V: 628; Q: 627 Average overall GPA: 3.51 Average major GPA in College of Arts & Sciences: 3.26 Post-graduate Master of Teaching Program (2-year) –Curry School only Leads to both M.T. degree and licensure & endorsement Approximately 55 students/year Average GRE: 1124

Curry School Teacher Education Framework: “Teacher as a Reflective Decision-Maker”

Accreditation Implementation:

Curry TED (TEAC) Claims: Curry graduates know their students and work with others to support them Curry graduates know their content Curry graduates are able to align instruction and assessment within a positive learning environment Curry graduates demonstrate professional integrity and continuous self-reflection Rule #1: Keep it simple Rule #2: Make it work for us (i.e., base work on Virginia Teaching Standards) Claims: Rule #3: Match research to TED claims

Sample Measures for Accreditation: Open Portfolio (Curry’s own student teaching on-line evaluation system) Educational Benchmark Incorporated (EBI) Exit Surveys Lesson Plan Review Employer Survey GPA Licensure Tests (PRAXIS, VRA, VCLA) CLASS (Classroom Learning Assessment Scoring System [Student teaching observation system] )

Purposes for Faculty Research: Verification of course material (faculty personal reinforcement) Survey & Interview Research (programmatic support/change) Content Specific Research (professional development) Research on Teacher Education Constituencies (professional development, programmatic support/change) Research on Teacher Education Program (value- added, programmatic support/change)

Know your purpose for evidence… Evidence can make you feel good Evidence can make you question Evidence can make you comfortable Evidence can make you change

Evidence from the accreditation process lead us to establish… Research Pathways

Sample Items - Employer Survey (handout)

Employers’ (Principals’) Satisfaction: Curry alums overall compared to other beginning teachers

Comparative Utility of 2 Tables (handout)

CLASS: Classroom Assessment Scoring System Emotional Support Instructional Support Classroom Organization Student Outcomes CLASS Focus

CLASS Data—Student Teachers (Fall ’04, Fall ’05) CLASS Domains Average Domain Scores

CLASS: 4 th year Curry and A&S Students *.05 or less **.01 or less CLASS Domain Curry (n=20) Mean (sd) A&S (n=18) Mean (sd)Sig. Effect Size Homogeneity of Variance Emotional Support 4.42 (0.79)3.87 (1.10)0.50* Classroom Organization 5.65 (0.60)4.98 (1.30)*0.52** Instructional Support 3.30 (0.90)3.02 (1.13)0.25 Student Engagement 5.25 (0.49)4.54 (1.14)*0.62**

Sample Items - MT Graduate Exit Survey (handout)

Curry’s Working Process for Accreditation TEAC Working Committee –Instruct ALL faculty about TEAC process Discussion of assertion & claims in program areas Committee development of claims Faculty review of claims Committee development of Quality Control & Audit Process Faculty review of Quality Control Audit system development & implementation by committee Pull evidence from all TED related projects –Integrate/align all measures/evidence into TED program Committee writing of Inquiry Brief Faculty review of Inquiry Brief –Faculty discussions, discussions, discussions

Curry’s Growth (see handout) Process must be both dynamic and on-going –Emphasis may change, but focal points remain the same Parallel attention needs to be given to process knowledge (accreditation) and program knowledge (evidence-based decision making)

Looking Back: What We Learned About Faculty Involvement in Developing Evidence: Research on TED must be seen as integral to, & integrated with, TED program for faculty to get involved Faculty more likely to participate in research when they see a direct connection to their job/role Faculty will respond more to data-driven issues when leadership is also involved Faculty want to retain ownership of their program, courses, & students Reliability needs to be established before measures are considered core to the assessment program

Looking Back (continued): Select & implement measures that can be sustained Need to continually invite faculty participation in research---times, situations, & interests change Faculty feel positively about common rubrics when they have input into their design & implementation Faculty need support for research efforts (data collection & analysis, grant writing, publication assistance, etc.) Evidence does move faculty

UVA’s Current Focus on Accreditation & Evidence Integration of TED program and research agendas Development of core assessments Seek reliability of measures Cultural change---Research Pathways Refinement of the research pool procedures Development of sustainable measures (CLASS, Open Portfolio) Alignment of TED measures with VA state system (VITAL) Increase support for faculty involvement in research (Pathways) and annual accreditation reports