The Assessment Plan of the Teacher Education Program at the University of New Hampshire
Background
The Teacher Education program at the University of New Hampshire seeks to prepare teachers who demonstrate excellence in the classroom and who serve as leaders in the field of education. The five-year program is the most common route to obtaining a teaching degree. Students complete a baccalaureate degree outside of education and then take a fifth year of graduate work in education and a full year internship. Students begin their preparation for teaching at the undergraduate level with a semester's worth of field experience and professional coursework. The course work and field experiences culminate in either the M.Ed. or M.A.T. degree and licensure for teaching.
A basic four-year undergraduate option is available to students in music, adult occupational education, nursery school/kindergarten, and mathematics. Additional alternatives are available for those individuals who already hold a baccalaureate degree and for those who wish to engage in an intensive summer field program.
Initiative
The Teacher Education program follows a comprehensive plan to assess both student and program performance. The assessment approach, which is ongoing, spans five stages: pre-assessment, admission, internship, post-internship, and post-graduation. The assessment components of each stage are discussed below.
Pre-Assessment
The personal, academic, and dispositional qualities which candidates bring to
professional preparation are carefully considered prior to the admissions
process. These are assessed in several ways. Pre-admission, applicants are
asked to explore the teaching profession by enrolling in either (a) EDUC 500
"Exploring Teaching" (a four credit course which requires students
to log a minimum of 65 hours as an assistant teacher in a local school) or
(b) a seven week summer school for local children. (Individuals with extensive
teaching experience have the option of completing a detailed waiver.) Exploring
Teaching evaluations of students are completed by UNH faculty advisors
and cooperating teachers in the local schools.
Admission
Several indicators are used to inform admissions decisions. These include the
Exploring Teaching self-assessment paper, an evaluation from EDUC 500 cooperating
teachers and seminar leaders, a personal statement, undergraduate transcripts,
three or more letters of recommendation, undergraduate grade point average,
GRE scores, interviews (in selected cases), and education and subject matter
faculty feedback. The Admissions Rubric instrument
is used to compile the data and assist in making judgments
about applicants. Once admitted, students are assessed in a variety of ways
throughout their program (e.g., student work, course grades).
Internship
As part of the year long internship, interns and their cooperating teachers
work together on a mid-semester assessment worksheet. The assessment worksheet is based on the seven major goals
and outcomes of the Teacher Education program. Cooperating teachers conduct
several assessments of their interns, including videotaped observations, during
the internship (see, e.g., teacher observation guide.
The Teacher Education program has instituted a Program Portfolio to assess the competency and performance of preservice teachers. The Program Portfolios also assist students and faculty with issues regarding professional growth and development. The portfolio requirement was initiated in 1996 and originally emphasized the internship experience. In 1999, the portfolio assessment was expanded to assess the students’ experience in the entire program (and is now appropriately named the Program Portfolio). The Program Portfolio is designed to be a holistic assessment tool that integrates programmatic coursework. It is to be comprehensive with respect to the seven program goals, drawing on UNH coursework, the internship, and other relevant experiences. Three main questions help guide students through the Program Portfolio process:
- How does your portfolio make public your understanding of who you are as a teacher?
- How does your portfolio demonstrate that you have taken the seven program goals and made them your own in your daily practice?
- How does your portfolio represent your growth in relation to the seven goals?
Students select and reflect on artifacts which represent their professional growth and/or teaching practice. Artifacts can be products of the intern (e.g., lesson units, course projects) or artifacts from the internship itself (e.g., student work samples, photos or videos of classroom instruction). Some artifacts are required of all interns: the Statement of Teaching Philosophy, a formal curriculum unit developed by the intern, and selected work from core classes. Faculty and supervisors read, discuss, and respond to the materials presented in Program Portfolios.
In addition to the Program Portfolio, students are required to conduct a public presentation (i.e., Colloquium) at the culmination of their program. The colloquium is a public presentation focusing on a single question or issue that is of interest to the student. Both the Program Portfolio and Colloquium requirements serve to document the performance and development of the student over their entire program experience.The Teacher Education faculty regularly conduct evaluations of the Program Portfolio and Colloquium processes and have even shared their findings at national conferences (e.g., Finkel & Fletcher, 2002a; Finkel & Fletcher, 2002b; Finkel, 2002).
Post-Internship
Successful candidates receive a formal document, which is signed by the intern, cooperating
teacher, university supervisor, and Director of Teacher Education. Following
the internship, multiple measures and procedures are used to assess program
effectiveness. Program faculty regularly review and discuss student course
evaluation results and other assessment data during Teacher Education committee
and subcommittee meetings. In addition, the year long internship is evaluated
by way of comprehensive surveys of interns ( Intern Evaluation Form) and cooperating teachers ( Cooperating
Teacher Evaluation Form).
Post-Graduation
Each year, former interns are sent an Intern Follow Up questionnaire to determine, among other factors, job placement success
and satisfaction (see Table 1 below for summary results over the past three
years). Every five years a follow up Graduate Survey is administered to graduates of the program. This survey
focuses heavily on career entry, retention, and satisfaction. Graduates are
asked to evaluate the quality of their graduate program and to assess their
teaching performance to date. Table 2 and Figure 1 display responses to selected
items from the Graduate Survey. The sample represents roughly a third of all
students who received their degree between 1996-2000. Also part of the five-year
follow up is the Teacher Effectiveness survey, which is completed by principals overseeing the employment
of Teacher Education graduates. The five-year studies began in 1985 and since
then have invited the participation of up to fifteen other institutions across
the United States. Some of these data have been shared and recorded in scholarly
publications (e.g., Andrew & Schwab, 1995).
Summary
The Teacher Education program at the University of New Hampshire maintains a thorough and integrated approach to assessing student and program performance. Students must demonstrate in several ways and at several points in time their progress toward meeting the desired goals and outcomes of the program.
| Table 1. Summary results from the Intern Follow Up questionnaire, 1998-2001 |
|||||||
| 1998-99 |
1999-00 |
2000-01 |
|||||
| Number of interns responding |
111 |
104 |
135 |
||||
| Response rate |
87% |
85% |
91% |
||||
| DEGREE INFORMATION |
|||||||
| Participated in the 5-year or post-BA program |
82% |
92% |
87% |
||||
| Undergraduates in the 4-year program |
7% |
3% |
8% |
||||
| Certificate-only candidates |
5.5% |
3% |
2% |
||||
| Did not respond |
5.5% |
2% |
3% |
||||
| EMPLOYMENT |
|||||||
| Searched diligently for teaching job |
89% |
84% |
74% |
||||
| Did not search diligently |
11% |
16% |
10% |
||||
| Did not respond |
0% |
0% |
16% |
||||
| Restricted job search due to family obligations |
20% |
18% |
- |
||||
| Searched for jobs in NH |
40% |
38% |
49% |
||||
| Searched for jobs in New England |
28% |
24% |
19% |
||||
| Searched all over for jobs |
4% |
6% |
10% |
||||
| Did not respond or did not search for job |
8% |
14% |
22% |
||||
| Secured job in field of education |
96% |
85% |
91% |
||||
| Currently not working in field of education |
4% |
15% |
8% |
||||
| Did not respond |
0% |
0% |
1% |
||||
| Teaching in NH |
70% |
76% |
75% |
||||
| JOB SATISFACTION |
|||||||
| Feels highly successful in current job |
48% |
49% |
41% |
||||
| Feels successful in current job |
40% |
41% |
36% |
||||
| Report having some major difficulties in current job |
2% |
4% |
3% |
||||
| Did not respond |
10% |
6% |
20% |
||||
Table 2.
Responses for selected items from
the Teacher Education Graduate Survey, 1996-2000
| Item # |
If you have taught after completing your teacher education program, how helpful have the following course/components proven to be for you as an educator? |
1 ............ 5 no very help helpful Mean Score |
Standard Deviation |
N |
| Q121 |
Internship |
4.31 |
0.68 |
183 |
| Q123 |
Cooperating Teacher during internship |
4.00 |
0.99 |
183 |
| Q120 |
Curriculum & Methods courses for teaching various subjects |
3.81 |
0.95 |
183 |
| Q128 |
Tutoring chldren |
3.77 |
1.01 |
175 |
| Q124 |
Other students in your program |
3.57 |
0.98 |
183 |
| Q122 |
Department Supervisor during internship |
3.48 |
1.20 |
183 |
| Q116 |
Early experience in schools (ED 500 or LLT) |
3.48 |
1.20 |
183 |
| Q126 |
Attending a professional conference |
3.34 |
1.00 |
183 |
| Q119 |
Educational Psychology (Human Development & Learning) |
3.22 |
1.16 |
182 |
| Q127 |
Creating a portfolio to demonstrate pedagogical knowledge and development |
3.20 |
1.14 |
182 |
| Q125 |
Concluding Experience or Colloquium |
3.12 |
1.07 |
182 |
| Q117 |
Philosophy of Education/Developing individual philosophy |
3.03 |
1.13 |
182 |
| Q118 |
Politics, Structure & Change Process (Ed 700/800) |
2.88 |
1.07 |
182 |
Figure 1.
Responses for selected items from the
Teacher Education Graduate Survey, 1996-2000
114. Given the obvious need to adjust to the demands of teaching, what overall rating would you give your teacher education program?
115. How well did your program prepare you for leadership roles to improve schools?
References
Andrew, M. D., & Schwab, R. L. (1995). Has Reform in Teacher Education Influenced Teacher Performance? An Outcome Assessment of Graduates of an Eleven-University Consortium. Action in Teacher Education, XVII(3), 43-53.
Finkel, L., & Fletcher, S.
(2002a, April). The Portfolio/Colloquium to Certify Competence and Assess
Program Goals: Balancing Program Requirements and Assessment with Candidates'
Experiences. Paper presented as a part of a symposium entitled: Validity
and Value of Multiple Methods to Assess a Five-year Teacher Preparation Program,
at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA),
New Orleans, LA.
Finkel, L., & Fletcher, S. (2002b, February). Shared Accountability for
Performance-based Program Portfolios and Colloquia. Paper presented as a part
of a symposium entitled: Sharing Accountability in School-University Partnership
with a Common Goal of Preparing, Inducting, and Retaining the Best Teachers,
at the Annual Conference of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher
Education (AACTE), New York, NY.
Finkel, L. (2002, February). Assessing Classroom Performance and Certifying
Competence in a year-Long Internship. Paper presented as a part of a symposium
entitled: Multiple Measures to Ensure Competence of Teacher Education Graduates,
at the Annual Conference of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher
Education (AACTE), New York, NY.