Teacher Education Subcommittee of the

Neag Assessment Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: April 12, 2013 Time: 11:30-1:30 Location: Gentry 246

Committee Charge: Assists in development, implementation, and analysis of assessment protocols for the Neag Teacher Education programs through various surveys and evaluation tools (e.g., Common Entry, Common Exit, Alumni, etc.); Provides assessment support and advice regarding research-related projects.

Make-up: Approximately 20-25. This committee is comprised of university experts (Neag, CLAS, and Agr), PreK-12 district and state representatives, undergraduate and graduate Neag students, and community members. This is a multi-disciplinary team of educational leaders, practitioners, and researchers working together collaboratively to address issues of measurement, assessment, evaluation, and statistical analysis.

Lunch and Informal Discussions

The Common Exit, Clinic Survey, Common Entry, and Evaluations

After lunch, the meeting commenced at 11:30 am. The first topic of the meeting was the School-wide Common Exit Survey. Our Teacher Education seems to have paved the way for exit survey. As approved by Provost, there will now be a University-wide On-line Exit Survey.

Next, the committee was given updates regarding the Clinic Survey. The survey is currently ‘live’ and the results should be ready in the near future. Other information shared pertained to Common Entry Survey for TCPCG students which will begin in May. Lastly, surveys for student and intern evaluations will be ‘live’ in about a week.

One question concerning changes to CMT was addressed. CMT data will still be used as long as they are administered. Once they are discontinued, Smarter Balanced scores may be used. It will be determined at that time whether CMT scores and Smarter Balanced scores are comparable.

Research Presentations

A. Tied to Our 3 Foci -- ELL

Classroom Management

Mary provided an update on the implementation of the mandatory classroom management class. The efficacy scale will part a part of the exit survey this year.

Project PREPARE (Improving Pre-service Teachers’ Capacity to Teach Emergent Bilinguals)

A presentation on teaching emergent bilinguals was given by GA Eileen Gonzalez. Her presentation focused on the growing population of English Language Learners (ELLs) and how many teachers are not adequately prepared to teach these students. To assess improvements in preparation, IB/M and TCPCG students were administered the Teaching English Language Learners Self-Efficacy Scales (TELLSES) before and after receiving special instruction (PREPARE). The findings are that students are slightly more confident in their ability to identify and use strategies for ELLs. Still, a need for improvement exists as ELL students are often not provided enough services.

Teaching ELLs and Self-Efficacy

Next, a presentation on the self-efficacy of in-service teachers towards ELLs was given by Marisa del Campo. Self-efficacy involves not only if one can teach, but if the children are learning; being able to achieve certain outcomes.

Marisa discussed three studies that the Assessment Office did where in-service teachers were administered the KASELL survey, which consists of 19 items on a 5-point Likert scale. In the first study, differences in KASELL scores for pre-service compared to in-service teachers. In-service teachers scored higher on all factors with the exception of attitudes towards parents. Knowledge and self-efficacy factor scores showed the largest differences between the two groups.

In the second study, differences were found between three groups who were administered the KASELL (pre-service administrators, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers). Individuals who reported to be bilingual had the highest KASELL scores. Global KASELL scores found pre-service administrators and in-service teachers to have significantly higher scores than pre-service teachers.

The implications for these studies were that teacher education programs should continue to develop self-efficacy of students when working with ELL populations, perhaps work on getting more bilingual individuals into the field, since they seemed most confident working with ELL populations.

Special Education Student Teaching Evaluation and/or Self-Assessment Survey Results

Yujin Kim gave a presentation on the results from the Student Teaching Evaluation and/or Self-Assessment Survey (STE-SAS), an instrument that measures student perceptions of confidence related to evidence-based practice. This study examined the responses from 484 pre and in-service educators. The study tested interactions between teacher status (pre or in-service) and certification field on four domain and global scores. Results were that in-service and special education teachers showed significantly higher scores, although no interaction effects were significant.

Special Education CMT Results

Justin Byron provided some information on CMT results in reading for special education students. The presentation focused on three theories to explain the achievement gap and which theory provide factual based on CMT data.

Accountability

Alumni Pupil CMT Results: Mathematics & English Language Arts

A presentation was given by Dana Lovallo on alumni’s pupil performances on the CMT reading and mathematics data. The pupils of UConn alumni were found to score significantly higher in mathematics, both overall and across domains. Strand scores in English Language Arts had similar results.

Introduction to the System for Educator Evaluation and Development (SEED)

Rachael Gabriel gave a presentation on a pilot project. UConn has receive the contract to provide an evaluation and insight to the new statewide evaluation system. Many questions were asked. As a result, the committee felt they might like to hear how the final evaluation goes. The possibility of having Rachel back next year was raised.

Spotlight on Educational Professionals in the Public Schools – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Mary Yakimowski introduced a new initiative in the Neag School which will focus on alumni and current data from our students. The five phases of the initiative are as follows:

Phase 1: Alumni Reports

Phase 2: General Briefs (with faculty members) covering topics related to Teacher Education

Phase 3: Literature Reviews on areas related to Teacher Education

Phase 4: Publications, presentations, and monographs

Additional Research

Music Study

Linda Neely offered a presentation on the perspectives of in-service music teachers on issues of diversity. Survey items included statements regarding the students’ background, teaching experience, and viewpoint on issues related to diversity including teaching ELLs, gifted, and special education students. The study included the responses from 102 participants. Results showed that students indicated the importance of understanding and working with diverse populations. Implications of the study were that while students were generally pleased with their music education programs, many indicated that current preparations may not be adequate given the changing needs of students.

Humor Study

Lastly, a presentation on the use of humor in world language classrooms was given by Manuela Wagner. The use of humor has been shown to create a more relaxed classroom atmosphere and, can offer a window into a different culture, which is especially relevant in world language instruction. Manuela’s presentation was open-ended and discussed some of her previous work on the topic; this included the design of a humor survey and the use of recorded classroom videos to code humorous instances during instruction.