NCSU's SIS College / Business Unit Interface Reqmts

Systems of Assessments Guiding Education

(SAGE)

Phase I User Requirements

College of Education

Prepared by Cindy Hutchins, Malina Monaco

Contributions by Brian Ott, Mitchell Nipper, Grant Holly, Debbie Andrews, Greg Whitt

Document Version: 0.18 DRAFT

Date: April 10, 2007

Revision History

Approvals

Table of Contents

Revision History

Approvals

1.0Executive Summary

2.0Student Profile Component

2.1CED Admissions

2.1.1Undergrad License Degree Students

2.1.2NC Teach Students

2.1.3Undergrad Degree-Only Students

2.1.4Masters Students

2.1.5Doctoral Students

2.2Advising

2.2.1In-Progress Gateway Review

2.2.2Student Teaching Placement Gateway

2.2.3Completion Gateway Review

2.2.4Student Graduation and Licensure

3.0Reporting Requirements

4.0CED User Interface Design Specifications

4.1Students

4.2TE Director & Staff

4.3Dept Academic Advisors

4.4Director of Knowledge Management (Malina)

4.5Dean & Associate Deans

4.6Unknown role (tbd)

5.0Attachments (see separate files)

5.1Dispositions Awareness –March 2006

5.2Form S

5.3NC Teach Fall Gateway Review

5.4NC Teach Spring Gateway Review

5.5NC Teach Summer Gateway Review

5.6NC Teach Program of Study (???)

5.7Undergrad Admission to Candidacy Gateway Review

5.8Undergrad Mid Point Gateway Review

5.9Undergrad Completion Gateway Review

5.10Professional Semester Application form

5.11Triangle Alliance form

5.12NC Public Schools Student Teaching/Graduate Internship Health Examination Certificate

6.0Appendices

6.1Glossary

6.2List of College of Education Curriculum Codes

CED Requirements Spec Page 1

Version 0.18

1.0Executive Summary

In the College of Education, we periodically participate in rigorous reviews by external accrediting agencies at state and national levels, including the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Institutions must pass both reviews in order to continue professional education licensure programs in North Carolina. We also participate in the university’s undergraduate and graduate program reviews, annual Compact Planning reviews, and SACS accreditation reviews. Additionally, we are engaged in continuous data gathering and assessment processes, year-by-year, at the level of individual licensure programs, of which we have more than 50. All of these reviews require outcomes assessment and the use of assessment results for planning and program improvement, that is, evidence-based decision making. The tasks of coordinating, collecting, and compiling these masses of data are formidable, especially when the requirements are changed frequently by the various accrediting agencies/organizations.

To date, our assessment practices have emphasized the reporting of data to our reviewers through separate databases for each assessment process. These databases are not connected or integrated with University systems or each other. Some data is collected manually and housed in hardcopy therefore eliminating the possibility of querying the files. Countless hours are spent manually counting, sorting, and filing assessment data. As a College, we must shift from an outdated time consuming system to a more evidence-based decision-making model. Data must be efficiently gathered and effectively utilized in order for evidence- based decision making to be possible.

The Knowledge Management division has been tasked with creating a fully integrated web-based assessment system for use by administrators, faculty, and students to meet the data and reporting needs of the College. The assessment system’s features will evolve over time with its components becoming available for use as they are developed.

The System of Assessments Guiding Education (SAGE) will encompass the needs of the College of Education from the standpoint of the student, program, department, and college. The various functions will be grouped together into common areas for easy access and navigation, based on the area of interest for the user.

The core components and their primary focus will be:

• Student – student profiles, advising, and progress tracking
• Program – annual program review and program-level reporting
• Department – faculty activity tracking/reporting, departmental financial/hr reporting, and course syllabi repository
• College – college-level reporting
• General Reporting – general administrative reporting

The scope of each component will be expanded appropriately based on identified business requirements (see Figure 1 – System of Assessments Guiding Education (SAGE) high-level view).

This document will describe the high-level system requirements for supporting the advising of Undergrad, NC Teach, Masters, and Doctoral students based on identified processes currently in place. However, the advising and tracking requirements of Masters and Doctoral students are still evolving and will not be included in the development effort for Phase Ia that will include the Undergrad and NC Teach program students. These specs are meant to document the system requirements needed to support the new Undergrad and NC Teach advising activities, and will describe what is considered to be the potential process for advising upper level program students.

Figure 1– System of Assessments Guiding Education (SAGE) high-level view

2.0Student Profile Component

The progression of the CED students through their specific program will be tracked against established gateway milestones based on the type of student, program, and the degree and license being pursued. The basic advising gateways are: program entry gateway, midpoint gateway, and completion gateway. At each gateway, a student’s profile will be reviewed by their student advisor and inputs received from the student, advisor, program director or staff, or university supervisor. An advisor’s recommendation to “pass” or “provisionally pass” the current gateway milestone must be received before the student is considered to have successfully fulfilled the requirements of that gateway.

2.1.1Advising Milestones

Although each type of student follows very similar milestones, the requirements to complete each milestone and their inputs differ based on their degree and program and whether or not they are seeking licensure. The individual sets of milestones for Undergraduates, NC Teach, Masters, and Doctoral students are outlined in the following figures:

Figure 2 - Undergrad Gateways, Milestones & Inputs

The Undergrad Advising is the most extensive and comprehensive. It is important to recognize that many of these requirements are program-specific and will change as the programs continue to evolve. Some flexibility in the system will be required in order to facilitate the expected change from year to year. For those students not seeking to be licensed, their process will be similar, but will have different requirements for fulfilling the checkpoints.

Figure 3 – NC Teach Gateway Milestones & Inputs

The NC Teach program participants come into this program with an undergraduate degree already. They are not required to student teach and have fewer requirements for meeting their end result of licensure. NC Teach program students have reviews at the end of each of their three semesters.

Figure 4 - Masters Advising Milestones & Inputs

Like the Undergrad CED student, the Masters student can also decide between a licensure and non-licensure program. Although the non-licensure program requirements are less, the advising milestones that must be completed remain the same. (This is yet to be finalized…. It may be that Masters Advising align with annual reviews and not these specific milestones.)

Figure 5 - Doctoral Advising Milestones & Inputs

The Doctoral program is the most informal, with the milestones being more of a formality, with annual reviews serving as the feedback mechanism for student progress.

2.1.2Student Profile Maintenance

The student profile component will provide functionality for a student to enter and maintain the

supporting information documenting their field experience, classroom experience, and view their progress against the established CED gateway milestones. The module will track a student beginning with their declaring an “education major” based on curriculum codes in R&R for that student. At each advising milestone, their advisory will review their progress and enter their recommendation. Additionally, information required for verifying a student’s compliancy to licensure requirements will also be tracked within the CED system.

2.1.3Reporting

Along with the ability to track a student’s progression through the College of Education, comes the ability to provide reporting at the program, department, and college levels. This reporting will provide up-to-date information reporting such metrics as number of students at each milestone, current status of students by advisor, students with outstanding forms required for student teaching.

2.1.4Future Functionality

The initial focus for the CED Knowledge Management system will be to develop functionality focused on the student component, with an emphasis on advising for the Undergraduate and NC Teach students. The remaining components will be developed in subsequent phases as directed by the College of Education business priorities.

<STOPPED HERE>

A future extension of the SAGE system may be to enable a faculty member to maintain their activities as input for the annual faculty activities report. It would also provide a repository for CED course syllabi, allowing each faculty member to maintain and upload their syllabi.

2.2CED Program Entry (Admissions to Candidacy)

The initial milestone for a student entering the College of Education is to formally be admitted to candidacy for the college. Based on if the individual is seeking undergrad licensure degree, undergrad no-licensure degree, NC Teach program, masters, or doctorate program, the requirements differ for being admitted into these different programs.

2.2.1Undergrad License Degree Students

The following process flow defines the screening steps involved with an undergrad licensure-seeking degree student being Admitted to Candidacy within the College of Education. CED considers students eligible for ATC at designated times. Currently the screening process occurs 3 times a year and is a manual process. To provide flexibility, the SAGE system should provide an Administrative function, triggered by the TE Director role, to provide a systematic screening, producing the appropriate emails.

Figure 6Undergrad License/Degree Students - Admissions to Candidacy screening process

A student will declare their intended major within the Registration & Records (R&R) system. With many different majors designated as “Education” (Ed) majors, the CED system will provide a maintenance function for the CED Administrator to maintain this list, associating the appropriate degrees to the College of Education degree inventory. Once an undergrad student is identified within R&R as an Ed major and they have accumulated “passed_hrs” greater than or equal to 60 hrs, they will begin their tracking within the CED system. The system will have designated windows of time when it looks for new candidates for CED Admittance to Candidacy (ATC).

Once an Education student has achieved the minimum hours required for being regarded as an admissions candidate and tracking begins within the CED system, the first milestone is to be formally Admitted to Candidacy. To be considered for ATC status, the individual must first meet designated minimum requirements regarding the courses they have completed and their standardized test scores (see Figure 7 ATC Student Course & Test checklist). These course and test requirements will be maintained from an administrative function of the CED application in order to provide for the ongoing maintenance of these values.

Notes:

-Major screenings three times a year (ATC review dates designated within system). If completed checklist, get a letter. If incomplete, get an email with missing items

-ATC = Only applicable to those students in degree programs having licensure component

-TE Director will have administrative functions which can create mass mailings/notifications to students/advisors regarding students who have been ATC’d. Capability for sending individual notices is also required.

As mentioned above, there is an extensive list of requirements required for an Undergrad to be Admitted To Candidacy. The basic requirements include: overall gpa > 2.50, certain classes completed with a certain grade level, disposition form signed by student, certain levels of standardized test scores received by student, and in the future, student must receive advisor approval for completing this milestone. Due to the changing program requirements and possible extenuating circumstances, the ability for an advisor to override the system check for milestone accomplishment is required. For a sampling of the checklist items reviewed for attaining ATC status, please refer to the figure below (Figure 7 ATC Student Course & Test checklist)

Figure 7 ATC Student Course & Test checklist

The students must pass the designated courses with the minimum grade required. The student’s transcript information is available from Academic Degree Audit (ADA).

The required test courses are somewhat subjective. A student can meet the required test scores in a variety of ways. For instance, the student can score a certain level on the SAT, PRAXIS, or ACT, or a combination of these scores. There is also the option for an advisor to manually override the system test score check and personally mark this requirement as completed for a student with extenuating circumstances. Some of the current test requirements that satisfy the current standards are as follows:

• SAT >= 1100
• PRAXIS scores of Reading>=176 and Math >=173 and Writing >=173
• ACT Composite >=24
• Combo of SAT (Verbal/Math) and PRAXIS (Verbal/Math) and PRAXIS (Reading) and ACT subtests scores within acceptable ranges. Subjective Combo test scores approved by the TE Director’s

The specific data items to be included on the formal ATC Review form are:

• Student Name (from R&R)
• Review Date (system date)
• Program (from R&R)
• Ratings (Unacceptable, Acceptable, Target) and Comments for the following categories (CED system generates default ratings and allows Advisor to alter):

-GPA (overall)

-GPA (professional)

-Early Field Experiences (maintained by student/advisor)

-Dispositions/Professional Growth

-Course Requirements

-Test Scores

• Notes to Candidate
• Recommendation (Admit to Candidacy, Admit on Condition, or Do Not Admit)
• Advisor’s eSignature

2.2.2NC Teach Students

NC Teach program participants enter the university through a streamlined admissions process (see Figure 8 NC Teach Admissions). Individuals interested in applying to the NC Teach Program will complete an online application form that is reviewed by the NC Teach program director. The NC Teach director will work with the individual to verify their academic and professional qualifications and will be the decision-maker for the individual’s acceptance into the program. If accepted, the NC Teach director forwards the information to the Undergrad Admissions program office for full processing. At this point, the individual would then be recognized by R&R as a student. Otherwise, the person’s application information stays solely within the CED system and will be used for reporting only, with no further actions remaining.

Figure 8 NC Teach Admissions

The specific data items to be included on the formal NC Teach Application form are:

• Student Name (student entered)
• Review Date (system date)
• Undergrad gpa
• Current Degree held and Content Area
• Dates for receipt of letters of recommendation
• Date for receipt of written goal statement
• Date of Face to Face Interview
• Results of Team Recommendation

2.2.3Undergrad Degree-Only Students

The Undergrad Degree-Only Students is considered admitted into the College of Education when they have selected an “Ed” major via R&R (see Figure 9 Undergrad Degree-Only programs below). Without the need for governing the compliance for the licensure track, their admission and advising processes are very streamlined, with fewer restrictions.

Figure 9 Undergrad Degree-Only programs

No formal acceptance review process is required within the CED system.

2.2.4Masters Students

Students interested in the College of Education’s Masters program, must first work with N.C. State University’s Graduate Office to be accepted as a graduate student (see Figure 10 Masters Admissions). As a part of this acceptance process, CED representation reviews the student’s information and provides their input into the acceptance decision. Once admitted, the student is entered into R&R and receives a letter from the Graduate Office informing them of their status.

Figure 10 Masters Admissions

No formal acceptance process is required within the CED system. CED advisors integrated in with Graduate School Application process.

2.2.5Doctoral Students

Individuals interested in the Doctoral program apply to the Graduate school (see Figure 11 Doctoral Admissions). CED faculty participates in the applicant review process and provides recommendations. Formal program acceptance is a process of the Graduate school and triggers the entry of the individual as a student into the R&R system.

Figure 11 Doctoral Admissions

No formal acceptance process is required within the CED system. CED advisor consultations are integrated in with Graduate School Application process.

2.3Advising

2.3.1In-Progress Gateway Review

Based on the type of program the student is participating in within CED, they will have periodic reviews scheduled at appropriate times throughout their programs. For Undergrad students, there will be a Midpoint review at the half-way point in their CED program, and if seeking licensure, will follow by having a Student Teaching Placement review. For NC Teach students, reviews will occur at the end of each of their three semesters. Graduate students will have Midpoint reviews, whereas, Doctoral students will have reviews as they progress through the program, usually on an annual basis.