The Truman MAE faculty are fortunate to work with exceptional students, as can clearly be observed by our candidates’ and completers’ high performance on virtually every measure, required by DESE or otherwise. We enjoy a student population that is intelligent, hard-working, and places high value on being excellent students. While high-performing students come with many benefits, they do not come without challenges. High-performing students also means that the DESE data is not always meaningful in terms of providing information for us to use to work towards continuous improvement. Consequently, we have four primary areas of focus to work to improve the already strong educator preparation program of which we are proud to be a part.
Area for Improvement 1: Assessment
We have long had a culture of assessment at Truman, which contributes to reflective practice and provides a support system for using data to make decisions. However, our focus on data collection is at times stronger than our data analysis. To address this, the MAE started an Assessment Committee several years ago that has contributed to some improvements in analyzing and disseminating data. In addition, we have created an assessment calendar that includes our varied measures and have very recently hired (July 1, 2021) an assessment coordinator/certification analyst to support data collection, analysis, and distribution.
Where we want to grow. We want to ensure that we are analyzing all of the data that we collect meaningfully. In addition, several measurements need revisions. For example, the professional growth plan’s format is not as conducive to data analysis as we would like. Another example is that many of our forms are not in an online format, which makes it difficult for mentors to complete and adds a possible step of errors in data entry. Improving both the form and function of our assessment instruments is a primary area for improvement.
Growth with Specific Measures
Completers Surveys and Focus Group Surveys. Historically, the MAE faculty conducted research with our completers. However, with retirements and changes in program responsibilities, this practice was discontinued. Dr. Marty Strange has restarted this practice with a completer survey study, followed by focus groups. While participation has been low and we are trying to improve this by mentioning the study at the Hooding Ceremony so interns know to look for it. We are also keeping better records of completer contact information so we have accurate ways to connect with them.
MEES. The MEES is a DESE-mandated assessment of all interns completed by both mentor teacher(s) and University Supervisor. Intern candidates need to earn a minimum score of 42 on the summative assessment at the end of the semester to pass and be eligible for certification. The importance of reliable ratings on this measure is paramount. As DESE revises the MEES and provides training for faculty to improve inter-rater reliability, we want to continue our professional development with the RPDC to ensure that our University Supervisor ratings on the MEES are reliable.
Portfolio. Currently (Fall 2021), we are in the second phase of a pilot of our portfolio. The portfolio is based upon the MEES, which contains thirty-six Quality Indicators across nine standards. For the portfolio assessment, intern candidates are asked to include a one-page reflection and a digital artifact that addresses each of the standards. Students are also asked to include artifacts related to technology and social justice. We are working to improve the infrastructure of the online portfolio to make it more user-friendly for the candidates. Further, to build inter-rater reliability, we would like to have multiple faculty review the same portfolios.
Mentor Evaluation Forms. To meet the constantly changing world of the classroom, especially in the last 24 months, the Education Department revised the previous mentor evaluation form for ED 394, our second clinical placement. This revised form is being currently implemented (Fall 2021) with the hope that the feedback will improve field experiences for teacher candidates and will complement content in the course associated with that field experience.
Area for Improvement 2: Program Culture
Over the course of several semesters, the MAE faculty have been engaging in visioning work. Imagining the skills, knowledge, and dispositions we hope an MAE graduate in 2028 possesses, and the MAE program that will support realizing that vision, the MAE faculty crafted a document outlining what we think a State of the Art MAE in 2028 might entail. While this vision includes many facets, some of the key facets include work to create an MAE program culture that embraces social justice, supports candidates as they matriculate through the program, and expands their professional knowledge.
Social Justice. Many department meetings, professional development experiences, and department retreats have focused on the important area of fostering a socially just program and helping to prepare educators who hold social justice as a core value. The Education Department retreat in the spring of 2020 was devoted to the topic of social justice, with the culminating activity focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of our program and department. We have held professional development opportunities to address issues related to social justice, such as technology use and the digital divide, and we piloted the social justice disposition rubric in Spring of 2021. However, we recognize that there are challenges and program shortcomings that need to be addressed. We revised the rubric in Summer 2021 with MAE elementary students and are piloting the revised version this semester (Fall 2021). Some of the changes included getting rid of the quantity components and moving toward qualitative measures, having one section just for the candidates to complete, and providing examples. We are looking forward to Dr. Saint Rice (newly hired Director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion) to join us during the October retreat to further revise our rubric and help us create an agenda for examining social justice.
Advising and Admission to the Program. The Elementary and Special Education programs have elected for the opportunity for direct admission to the MAE after a careful review of the application process and admittees throughout multiple years. These two programs accept candidates from any undergraduate major at TSU (all of the others have undergraduate degrees from their specific or related discipline). Because elementary and special education candidates can seek any undergraduate major, MAE Faculty do not always know the students prior to enrollment in graduate courses. This issue makes it more challenging to offer effective advising when it is not always clear who intends to pursue the MAE upon completion of the undergraduate degree. We are curious if improvements in advising will increase retention. Further, we have not implemented any case studies examining a student’s progress from start to finish in any of the programs and would like to have those data to determine if changes are appropriate. One way we intend to address this is through a study Dr. Pareja is beginning in which he will be examining why some students choose to leave the MAE before they enter the graduate program, even though they may have indicated that they were interested in the MAE while pursuing their undergraduate program.
Living Learning Community (LLC). The MAE has one of two approved LLCs on campus and there have been several permutations of this LLC. The LLC is housed in Missouri Hall. Eleven spaces were filled for fall 2020 and there are currently seven LLC students this year (2021-2022). The LLC creates a community for these candidates and, anecdotally, we believe the LLC increases retention of students. However, we have not conducted any case studies to determine what happens with these students and we would like to examine that.
Adjunct Faculty. Adjunct faculty perform a critical role at all universities and the same remains true at Truman State. We want our adjunct faculty to feel fully a part of the department. One way we have done this is by asking all of our adjunct faculty to review portfolios in Spring 2021. While often excluded from service responsibilities due to the nature of being an adjunct, we want our adjuncts to feel included and participate fully with our initiatives. In particular with the portfolio, having adjuncts serve as evaluators helps them to better understand our students and program more fully, which helps to build the program culture. Our adjuncts are invited to Department meetings, which we record and share with anyone who missed the meeting and requests it. In addition, we invite our adjunct faculty to attend other events hosted by the MAE. While we do make concerted efforts to make our adjunct faculty feel like full members of the faculty, because they are, we recognize that this is an area that needs regular attention to ensure that adjunct faculty are fully integrated and understand the program culture.
Area for Improvement 3: Program Growth
Growing the program in size and quality is another area upon which we would like to focus in the coming years. We would like to do this through both additional programs, as well as numbers of students, faculty, and support staff.
Gifted Certification and Gifted Masters. The MAE offers gifted certification courses for practicing teachers and the number of enrolled teachers has increased each year. Results of a needs assessment conducted in Fall 2019 indicated a desire by area teachers and administrators to expand our offerings. In response we created a gifted master’s program that is designed for practicing teachers. The program was approved Spring 2021 and students started enrolling Summer 2021. As this program grows and develops, we want to track our enrollment to determine if we are meeting the needs of our practitioners.
Additional Certification Areas. We have an excellent working relationship with DESE and appreciate their support of new programs and initiatives. We plan to add programs in the coming years, including Latin and Communications/Theater. We hope to assist in meeting the needs of Missouris’ students by responding to the calls for more certified teachers in the wake of teacher shortages.
Professional Development Program. Between now and our next review, we hope to have our professional development grow to include completers and current students with on-target professional development based upon the needs expressed by candidates and completers. Our most recent First-Year Teacher Survey Questionnaire data indicates program improvement and professional development needs in the areas of differentiation for specialized learning, including working with students with IEPs, gifted learners, and English language learners. We intend to continue to mine our data to inform the professional development program offerings in the years to come and hope to grow the participation in the program by candidates, completers, and area teachers who are not Truman alumni.
Area for Improvement 4: Technology Integration
Prior to the pandemic meaningful integration of technology into the classroom was already a big topic in the field. However, the pandemic accelerated the focus and highlighted the need for comfort with technology for it to be the tool it is intended to be. The Education Department created/built an innovative lab classroom with Virtual Reality, Nureva Span Walls, and Smart TV for students and multiple professional development opportunities about these technologies have been held for MAE Faculty, the Advisory Board, pre-MAE and MAE students, local elementary school students and their teachers. While we have been proud of how we have embraced technology and made large strides in this area we also recognize that the ever-changing nature of technology makes it an area of constant focus on growth to remain current. As online learning/hybrid models have blossomed in K-12 education, we want to ensure our students exhibit growth mindsets in terms of technology use and focus on what is best for students. Continuing to research and incorporate the best practices of technology to promote student learning is an area of improvement for our program.