Program Assessment

Also see: Biennial Reports | Program Assessment | Site Visits

• About Program Assessment
  
• Program Assessment Due Dates
  
• Course Syllabi
  
• Faculty Vitae
  
• Tips for the Preparation of Program Assessment Documents
  
• Contact Information
  

Program Assessment

   • Power Point presented at the CCAC conference (October 2007).
   • Power Point presented at the Technical Assistance meetings held in September-October 2007

Purposes of Program Assessment
Program Assessment is the feature of the accreditation system that asks institutions/program sponsors to report on their ongoing improvement efforts at the program level and how those efforts are aligned with the Commission adopted program standards. It is designed so that institutions/program sponsors mirror the reflective practices that are taught to candidates. Program Assessment asks institutions/program sponsors to consider how they measure candidate competence and how those measures inform instruction, assessment and program design/implementation that are in keeping with the program standards. Program Assessment examines each program individually and informs the Site Visit that will take place in two years-year 6 of the accreditation cycle. Program Assessment might ask and answer questions such as: Does this program require an additional reviewer as a part of the Site Visit? What kinds of evidence will support or disprove claims made in the Program Assessment and how might the Site Visit Team gather that evidence?

Program Assessment Documentation
A Program Assessment document is submitted for each approved preparation program being offered by the institution/program sponsor. There are three parts to the Program Assessment documentation.

Part I begins with the program document most recently approved by the CTC and incorporates all significant program modifications that have been made since approval. It may also outline why the changes were made. Was there evidence of candidate competence that indicated a need to change? Were there changes in faculty that necessitated changes?

Part II includes current course syllabi as well as updated vitae for program faculty.

Part III is the documentation that supports the program's Biennial Reports. It includes assessments that are used to determine candidate competence, including rubrics, training information and calibration activities that the program reports on in the Biennial Report. If a teacher preparation program is using the TPA there will not be a need to give the background on the development of the exam, validity and reliability information, etc. However, it will be important to note how assessors are trained in the particular area, how often the scoring is calibrated and the information particular to the location for how the TPA is administered.

For other programs, it will be necessary to give more comprehensive information about the assessments used. If observation forms are used to measure candidate competence, upon what standards or rationale are these based? How does the program ensure that all assessors are using them in the same way? What types of training and practice is provided to ensure a common scoring technique?

Part III will include only those assessments used at key points in the program in order to determine whether candidates can move to the next step or need remediation. Examples of these assessments might be those used to: when and if candidates are ready to assume fieldwork, how well candidates do in fieldwork, when candidates can be recommended for the credential.

How Program Assessment documents will be reviewed and reported
The Program Assessment document will be reviewed by trained members of the Board of Institutional Reviewers who have expertise in the program area. The reviewers will also have access to the Biennial Reports that have been submitted (although in 2007-08 Biennial Reports will not have been submitted previously for most programs). Reviewers will be looking at the congruence of:

• input factors-what candidates are taught and how they are assessed Much of this information will be found in Parts I and II of the Program Assessment document
  
  
• output data-what data indicates about candidate competence Some of this information will come from the Biennial Reports, but other parts will be covered in Part III.
  
  
• programmatic changes-what is the data-based rationale for changes? How have the changes impacted (or are expected to impact) candidate competence?
  
  
• alignment with program standards-How are the changes linked to the standards? Much of this information will come from Parts I and III.
  
  

After the initial review, if there are questions, or more information is needed, CTC staff will communicate with an institution or program sponsor to request additional information. A professional dialogue will then take place between program sponsors and reviewers (facilitated through CTC staff) in order to get the most complete sense of candidate competence and the ongoing program improvement efforts that are made. This dialogue will help provide clarity and assist the reviewers in coming to a preliminary finding. The dialogue does not go on without end; there will be a deadline at which time a Preliminary Report of Findings will be written. The Preliminary Report of Findings will be sent to the institution a year in advance of the Site Visit. For example-in the Orange Cohort the Program Assessment is due either October 2008 or January 2009. The institution can expect the Preliminary Report of Findings on or before January 2010. The site visit would be in 2010-2011. The format of the feedback will provide information regarding each program standard, using the form (or a similar form) to the one below:

Program Assessment Preliminary Report of Findings

The Preliminary Report of Findings will be submitted to the Committee on Accreditation (COA) indicating the status of the review. This Preliminary Report of Findings will also provide information into implications for the Site Visit (how the Site Visit will be conducted: number of team members, programs that need further on-site review, etc.)

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Program Assessment Due Dates

Each program at an institution chooses the date they will submit their Program Assessment document. The choices are October 15 or January 15. These due dates allow for an appropriate dialogue time between the Commission and the program sponsor. The Preliminary Report of Findings is due to the Committee on Accreditation in the following year. For example: Document submitted October 2008 or January 2009-Preliminary Report of Findings in January 2010.

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Course Syllabi

The purpose of including course syllabi in the Program Assessment document is to provide readers with the evidence that links the narrative response to practice. If a program claims that any or all of a standard is met in a course, readers should be able to substantiate that claim by finding evidence in any or all of the following: Course objectives
Course schedule
Assignments
Readings
Notation of particular teaching techniques that are meant to model for candidates, if applicable

If your institution uses a particular form as a template or course outline that is required as the core of each course, you may submit that one course outline in your Program Assessment document.

However, if each instructor designs their section of the course on their own, please include each course syllabi for all courses taught in the two years prior to Program Assessment.

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Faculty Vitae

The purpose of including faculty vitae in the Program Assessment document is so that readers can determine if qualified faculty are teaching the courses. Qualified does not mean just degrees completed and research articles and presentation. It can also mean experience in K-12 education and/or recent collaboration with the field. Examples of these include working with: a public school on improvement of student achievement a district on meeting the needs of English learners, or a county office of education on leadership development.

In order to make the review process possible, we are requesting that faculty vitae be limited to three to five pages. Please include the most recent or most foundational research, presentations or collaborations and/or the ones that have been foundational to the field.

All faculty, both full- and part-time who have regularly taught the course in the two years prior to Program Assessment and have a reasonable expectation that they will teach the course again in the next two years should be included.

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Tips for the Preparation of Program Assessment Documents

Download the tips here. [MS Word]

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Contact Information

For more information, please contact Jo Birdsell at jbirdsell@ctc.ca.gov or 916-662-4572.

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