TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

I. Introduction 4

II. Conceptual Framework 5

III.  Findings for Each Standard

Standard 1 6

Standard 2 15

Standard 3 19

Standard 4 23

Standard 5 27

Standard 6 31

IV.  Sources of Evidence 35


SUMMARY FOR PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION UNIT

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

Institution: Southeastern Louisiana University

Standards / Team Findings
Initial / Advanced
1 / Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions / M / M
2 / Assessment System and Unit Evaluation / M / M
3 / Field Experiences and Clinical Practice / M / M
4 / Diversity / M / M
5 / Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and Development / M / M
6 / Unit Governance and Resources / M / M

M = Standard Met

NM = Standard Not Met

I. INTRODUCTION

Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is located in Hammond, approximately 50 miles north of New Orleans and about 45 miles southeast of Baton Rouge, the state capital. Southeastern is the outgrowth of the Hammond Junior College established in 1925 by the citizens of the southern half of Tangipahoa Parish. Act 136 of the 1928 State Legislature made Southeastern part of the state educational system with the right to establish a four-year curriculum and grant baccalaureate degrees. Southeastern was accepted into full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1946. Southeastern was authorized to award master’s degrees in 1960, and in 2006 was authorized to award the Doctorate of Education through a joint program offered by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Southeastern Louisiana University. The mission of Southeastern is to lead the educational, economic, and cultural development of southeast Louisiana.

The unit is comprised of the College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) and its partner colleges. The COEHD is responsible for managing and coordinating all initial and advanced preparation programs offered for candidates and other school professionals. The professional education unit includes the Departments of Teaching & Learning (T&L), Educational Leadership & Technology (ELT), and Counseling & Human Development (CHD) in the COEHD; Departments of Art, English, Foreign Language, History and Political Science, and Music in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS); Departments of Mathematics, Biological Sciences, and Chemistry & Physics in the College of Science and Technology (ST); and the Department of Kinesiology and Health Studies in the College of Nursing and Health Studies (NHS).

Louisiana is an NCATE partnership state. Four national team members and three state team members conducted the review. A state consultant was present throughout the visit and did not have voting privileges. NCATE and state team members worked together, sharing equal roles and responsibilities in all functions of the review. The BOE team operated as a combined team, made a single recommendation for each standard, and wrote a single report. There were no unusual circumstances that affected the visit except that the assigned AFT representative made limited electronic communications related to the logistics of the visit and did not attend the visit.

Southeastern offers a total of 21 programs which prepare candidates to work with students in PK-12 schools. While Southeastern offers courses off-campus at the St. Tammany Center and Livingston Technology Center, as well as internet courses, no programs are offered totally as off-campus or distance learning programs. Interviews and exhibits document that candidates receive high quality experiences in both off-campus and online venues.
II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The COEHD faculty and its partners reflected on the mission and vision of the institution to establish a model framework to prepare candidates who will set the standard for excellence through best practices. As a result, the mission states: “The COEHD exists to serve the regional, state, national, and global communities by developing effective professionals through implementing innovative and progressive programs.” The unit’s vision is: “The faculty of the COEHD prepares candidates to become effective professionals who set the standard for excellence through best practices.”

The unit’s conceptual framework (CF) is based on current research about effective teaching and learning for both novice and accomplished teachers and for educational leaders. The CF provides the structure necessary to accomplish the goal of preparing effective professionals who will positively impact the lives of students, families, and communities. The CF is reflected in the unit’s curriculum, instruction, field experiences, and assessments and includes the following components: knowledge of learner (KL), strategies and methods (SM), content knowledge (CK), and professional standards (PS). The components are briefly described as: KL (candidates’ understanding of the learner which is necessary to provide effective and equitable instruction); SM (strategies and methods appropriate to each program within the educational unit which are necessary to develop effective professionals); CK (candidates’ thorough understanding of the content appropriate to the area of specialization); and PS (established criteria that guide effective professionals in each discipline area). Diversity and technology are infused in the CF as themes integrated throughout all programs in the unit.

The components of the CF along with the two integrated themes of diversity and technology are supported by established theoretical perspectives and research-driven practices. The CF reflects the unit’s commitment to preparing effective professionals who will support learning for all students. The unit addresses professional standards from a number of professional organizations and councils. The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) standards were adopted by T&L for initial certification programs; T&L advanced programs adopted the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS); and advanced programs in ELT adopted standards from the Educational Leadership Constituency Council (ELCC) and International Society of Technology in Education Standards (ISTE).

Each candidate’s progress is documented and assessed, and portals within the assessment system ensure candidates have successfully achieved expectations before advancing. The transition points or portals include admission, admission to teacher education, program progress, student teaching/internship, and first year induction. The CF served as the foundation for developing the unit’s electronic assessment system, Professional Accountability Support System using a PORTal Approach (PASS-PORT). The electronic portfolios contain artifacts which support the achievement of skills associated with the respective standards. Assessment results are used for improvement by candidates to guide and refine learning; by instructors to identify strengths and weaknesses in individual course instruction; by departments to show overall strengths and weaknesses as well as to generate institutional reports and complete program assessments; and by the unit for needs assessment, program review and revisions, and accountability.

III. STANDARDS

Standard 1

Information reported in the institutional report for Standard 1 was validated in the exhibits and interviews. [X] Yes [ ] No

Element / Unacceptable / Acceptable / Target
1a. Content Knowledge for Teacher Candidates – Initial Teacher Preparation / X
1a. Content Knowledge for Teacher Candidates – Advanced Teacher Preparation / X
Summary of Findings for Initial Teacher Preparation:
Southeastern offers a total of 14 programs and/or concentrations that prepare candidates at the initial level. Of the 14 programs, 12 were submitted to Specialized Professional Associations (SPAs) for review. Six programs received national recognition, five received national recognition with conditions, and one was not recognized through the SPA process. Southeastern received national recognition status from the following SPAs: National Association for the Education of Young Children, Association for Childhood Education International, National Middle Schools Association, National Council of Teachers of Mathematic, and National Council for the Social Studies. Southeastern received the status of national recognition with conditions from the following SPAs (brief explanations of conditions are included): Council for Exceptional Children (evidence is not provided that candidates receive field/clinical experiences at the appropriate age/grade levels to receive the special education K-12 endorsement); National Council of Teachers of English (the program needs to show how candidates demonstrate knowledge of, and uses for, an extensive range of literature; PRAXIS II test data, corrupted in the prior submission, needs to be updated and resubmitted to show that the NCATE 80% pass requirement has been met over the three year requirement); American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (clarify that interviews of candidates who take the Oral Proficiency Interview with certified testers on campus undergo a second blind rating; scoring guides for assessments provide more specific information that delineate different levels of performance which will help ensure that all evaluators are using the same criteria and that the assessment provides useful feedback to the candidates); American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance/National Association for Sport and Physical Education (add more explanation about how the sub-sections of the content area exam align to the outcomes within Standard 1; rubrics used in assessments must be more clearly aligned with outcomes under standards while identifying clear and distinct levels of candidate proficiencies; provide more specific evidence of how data from assessments have influenced decisions to improve the program and subsequent candidate performance); and National Science Teachers Association (data for a total of five assessments is required; when the program submits the data, please also include the rubrics and reflections on possible changes based on the use of the instruments). Two initial programs, music education and art education, were submitted to their respective professional organizations for review. The Bachelor of Music Education is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music; the Bachelor of Arts in Art Education is still under review by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Table 2 in the institutional report (IR) presents the current status of each program. Review of documents and interviews with administrators and faculty confirm the unit is in the process of revising programs in response to conditions cited in SPA reports.
Candidates in initial preparation programs acquire content knowledge through a series of content-based courses, professional development activities, and field/clinical experiences. Five sources provide quantitative evidence of content knowledge: performance on PRAXIS II specialty tests, coursework performance, professional development activities, performance-based assessments in field experiences and clinical practice, and follow-up surveys. Initial level candidates are required to submit three unit level portfolios which are assessed as they progress through their programs: an introductory portfolio in portal 2, a developing portfolio in portal 3, and a competency portfolio in portal 4.
Data show the pass rates on Praxis II content exams for candidates in all initial programs is 100 percent. Candidates must earn a grade of “C” or better in specialized content area courses in their major and have a GPA of 2.5 to be for eligible to enroll in senior-level professional education coursework. Documentation provides evidence of acquisition of content knowledge through professional development hours as documented in e-folios for portals 2, 3, and 4 during fall 2006 through 2007. Professional development activities are reviewed for approval concerning content area relevance. Data for fall 2006 - fall 2007 show 96 percent or more of the candidates met or exceeded the specified hours for professional development activities. Documentation for fall 2006 - fall 2007 provides performance data from student teaching evaluation forms that show candidates plan, teach, and evaluate content well and have an overall content knowledge score of 3.72 or higher on a four point scale. Follow-up surveys from principals and mentor teachers for 2005-06 and 2006-07 indicate graduates know their subject matter, rating them 3.6 and above on a four point scale related to items addressing content knowledge competency. Likewise, a 2005-2006 follow-up survey of first year teachers provides self-reported data that graduates perceive themselves as having content area expertise, scoring themselves 3.7 and above on a four point scale on items related to knowledge of subject matter.
Summary of Findings for Advanced Teacher Preparation:
COEHD offers two advanced teacher preparation programs, Special Education and Curriculum and Instruction. The master’s degree in Special Education received national recognition with conditions through the SPA process. The conditions noted in the SPA report include: assessments, data, and rubrics need to provide evidence of how requirements of candidates directly align with CEC standards and how these will be evaluated. The master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction has state approval. Experienced teachers in advanced level programs demonstrate their content knowledge competency through course performance and projects, professional development activities, written comprehensive exams or action research projects, and electronic portfolios.
For advanced level teacher education candidates, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better in all graduate coursework is a criterion for graduation. Additionally, unit portfolios include artifacts from core courses indicating competence on content knowledge. Candidates are required to complete and document a minimum of 25 hours of acceptable professional development activities (PDA). During 2006-2007, advanced candidates engaged in a variety of professional development opportunities such as community service, conferences, workshops, and training programs. The hours and types of activities are documented.
The comprehensive written exam, taken during the final semester, requires candidates to demonstrate in-depth understanding of their content areas and pedagogy as well as research methods. Ninety-four percent of candidates who took the comprehensive exam in fall 2006-fall 2007 passed. Documentation provides information for each concentration area. These data indicate candidates mastered the content knowledge required by their degree plans. The unit revised or is revising many of its programs and will require an action research project in place of the written comprehensive exam in the future.
Advanced level candidates are required to submit three unit level portfolios: an emerging portfolio in portal 7, a proficiency portfolio in portal 8, and a capstone portfolio in portal 9. Items one and two on the advanced folio assessment rubric demonstrate candidate content knowledge. Item one requires candidates to submit artifacts as evidence of progress in the acquisition of content knowledge. Item two requires candidates to justify connecting artifacts that relate to appropriate program, national, and institutional standards. These artifacts provide evidence candidates have an understanding of content-related standards. Summary data for fall 2006-fall 2007 indicate that, on a scale from “unacceptable” to “exceeds expectations,” 89 percent or more of the candidates “met” or “exceeded” expectations on the six portfolio elements assessed.