TNE Assessment Committee Meeting Minutes
March 5th
11:45-2:00
Gentry Room 144
Welcoming
After our luncheon, Dr. Mary Yakimowski convened the meeting portion of the agenda.
She welcomed everyone and introduced Ms. Mallory Coleman who will be taking the
minutes at the meeting today. Mallory is a doctoral student from the school psychology
department and she has a part-time graduate assistantship from the Neag Assessment
Office. She also introduced Dr. Robert Lucco representing the CSDE. Bob is the Director
of Research and Evaluation at CSDE. Everyone proceeded to introduce themselves to
Mallory and Bob.
As part of the Welcoming, highlights from the Spotlight on Assessment initiative were
shared. As background, it was mentioned that last summer, the Neag’s Assessment
Office, in conjunction with TNE, began a multi-faceted effort to spread the word on
assessment-related topics. This multi-faceted initiative includes a statewide conference,
series of colloquia on assessment, NewsBrief to faculty, department meetings covering
assessment items, and the involvement of constituencies through assessment committees
such as this TNE Assessment Committee.
Mary then highlighted the conference on No Child Left Behind: Positive, Obstacles, and
Solutions which will be held on March 19 from 9:00-3:30. This conference will highlight
major people at the national level – Drs. Zollie Stevenson (Director of Title I) and Sue
Rigney from US Department of Education - along with Mr. Gene Wilhoit (Executive
Director) and Dr. Rolf Blank (Director of School Indicators) from the Council of Chief
State School Officers (CCSSO). It will include many from our state, including Dr. Mark
McQuillan, CSDE’s Commissioner. Local leaders such as superintendents from
Stamford, Meriden, Danbury, and Milford will be presenting. Folks were referred to the
web site for additional information.
Three colloquia were discussed. The Connecticut Achievement and Performance Test
with Jeff Grieg will be on Friday, March 28, the Why Three is Better than One by Scott
Brown and Tony Artino will be on April 14, and the rescheduled session on The College
Board Assessments by Thanos Patelis on April 18. Each is 11:30-1:00 over lunch. All
members of the committee are invited. Please register on-line to attend.
Mary then related our agenda to the theme of “no stakeholder is left behind.” The
committee will embark on talking about getting data from many stakeholders including
Professional Development Schools (PDS) teachers and administrators, students, alumni,
employers, and pupil data.
PDS Surveys
The committee began with PDS surveys: the first one is designed to assess “partnership,”
the final two represent “clinical experiences.”
The first one, the Professional Development School Partnership Survey, is a revamped
survey from about 3-4 years ago. The overall purpose is to gain awareness of what degree
do school folks feel that the partnership with UConn is working. The concept of PDS was
reviewed with committee members. The survey had to “short and sweet” so the original
survey was pared down while maintaining the substance of the survey. Teacher
Education (i.e., Marijke) would be willing to share this survey with 150 folks at the event
this spring at Neag the last week in April.
Committee members liked the survey. They suggested minor revisions such as: notation
that teacher and administrator be added in the directions, include IB/M and TCPCG to
survey, remove “the” in #10, change “aware” to “acknowleable” in B1 and B2, and
reword the first phase under the directions.
The next two surveys deal with the clinical experience. More specifically, this draft
student survey was based upon a shortened and revised version last administered in 20042005. It is aligns with the Teacher Education handbook. It can be posted on Persuis and
e-mailed to the junior and senior students of the IB/M program the last week in April.
Committee members suggested the following minor edits: skip “Let A stand for
excellence …,” change #2 to “commitment,” change “professional developer” to
clinic/cooperating teacher, #3 flush out in less then five words some examples, #6 add
“d”, shorten #13 to read “respected my philosophy of education”, add “helped refine my
philosophy of education,” bold #15, and add “district.”
Committee members were provided the draft teacher survey. In the past, only students
had received a survey on this topic. All committee members agreed that there should be
such a survey to balance of what the students say and to gather their perspective. The
logistics tied to teacher survey would still need to be addressed. The questions posed on
this teacher survey are related to the student survey. As with the other two surveys, we
want to keep it to one page.
Committee members suggested the following be included or revised on this survey: put
“teacher” in the directions, have numbering/lettering system on both surveys similar (3a,
3b …), change “one’s” to “his/her”, change “encouraged” to “stimulated”, make “to
whom” clarified in #4-6, add checklist tied to Part B-1, note “strengths” on Part-2, add
district, and add “think about the most current student.” Mary concluded this discussion
by noting that the committee will get updates on the status of each of the surveys later
this spring and thank them for their feedback.
Clinic, Student Teaching, and Internship Evaluation
Committee members were reminded that they have been looking at the evaluations from
the IB/M program for 2006-2007 and 2005-2006. During our last meeting, we viewed a
preliminary draft of 2006-2007. The final report was sent to all members and distributed
at the meeting. The entire group approved the report with two minor edits offered by
Swami.
The committee then heard an update about our desire to conduct focus groups to
determine how the evaluation tool may be more meaningful to students. Additionally, the
committee was reminded that TNE has conducted focus group sessions annually. These
two efforts have merged. Our four questions on the clinical experiences on evaluation
will now be integrated with the master’s level student group and the group representing
the schools. A draft schedule of focus groups was distributed was discussed with
members.
CLAS Surveys
The next set of six surveys is the results of the TNE collaboration with the CLAS. More
specifically, we are looking at surveying students in CLAS on teacher interest. Last year,
the History Department administered questionnaires to the freshman and sophomores.
They found that 64% of their students interested in teaching. The end of the last semester,
Mary sought individual meetings with representatives from six departments: Political
Science, Biology, English, World Languages, Mathematics and Human Development and
Family Relationships. All wanted the partnership with TNE. The timelines to have
faculty involvement along with survey development, administration, and analyses of the
surveys were formulated by department.
Of special note is that each department wanted to have their “own” survey. So, they were
allowed to custom-fit their survey. Two surveys produced – Political Science and World
Languages – were shared with the committee.
It is projected that six reports (one for each department) and an overall report would be
produced in the spring/summer. An initial draft template was reviewed with the
committee which was followed by much discussion.
Employer Surveys
As mentioned at the last meeting, the Neag School of Education and TNE are embarking
on surveys on employer feedback. This would used as part of accreditation (such as
NCATE in 2010) and program evaluation. These surveys, in addition to alumni surveys,
give us perspectives for other stakeholder groups aside from faculty and students about
our program. Distributed were Forms A and B employer surveys.
It was explained that Part 1-3 were obtained from the survey administered by the assistant
dean four years ago. The other questions on the survey are linked with the alumni survey,
including the incorporation of our “belief” statements.
The committee members felt Part 1 needed to flip the rating scale so it would better
match the other rating scales, include a reference point (e.g., teachers) in the directions,
and pose two questions of how long the graduate was under the supervisor and the field
of the graduate.
Committee members agreed that Part II was too long. In working in pairs, each group
attempted to select seven statements. After posting their findings on a flip chart, items 6,
7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, and 39 were tossed
from the survey. The group had consensus of including 3, 18, and 23. After much
discussion, the group then resolved that 3, 4, 5, 14, 18, 22, 23, 24, and 36 would be
included and the remaining items dropped. The committee adding 36 but sought
rewording to some like like: “leadership skills OR promoter in school improvement.”
The committee decided to drop Part III. Change the words in the directions for Part IV to
“extent to which the teacher possess these characteristics” and change the scale
something like “not” to “great.” The remaining of the survey was acceptable as is. The
committee members were thanked for helping to improve this survey.
Alumni Surveys
A quick review of the 1994-2006 alumni survey was given. It was noted that many of
members’ comments were incorporated into what we hope to be the final draft. It now
includes a cover page, list of tables, research questions, conceptual map of the survey,
and analyses corrected.
This year graduates from 2002-2007 were surveyed. We only sent a letter indicating the
survey were be accessed on-line. We sent out a total of five remainders for IB/Ms and six
for TCPCG electronically. We also sent a postcard out to folks. In summary, there were
131 surveys returned. We are doing preliminary analyses now and are expecting the final
report in June.
Common Exit Survey
We have the exit survey on Persuis software with dispositions and standards questions
added. The logistics have been established. It will be given from April 18-25. We hope to
examine the data, 2007 vs. 2008, and the two cohorts (IB/M and TCPCG).
IB/M Instructor
Date Time
Payne, Susan
4/18 9:30
Roselle, Rene
4/18 9:30
Marcus, Alan
4/18 9:50
Levine, Thomas
4/18
9:50
Staples, Megan
4/18 10:15
Moss, David
4/25 9:30
Glenn, Wendy
4/25 10:15
Eckert, Rebecca
4/25 10:45
Music
4/25 Time & Location tbd
TCPCG
Week of April 21
Educational Expansions
We had our subcommittee meeting on Educational Expansions and minutes were
distributed to all members. IRB was submitted and yesterday it was approved.
Next Meeting
To date, we had two meetings of the full group and one of the subgroup. Mary brought up
whether to have another meeting this year. Members felt we needed another meeting.
Mary agreed to send out an e-mail seeking member input regarding dates in late May or
June.
TNE 2008-2009
Scott explained that despite rumors, TNE will be around next year. He is stepping down
as TNE Director and Marijke will start in that role in August 2008. CLAS will name the
Associate Director. Scott still wants to maintain a relationship as part of TNE. The
assessment component will exist and it is a very important component. The budget of
$1.4 million will also be supportive of TNE fellows. He concluded: “TNE is here to
stay.”
Conclusion
The committee members were thanked for their contribution. The meeting concluded at
2:08.