Project News

California State University

Eastern Michigan University

Emporia State University

Kentucky State University

Longwood University

Middle Tennessee State University

Millersville University

Southeast Missouri State University

Western Kentucky University

University Of Northern Iowa

Idaho State University

Renaissance Partnership Members

• Idaho State University 
• League of Schools Magic Valley School Partnership
• Idaho Nuclear Engineering Environmental Laboratory 

Fall Semester 2003 Activities

We revised our teacher work sample guidelines, scoring rubric, and road map of evidence during academic year 2002-2003. The final versions of theses changes are being implemented during this semester. We had planned to conduct a new benchmarking and generalizability study during May 2003. However, this has been postponed to the beginning of the Spring Semester 2004.

We are continuing to examine ways to improve the mentoring support we provide our teacher education candidates. We hold monthly TWS alignment meetings for the faculty who mentor our teacher candidates. We hold training workshops for cooperating teachers. Beginning this semester all methods courses in the college will use the same format for learning activity plans (lesson plans). In addition, all teacher education faculty members and college supervisors received training last spring in the use of the Stiggins model for writing achievement targets. All teacher preparation courses will now conform to this model.

Several faculty members are working on a study of paired placements of teacher candidates during our initial extended field placements in EDUC 309 Planning, Delivery and Assessment (6 credits). Our candidates complete their first TWS during this course. We are evaluating whether peer mentoring contributes to candidate success.

Julie Birdsong is participating in the writing and revisions of the Partnership’s mentoring manuals for cooperating teachers and teacher education candidates.

Peter Denner and Jack Newsome are participating in the development of the Partnership’s manual on gathering credibility evidence for performance assessments.

The fall semester will also see further improvements to our accountability databases and our ability to generate useful reports of assessment results for the improvement of our programs and unit operations. The changes to the databases will enhance our ability to track the performances of our candidates in all of our graduate programs.

Presentations

Peter Denner, Jack Newsome and Julie Birdsong along with Stephanie Salzman from Western Washington University had an article published in the Spring 2003 edition of the Journal for Effective Schools. The article is titled, “Teacher Work Sample Assessment: Validity and Generalizability of Performances across Occasions of Development.” In addition, Peter Denner made a two presentations at the Renaissance Partnership Assessment Workshop held in Kansas City, Missouri on June 26 and 27, 2003. The first presentation was on how TWS are used as part of the assessment system at ISU. The second presentations focused on processes and tools that establish credibility of performance assessments. On July 29, Peter Denner also participated in a teleconference for Western Oregon University. He spoke about the current status and development of the assessment system databases at Idaho State University.

Project Contact: Peter Denner dennpete@isu.edu

Spring, 2003

Renaissance Partnership Members

• League of Schools

• Magic Valley School Partnership

• Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

Spring Semester 2003 Activities
We revised our teacher work sample guidelines, scoring rubric and road map of evidence during the fall semester 2002. These changes are being implemented during the spring semester 2003. We will conduct a new benchmarking and generalizability study during May 2003 using the teacher work samples we collect this semester. We are also trying out new ways to improve the mentoring support we provide our teacher educator candidates.

The spring semester will also see improvements to our accountability database and our ability to generate useful reports of assessment results for the improvement of our programs and unit operations. The changes to the database will enhance our ability to describe and analyze candidate performance at each successive level of the teacher education program and on-the-job performance during the initial years of professional practice.


Presentations
Several members of our faculty have been engaged in making presentations on Teacher Work Samples to other faculty groups and at national conferences. During the spring semester 2003, we will be presenting a professional clinic at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, in February 2003. At that same conference and earlier at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (held in New Orleans in January 2003) several of us will also be involved in research presentation.


Project contact: Peter Denner dennpete@isu.edu

Fall, 2002

Academic Year 2002-2003 Goals

At Idaho State University, we are continuing full implementation of our teacher education accountability system, teacher work samples, and mentoring support for candidates. Our successful NCATE continuing accreditation visit and state program approval last year showed us the power of our teacher work sample data to provide evidence of the impact of candidate performance on PK-12 student learning. We found the assessment information from our accountability system, including teacher work samples, effectively responded to the NCATE 2000 standards calling for evidence of candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions and evidence of the impact of our graduates on students and schools. This year, we are focusing our efforts on improving our accountability database and our ability to generate useful reports of assessment results for the improvement of our programs and unit operations. Through our Teacher Education Tracking Database, we gather data relative to candidate performance on our assessments, track candidate progress through the program, and summarize data for national, state, and institutional accountability reports. The tracking of candidate performance will enable us to describe and analyze candidate performance at each successive level of the teacher education program and on-the job performance during the initial years of professional practice. We are also working this year to refine some of our assessments, including our teacher work sample assessment, and to enhance the quality of our mentoring support to our candidates.

Teacher Work Sample Implementation

We are in our fifth year of full implementation of teacher work samples with our teacher education candidates in all programs (early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education). Candidates complete two teacher work samples during the teacher education program. The first work sample is completed as a requirement for a junior-level course - Planning, Delivery, and Assessment - taken in conjunction with a semester-long half-time pre-internship in a PK-12 classroom. As they complete the first teacher work sample, candidates are given intense mentoring by course instructors, arts and sciences faculty, and practicing educators. The second teacher work sample is completed during the semester-long student teaching internship. Unlike the first teacher work sample, the second work sample is completed independently by the candidate.

Workshop Presentations

Several members of our faculty have been engaged in making presentations on Teacher Work Samples to other faculty groups. A presentation was made in Kansas City in July, 2002 to the other Renaissance Group institutions who are not members of the eleven institution grant partnership. A second presentation was made in August at Frostburg State University in Maryland. A third presentation will be made in Reno, Nevada in September for universities in Nevada. We will also be presenting a professional clinic at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) in Jacksonville, Florida in February, 2003.

Project Contact: Peter Denner [dennpete@isu.edu]

Spring, 2002

At Idaho State University, we have continued to make significant progress on Renaissance Project goals including full implementation of our teacher education accountability system, teacher work samples, and mentoring support for candidates.. During the time since our last report, we have moved from full implementation of our accountability and assessment initiatives to the use of assessment results for the improvement of our programs and unit operations. We also completed our NCATE continuing accreditation visit and state program approval during through which we experienced the power of our teacher work sample data to provide evidence of the impact of candidate performance on PK-12 student learning. We found that the assessment information from our accountability system, including teacher work samples, effectively responded to the NCATE 2000 standards calling for evidence of candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions and evidence of the impact of our graduates on students and schools. 

Accountability System

Admission to the Pre-Professional Education Course Work and Field Experiences

• Overall grade point average of 2.75

• Successful completion of ENGL 101 English Composition

• Demonstration of basic technology skills

Admission to the Teacher Education Program

• Overall grade point average of 2.75
• Grades of B or higher in two of the following courses with a grade no lower than C in any of the courses: ENGL 101, SPCH 101, mathematics course used for fulfillment of the general education goal
• Praxis I scores in reading, writing, and mathematics
• Grade of C or higher in EDUC 201 Development and Individual Differences
• Recommendation of EDUC 201 instructor
• Recommendation of cooperating teacher from the EDUC 201 field experience
• Admission Portfolio
• Admission Interview

• Overall grade point average of 2.75
• 2.75 grade point average in professional education core
• 2.50 grade point average in teaching major and teaching minor
• Professional Portfolio
• Teacher Work Sample
• Teaching Performance Evaluations
• Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Examination
• Praxis II Subject Matter Examinations (beginning in fall of 2002)

• Overall grade point average of 2.75
• 2.75 grade point average in professional education core
• 2.50 grade point average in teaching major and teaching minor
• Professional Portfolio
• Teacher Work Sample
• Teacher Performance Evaluations 
• Exit Interview

• Alumni Survey
• Employer Surveys

Teacher Work Samples

Research

An important aspect of our implementation of teacher work samples has been our efforts to link in a defensible way the assessment of teaching performance to PK-12 student learning. Our approach has been to set specific criteria for quality teaching performance in our scoring rubrics that take into consideration the significance of the learning goals, quality of the assessments used to measure student learning, and student performance relative to the learning goals. Through this approach, evidence of student learning is situated within the context of the quality of the learning goals and the assessments.. Our Index of Student Learning focuses on measuring: (1) the quality of the sources of evidence or student learning provided by candidates in the teacher work sample; (2) the percent of students who met the learning goals for the instruction according to the criteria stated in the work sample; and (3) the percent of students who showed increased learning (improvement) relative to the targeted learning goals. We have conducted construct validation studies of the learning index with the Renaissance teacher work samples and will share the results of these studies at the AACTE 2002 annual meeting in February.

Project Contact: Stephanie Salzman [salzstep@isu.edu]

Fall, 2001

Fall 2001 Partnership Project News

As a new partner in the Renaissance Partnership Project, the Idaho State University College of Education looks forward to rewarding professional relationships as we continue our initiatives to connect the performance of our teacher education candidates to PK-12 student learning.  Our work with the Partnership institutions began with consultation activities during the development of the Renaissance teacher work sample prompt and scoring rubrics and deepened as we coordinated the Renaissance Partnership Benchmarking Study in June, 2001.  We appreciate the opportunity to join the Renaissance Partnership institutions as they engage in the significant work of assessing teacher performance and the effects of that performance on student learning.

Accountability System

During AY 2000-2001, we completed full implementation of our comprehensive teacher education assessment system.  Through the system, we assess the performance of all candidates relative to the ISU Standards for Beginning Teachers, the Idaho Standards for the Certification of School Personnel, and the INTASC standards and gather data regarding the impact of our candidates and graduates on PK-12 student learning.  Components of our assessment system include the Praxis I, an admission interview, Professional Portfolio, teacher work samples, teaching performance evaluations, an exit interview, and alumni and employer surveys.  In addition, we assess candidates using state-mandated assessments of comprehensive literacy instruction, technology competency, and ,beginning in fall of 2002, subject matter knowledge.

Through our Teacher Education Tracking Database, we gather data relative to candidate performance on all assessments, track candidate performance through the program, and summarize data for national, state, and institutional accountability reports. This tracking of candidate performance will enable us to describe and analyze candidate performance at each successive level of the teacher education program and on-the-job performance during the initial years of professional practice.

Teacher Work Samples/Mentoring Teams

During AY 2000-2001, all candidates in all of our teacher education programs (early childhood, elementary, secondary, special education) completed teacher work samples.  Candidates complete two teacher work samples during their program.  The first work sample is completed as a requirement for a junior-level course – Planning, Delivery, and Assessment – that includes a semester-long half day pre-internship in a PK-12 classroom.  As they complete the first work sample, candidates are given intensive instruction by course instructors and practicing teachers in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for successful completion of the teacher work sample. The second teacher work sample is completed during a senior-level course – Adaptations for Diversity – taken in conjunction with the 18-week student teaching internship.  Unlike the first work sample, the second work sample is completed independently by the candidate.  A total of 240 pre-interns and 176 student teaching interns completed work samples during AY 2000-2001.

In June of 2001, we conducted our second Benchmarking Study.  Through the study, we gathered credibility evidence, including validity and inter-rater reliability data, for the Idaho State University work samples and identified exemplars of candidate performance at each level of our developmental scoring rubric.  The Benchmarking Study also yielded valuable information that course instructors used to improve instruction in our teacher education program. A total of 41 teacher education faculty, practicing teachers and administrators, and arts and sciences faculty participated in the Benchmarking Study.

As a critical aspect of our implementation of teacher work sample assessment, we continued our Cooperating Teacher Seminars to train practicing educators to support candidates as they complete work samples and to evaluate candidate performance.  As of June, 2001, a total of 491 teachers in our service region have completed the Cooperating Teacher Seminar and are qualified to serve as members of our teacher work sample mentoring teams.  

Project Contact: Stephanie Salzman [salzstep@isu.edu]

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