Educator Preparation Governing Council Assessment and Compliance Committee

Documents

Membership of the Assessment and Compliance Committee includes the associate dean or director of assessment from each of the four colleges, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation coordinator, the director of teacher education (if different from the CAEP coordinator), the directors of certification and field placements, the College of Education and Human Development advising director, a data and assessment manager for the council, and eight faculty members representing the four colleges engaging in educator preparation. The faculty membership is specifically allocated in the following format: three from the College of Education and Human Development, three from the College of Arts and Sciences, one from the College of Fine Arts and one from the College of Health and Human Services.

The work of this committee is accomplished through the following subcommittees who will set their own meeting schedules, but will meet at least once each semester:

In addition, the committee will establish an ad hoc subcommittee to oversee the implementation of recommendations of Task Force 21. This subcommittee will cease operations no later than September 2018.

Members of the subcommittees may include any faculty or staff working within the professional education programs at Western Michigan University and its school partners. The chair of each subcommittee must be a member on the council. Department chairs may serve on any of the subcommittees and on the ACC.

The main purpose of the committee is to assure that candidate assessments are implemented at key checkpoints in educator preparation and present to the executive committee recommendations for improvement and recommendations pertaining to how deficiencies identified during the assessment can be remediated. Because the committee's assessments are focused at the unit level, individual programs and departments are encouraged to implement their own assessments and make changes to their curricula.

The committee's duties will include, but are not limited to, the following tasks:

  • Assisting with the accreditation efforts of the educator preparation unit as a whole and programs within the unit. As appropriate, members of the committee will work with the various steering committees for accreditation of the unit and its programs.
  • Monitoring and reviewing assessment plans from educator preparation departments and programs.
  • Monitoring remediation to deficiency areas.
  • Preparing an annual report on assessment and accreditation activities to inform the college deans, and the provost and vice president for academic affairs.
  • Receiving assessment results and recommending changes to the key assessments, as needed, to the executive committee.

Assessment process

Each semester after grades are due, the director of teacher education uses TracDat to compile all unit and program data that has been administered. All data are organized and assembled for distribution at the aggregate level and disaggregate level (by program when appropriate). These data are reported to the appropriate programs and subcommittees.

The subcommittee will consult with the appropriate faculty, programs, or departments as the data are reviewed and analyzed. Each subcommittee then prepares a written data report using a common template, which contains such information as who reviewed it, the date(s) of review and analysis, the current status of the data, and recommendations for program improvement including recommended action steps. These recommendations will be presented to the whole ACC for review. At the meeting, the subcommittees present their data analysis and recommended action steps. The committee reviews the subcommittees’ analyses and action steps and responds to the recommendations. If the ACC responds that the recommendations need revision, they are returned to the subcommittee. If the feedback is for ongoing program interventions and review, it is returned to the program for continued improvement. If the recommendations require a major change in the educator preparation unit or a change in policy, they are forwarded to the executive committee who reviews the recommended action and makes a decision on the recommendation.

The approved plan for program or unit improvement will then be delivered to the appropriate faculty, programs and departments for implementation. The implementers should provide an update to the Educator Preparation Governing Council about the progress of the improvement once a semester.