Shepherd University ~ School of Education & Educator Preparation Program
CAEP Accountability Measures
School of Education Enrollment Demographic Data — As of Fall 2022-2023
Source Shepherd University Office of Institutional Research / For more Quick Facts about Shepherd University, click here!
The purpose of the Educator Preparation Program [EPP] at Shepherd is to facilitate the development of teacher candidates who demonstrate the willingness and capacity for a pedagogy that truly empowers all students in today’s diverse P-12 classrooms. To ensure its effectiveness and quality across all specialties and disciplines throughout the program, the EPP at Shepherd University is committed to implementing and refining the process of continuing improvement and comprehensive assessment. Consequently, our efforts to ensure we address the measures CAEP has established to ensure we are accountable to our candidates, our stakeholders, the university, and the public often overlap and are intertwined.
Consequently, many of the elements in the report below overlap and are intertwined as well.
Measure 1: Completer Impact & Effectiveness / Impact on P-12 Learning & Development (Standard R4.1)
Measure 2: Satisfaction of Employers & Stakeholder Involvement (Standard R4.2)
In the past, the State of West Virginia had contracted with Qualtrics as well as the Network for Excellence in Teaching (NExT) to survey P-12 based administrators supervising graduates working in West Virginia schools to help its Educator Preparation Programs analyze Measure 1 for ongoing program improvement and accreditation purposes. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, data was not collected nor analyzed for the 2019-2020 nor 2020-2021 academic years. The contract between NExT and the State of West Virginia expired in December 2021, so no data for Measures 1 and 2a is available nor forthcoming. For 2021-2022, the State contracted with Skyfactor to collect the information; unfortunately, we also did not receive any data from that initiative for Measures 1 and 2a. While we will continue to accept any information provided from the state, we have determined to work directly with our local and regional P-12 partners to solicit the information moving forward. During the Fall 2022 semester, our Coordinator of Educator Preparation, Accreditation & Compliance [CEPAC] met with local superintendents and other county/district representatives to solicit their participation in gathering data regarding Employer Satisfaction and Completer Effectiveness/Impact regarding Shepherd EPP graduates/completers for the past five (5) years (Measures 1 and 2); surveys for the 2022-2023 school year have recently been distributed and responses have already begun to arrive (although final results aren’t expected until June 2023). Anecdotally, in the meetings that were held in Fall 2022 (Measure 2b), superintendents as well as faculty and HR representatives made statements to the CEPAC that indicated Shepherd graduates were highly sought-after as teachers and colleagues in and around the region (Measures 1 and 2a).
Additional and proposed measures to determine Completer Impact/Effectiveness include a potential Case Study in which Program Completers would participate in a mini-“Teacher Work Sample” project during their first one to three years of employment and share their findings with the EPP. Doing so would allow the EPP to more reliably evaluate the “impact/effectiveness” of our completers on P-12 learning and development without relying on the state and/or other entities to provide data for Measure 1. Therefore, the EPP at Shepherd anticipates being able to provide information to the public regarding Measures 1-2a very soon.
Measure 2b: Stakeholder Involvement (Standard R4.2)
Measure 3: Candidacy Competency at Completion (Standard R3.3)
The EPP at Shepherd University works closely with a variety of stakeholders within the university, the community, the state, and the region to ensure our program meets and exceeds our improvement and accreditation efforts each year (see below). We strive for excellence in all we do, and that includes making sure our candidates are able to serve diverse learners in the P-12 setting around the area in whatever specialty they may choose. We develop various Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) each year with schools throughout the region (see below), and we are beginning to work closely with our partner schools and administrators as well as our teacher candidates to co-select and evaluate both cooperating teachers and placement settings to ensure our candidates experience the best placements possible [Measure 2b]. We continue to survey teacher candidates regarding their practicum experiences during their culminating student-teaching semester and/or yearlong residency, and we review and analyze that data to guide our decision-making efforts for both field and clinical placements each semester [Measure 2b].
Since the inception at Shepherd University of the culminating yearlong residency experience in 2019-2020 for elementary education candidates, we host open interview sessions each semester with any candidate who plans to enter the residency experience with principals from some of our local P-12 Partner schools in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties (WV) as part of our continuing and developing co-selection process [Measure 2b]. Beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year, we began to pilot the yearlong residency option with our secondary education candidates as well and will continue to expand the pilot during the 2023-2024 school year and beyond with other specializations, with an ideal goal of all candidates beginning the yearlong residency experience during the Fall 2025 semester. Finally, we have recently extended our agreements with a number of our neighboring P-12 partners in Maryland and Virginia to offer the yearlong residency option to our candidates beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year as well [Measure 2b].
Fall 2021-Spring 2022 Residency Placements
During the initial residency experiences, our elementary candidates were placed solely in Berkeley County, WV. For the 2021-2022 academic year, the four candidates who completed the residency performed very successfully, scoring at a level of “Proficient” or “Distinguished” on all areas of the Skills of Teaching Observation Tool [STOT] as correspond directly to the InTASC Standards, with an overall summative average of 3.59 by the end of the residency experience [Measure 3].
Fall 2022-Spring 2023 Residency Placements
During the 2022-2023 academic year, we have expanded our residency placements for our elementary candidates into Jefferson County, WV, and extended the program to pilot the residency for secondary candidates to include the Social Studies specialization. For the Fall 2022 semester, we had four elementary and one secondary (SS) candidate in their first semester of the residency experience, all of whom were placed in Berkeley County, and they have all continued into their second semester during the spring semester. For Spring 2023, we have expanded to include an additional 10 elementary candidates, 3 of whom are placed in Jefferson County, WV [Measure 2b].
Measure 2b: Stakeholder Involvement (Standard R4.2)
The Educator Preparation Program Council (EPPC) is the body that is responsible for educator preparation and teacher education at Shepherd University. The EPC is chaired by the Coordinator of the Educator Preparation Program, Accreditation & Compliance [CEPAC], and is comprised of the following: School of Education faculty; all specialization coordinators; certification analyst; field placement coordinator; Dean of the College of Nursing, Education, and Health Sciences; Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies; one student representative from each of the following programs: elementary education, secondary education, MAT and MACI programs; and one representative from each two-year institution with an active/signed SU collaborative agreement (e.g., community / technical colleges). In this way, the EPPC exemplifies how various stakeholders across the university and community share responsibility and authority in determining what is important in teacher education at Shepherd University. The EPPC, through monthly meetings (see minutes / below), administers, coordinates, evaluates, monitors, reviews, and revises the Educator Preparation Program at Shepherd University. The EPPC has the responsibility to ensure that all specializations are conducted in a manner that is consistent with the stated philosophy, theme, and objectives of the Educator Preparation Program [EPP].
Measure 3: Candidate Competency at Program Completion (Standard R3.3)
The EPP at Shepherd University measures Candidate Competency at Program Completion in a variety of ways. First, candidates must pass the Praxis II certification exam prior to admission to student teaching (Juncture II). Our summary pass rates for the Praxis series of tests required for certification from Title II Report (last three years of data) is as follows:
ETS Praxis Info 2021-2022 (Click for Information on Praxis II Pass-Rate Reporting across All Specializations)
Then, candidates must pass the edTPA for their specialization during their final student teaching semester. This is both a graduation (Shepherd University / EPP) and licensure/certification requirement (EPP / State of West Virginia). Since its implementation at Shepherd as part of Measure 3, we have transitioned our candidates in each specialization towards increased success as per state and national guidance has suggested. We are now operating at national norms across all specializations (cut scores); on average, 100% of our candidates are earning passing scores on their assessments (mean score); and more than 85% of our candidates are achieving excellent scores on their edTPA (high/median scores), as shown below.
edTPA Disaggregated Info F20 – S22 (Click for full score reporting / disaggregation from Fall 2020 through Spring 2022)
edTPA Performance Summary S22 — Comparison Across Specializations — Shepherd, West Virginia, National (January 2022 – June 2022)
edTPA Performance Summary F22 — Comparison Across Specializations — Shepherd, West Virginia, National (July 2022 – December 2022)
Measure 4: Ability of Completers to be Hired in Education Positions for which they have been Prepared (Standard R3.3)
The State of West Virginia has reported and is responding to an overwhelming increased teacher shortage across the state in all areas, with such initiatives as TeachWV.com and the Grow Your Own program, in which local high school students enroll concurrently in college courses during their junior and senior years of school. Shepherd University is participating the in the Grow Your Own program, and we are already and successfully “growing” future teachers and recruiting future education candidates into the EPP at SU.
Just as we plan to begin conducting our own Employer Surveys and implementing our own Exit Surveys within the EPP, we will also conduct our own Alumni Surveys moving forward. However, because the State of West Virginia is similar to many other states across the country with shortages in all areas and an abundance of openings for teachers in all fields, Shepherd University’s completers are able to be hired in positions for which they have been prepared if they simply seek the opportunities provided to them. In addition to districts within West Virginia, our candidates seek employment within the local region, into Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Anecdotally, we have been made aware that candidates have successfully extended their job searches outside the local area as well, with candidates serving P-12 students in the midwest and southwest United States along with those who are serving in the Peace Corps, Teach for America, and beyond.
We have already developed an Alumni Survey using questions formerly employed by the WV HEPC as mentioned before (e.g., NeXT, Qualtrics, Skyfactor), and will also begin directly distributing the survey to completers of the EPP ourselves rather than relying on outside entities to do so; survey distributions will once again begin in April 2023 and will include all completers over the past five years. Therefore, we anticipate data for Measure 4 to be provided in all upcoming reports moving forward.
Updated 3/2023 TDK