Middle Level candidiates master areas associated with teacher quality and effectiveness

Candidates will be able to plan, implement, assess, and modify effective instruction .

The Teacher Work Sample (TWS), adapted from The Renaissance Partnership for Improving Teacher Quality Project (http://fp.uni.edu/itq), is a performance assessment designed to demonstrate evidence of Sam Houston State University candidates' ability to facilitate learning for all students. This sample illustrates the candidate's ability to plan, implement, modify and assess instruction during their student teaching semester.

Prior to the student teaching semester, candidates choose one (12 to 14 week placement) or two (6 to 7 week placements). During the first 6 to 7 weeks of their placement, candidates are required to create and teach a unit as a Teacher Work Sample. After consulting with their mentor teacher about the unit focus, candidates teach a minimum of five lessons from the unit in their mentor's classroom. Additionally, the candidates are evaluated on their unit planning and teaching of unit lessons. They are also required to reflect on their decision-making and teaching practice including their impact on student learning.

The Teacher Work Sample (TWS) focuses on seven teaching processes that are crucial for effective/reflective teaching and must be considered when planning for the learning of all students. Each process is defined by a performance standard, specific task, a student prompt and a rubric that identify the desired performance of the candidate related to that process.

Candidates score a 1 - they redo the assignment; a 2 or 3 demonstrates that the candidate proficiently completed the document.

At least 87% of candidates during the 2012-2013 academic year will achieve a score of 2 or 3 on the Teacher Work Sample.

Information on Scoring Procedures:

As recommended by the Renaissance Group, each candidate's Teacher Work Sample is blindly scored by a minimum of two trained scorers. Each scorer evaluates and assigns a score of three(target), two (acceptable), or one (unacceptable) to each indicator, Additionally an overall score of three, two or one is given to each of the seven processes as well as and an overall three, two or one to the entire Teacher Work Sample. If the first two scorers agree on the overall Teacher Work Sample score, the scoring process is complete. However, if the two scorers do not agree the Teacher Work Sample is scored for a third, possibly fourth time, until agreement is reached. For this reason, the data presented in the following charts represents the number of scorings not the number of Teacher Work Samples scored.

Once agreement is reached on the Teacher Work Sample score, the overall scores are sent to the student teachers. The following charts show the overall Teacher Work Sample scores for the student teachers.

The reporting data for the TWS provided by the college now designates the percentage of matching scores.  That is, what percentage of test takers received matching scores of 3 on two blind reviews, what percentage received matching scores of 2, etc.  The score of candidates receiving matching 3's was 51.8%.  The score of candidates receiving matching 2's was 44.6%  If we examine scores of matching 2's and matching 3's (acceptable and target), the score was 96.4%

Each semester, the faculty in the MLE program plan and implement new strategies based on assessment data to assist our candidates in successfully completing the Teacher Work Sample.  This is evident in that 96.4% of all candidates (down from 98.2% in 2011-2012) met the minimum standard.  Of the test takers, 51.8% received matching scores of 3, while 44.6% received matching scores of 2.

Since 96.4% of candidates demonstrated mastery on this assessment, the faculty would like to focus on improving modifications for instruction for all students.  Our candidates must be able to demonstrate planning, implementing instruction, assessing instruction and modifying instruction for all learners.  The TWS component which was lowest overall for the 4-8 candidates was Contextual Factors, with an average score of 2.39.  Therefore, this component will be addressed by the MLE faculty in order to come up with a plan to improve candidates’ scores.

Candidates in the Middle Level Program will demonstrate mastery of the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities knowledge and skills for classroom teachers.

Candidates will demonstrate mastery of the state mandated standards for the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) certification exam.

Candidates seeking initial certification, advanced teacher certification, or certifications for other school personnel must take one or more of the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES). These examinations directly correspond to the state content competencies that have been identified for the certification desired. These content competencies are aligned with and based on the appropriate state standards for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) statements, which describe the state mandated curriculum for students. Each TExES examination is criterion-referenced and is designed to measure a candidate's level of content knowledge and skills appropriate for educators in the State of Texas. 

Each test was collaboratively developed by the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC), National Evaluation Systems, Inc. (NES), an independent corporation specializing in educational measurements, with additional participation by committees of Texas educators. Individual test items developed to measure the state competencies were reviewed and rated by the various committees of Texas educators to ensure appropriateness of content and difficulty, clarity, and accuracy. These committees also ensured that the test items matched the appropriate competencies and were free from potential ethnicity, gender, and regional biases. The committees also helped prepare scoring rubrics for written response items and training materials for those who would score the tests.

Separate standard-setting panels were convened to review statistical data about candidate scores from initial pilot studies of the tests during their development. Recommendations were forwarded to the SBEC, which made the final decisions about establishing passing scores. TExES examinations are centrally administered by SBEC and NES at pre-determined sites and on pre-established dates across Texas similar to many of the national achievement tests. This regime provides for a professional, equitable, and secure testing environment for candidates. Alternative testing arrangements are also permitted for those requiring special consideration. Sites are selected after a careful review of security and accessibility potential, and the quality of overall testing conditions. Tests are scored centrally.

First time pass rates on all levels of the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) examinations will exceed 85%. While the accountability system for the state examines scores for each completer cohort and provides for students to repeat the examination if they are not successful on the first attempt, the faculty decided to focus on the first time pass rate instead of the overall pass rate for the 2012-2013 academic year.

The 2012-2013 academic year was the first time all candidates took the EC-12 PPR instead of the 4-8 PPR, as was taken previously.  In addition, data was kept on the percentage of how candidates performed on their initial attempt at the PPR.  In the MLE program, 97% of first time test takers were successful.

Of the first time test takers. 97% were successful.  Certainly, the faculty would like to see that percentage at 100%.  Therefore, faculty will break down the program average scores of the various PPR Domains and Competencies to determine where the 4-8 candidates might improve.  The final PPR scores for 4-8 candidates for the 2012-2013 academic year will be available in the fall.