Increase Program Quality And Effectiveness

To teach in Texas, degree candidates will demonstrate knowledge and skills to seek certification by the State Board of Education Certification (SBEC) through administered exams developed by the SBEC. 

All 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). The Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Certification Examination is required of all certification candidates. The remaining 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 and 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.

Overall, Post Bacc candidates passing the PPR exam will meet or exceed 85%, both overall and within each Program level. 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 analysis of pass rates which will be presented here represent the pass rates on the first attempt for all PPR exams taken in 2012-2013. Scores will reflect that at least 85% of Post-Bacc students passed the PPR exam on the first attempt.

For the second year in a row weaker areas were domains three (instruction and assessment) and four (professional roles and responsibilities).  We are doubling our efforts to improve these areas for 12-13.

Candidates have several more opportunities to take and pass the PPR exam before the year is complete. This data is based on first attempts. The EC-12 PPR pass percentage for Post-Bacc candidates was 100% for the 2012-2013 year. We met the criterion, which we will leave in place for the coming year. Weaker areas were once again instruction and assessment as well as professional roles and responsibilities.

All candidates will take the EC-12 PPR exam from this year forward. For this reason, we will work very hard to make sure all candidates are familiar with all ages and stages of development. We will focus more diligently on the areas of instruction and assessment as well as professional roles and responsibilities, areas still in need of iimprovement.

Certification candidates will demonstrate their ability to modify instruction when appropriate.

The Teacher Work Sample (TWS) has been a very successful indicator for our candidates in the past. This year we will focus on one area of the TWS that considers a candidate's ability to modify instruction. A Post-Bacc candidate must score well on the entireity of the TWS, and historically they have. The section that covers the modification of instructional practices for all learners will be our focus.

85% of candidates during the 2012-2013 academic year will achieve a score of at least a "2" or "3" on the section of the TWS "Modifying Instruction." As recommended by the Renaissance Group, each candidate's TWS is blindly scored by a minimum of two trained scorers.

90.7% of candidates achieved a score of "3" or "2" on the TWS. Assessment still manifests itself as a weaker area for us, although still acceptable.

Each semester, the faculty in the alternative certification 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 at 90.7% of all candidates met the minimum standard.

Since 90.7% 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 area of modification of instruction for all learners is where the faculty will focus in the future.