Educational Leadership And Counseling, Department Of
Goal
Increase Enrollment
To increase enrollment via recruitment and retention of qualified and motivated students.
Objective
Increase Enrollment
To increase enrollment via recruitment and retention of qualified and motivated students.
KPI
Enrollment And Retention
Enrollment numbers and retention rates and persistence. Our goal is to increase annually in these areas.
Last year, the taskforce for recruitment workon on numerous strategies to increase enrollment in the master's programs with limited success. These efforts will be ongoing and additional strategies will also be implemented.
Result
Enrollment Numbers
Enrollment for the Department remained stable for the 13-14 academic year, with an overall enrollment across all programs of 832 students (a net loss of five students compared to last year's 837 students). Some programs lost students while others gained. For example, the master's in Counseling had the greatest drop in student enrollment, with 16 fewer students. The Administration program had the greatest increase in students, with 16 more students enrolled than last year. A spreadsheet of all Department programs and enrollment comparisons for AY 13 and AY 14 is attached for more detailed information.
Action
Recruitment Efforts
Targeted recruitment efforts continued through site visits in area schools and institutions of higher education, advertisements, and professional conference booths. Promotional items highlighting the department programs were also purchased for distribution at area schools and conferences in order to attract potential students. Extensive scholarship opportunities were used as a recruitment tool across all programs in the department. These strategies will continue to be used throughout the year. Strategic approaches appropriate for each program area will also be developed and used.
Goal
Excellence In Teaching, Research, And Service
The Department Faculty will strive for excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service.
Objective
FES
All faculty will engage in research, teaching, and service.
KPI
Faculty Evaluation System
Faculty are evaluated per University guidelines on research, teaching, and service. Faculty must be actively engaged in sustained efforts that demonstrate effective research (evidenced by an average of at least one publication per year), teaching (evidenced by student evaluation scores on IDEA that meet department expectations), and service (evidenced by documented service activities to the department, college, university, and academic community at large). 100% of faculty in the department will meet or exceed the minimum expectations in all three areas.
We committed this year for new faculty to be mentored by seasoned faculty to ensure their success in these areas.
Result
Faculty Performance
As evaluated by the Department Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee (DPTAC), almost all faculty are meeting expectations in teaching, research, and service. Three faculty were reviewed for formal decisions this year. Dr. Cynthia Martinez-Garcia was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor. Dr. Richard Henriksen and Dr. Barbara Polnick were both promoted to full professor. Three tenured faculty were reviewed for post-tenure review; Dr. Richard Henriksen, Dr. Chi-sing Li, and Dr. Rebecca Robles Pina were all successfully continuing to meet expectations.
Action
Faculty Performance
All faculty met expectations in this area, although one faculty member received negative feedback from the promotion (full professors) review committee. One new faculty member began this year, and he was assigned a mentor and has received positive feedback related to meeting expectations in teaching, service, and research. Faculty feedback will be reviewed individually, and formative progress will be discussed with faculty members as needed throughout the year. The faculty members who received negative feedback will meet with the chair and a mentor at least two times per semester to discuss progress and concerns related to their performance. New faculty will also be assigned a mentor and meet with both the mentor and the department chair at least two times per semester.
Goal
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction among the various constituencies
Objective
Constituent Satisfaction
Constituents will be satisfied with department programs.
KPI
Feedback From Advisory Committee
An advisory committee for each master's and doctoral level program will provide feedback regarding their satisfaction with the EDLC programs and specializations. All programs (100% of department programs) will implement advisory council feedback as a component of continuous improvement efforts.
Each department has attempted to incorporate advisory committee feedback. We are eager to see the results.
Result
Feedback From Advisory Committee
All programs held advisory committee meetings throughout the year. Minutes from these meetings are attached. The educational leadership programs held their meetings together, as did the counseling programs. Higher education administration program held its own meeting in a virtual format, which supports the online nature of this program and demonstrates capacity for synchronous interactions to the advisory committee.
Action
Constiuent Satisfaction
All programs in Counseling (master's and PhD) as well as the master's programs in Higher Education Administration and Educational Administration received specific feedback from an external advisory council and will implement this feedback accordingly. The counsleing programs also underwent rigorous review by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and have begun implementing those recommendations as well. Submissions to the University Curriculum Committee were included in these suggestions and have already been formally acted upon. Suggestions related to program identity and internship experiences are in the process of being implemented and will be considered further throughout the academic year.
Goal
Enhance Academic Program Quality
Enhance the quality and effectiveness of the academic programs
Objective
Enhance Academic Program Quality
Graduates will be competent in specialization content area and skills appropriate to their discipline. Students will demonstrate their level of competence by passing certification exams.
Indicator
TExES
Student scores on program-specific TExES (state certification) exams
Criterion
TExES Scores
90% of test takers will earn the required score on the corresponding TExES exam to achieve certification
Last year the Counseling and Superintendent program students met the 90% goal while the Principal program students only achieved 70%. We are eager to determine whether our interventions had any impact to raise the 70% toward the 90%
Finding
TExES Scores
Official pass rates for the Academic Year 2013 are as follows: School Counselor had a 95% pass rate (20 of 21 unique test takers); Principal had a pass rate of 93% (13 of 14 unique test takers), and Superintendent had a 100% pass rate (1 of 1 unique test takers). The State of Texas has not yet released official data for AY2014.
Action
Addresssing Areas For Improvement
Curricular alignment, syllabi revision, and TExES improvement techniques, including analysis of specific score results and item analysis for practice exams, were continued from last year’s efforts and will be ongoing. Adjunct training and coordination continues to be a concern; a targeted list of adjuncts was developed and a faculty member will be assigned to coordinate these efforts. Faculty involvement with review sessions will also take place this year. Improvement of scores is encouraging. Monitoring and disaggregation of students who took courses online as opposed to face to face instruction will also be measured.