OATdb Archive

2014 - 2015

Special Education MED (Educational Diagnostician)

Goal
Mastery Of SBEC (State Board Of Education Certification) Knowledge & Skills
Students in the Special Education Diagnostician Program must successfully pass the State Certification exam (SBEC) after completion of our Master level program to be acting diagnosticians. The SBEC test includes four domains: (1) Students with disabilities, (2) Assessment & Evaluation, (3) Curriculum & Instruction, (4) Foundations and Professional Roles and Responsibilities.

Objective
Mastery Of SBEC Knowledge & Skills
Graduates will demonstrate competencies in assessment and evaluation as set forth by the State Board of Education Certification (SBEC) for diagnostician certification.

Indicator
State Board Of Education Certification Exam (SBEC)
When master degree candidates complete the diagnostician program, they apply to take the SBEC exam. If they pass the exam they can then apply for certification as a diagnostician through the Texas State Board for Educator Certification. The exam has four different domains that include (1) knowledge of students with disabilities, (2) assessment and evaluation of students with disabilities, (3) curriculum and instruction for students with disabilities, and (4) foundations and professional roles and responsibilities for educational diagnosticians.  


Criterion
SBEC Pass Rates
90% of candidates will pass Domain II of the TExES, a measure of knowledge of Assessment and Evaluation skill of the SBEC. While our program assesses and address all of these domains, the special education faculty are most concerned with the candidates’ knowledge and skills related to actual testing of students at risk and/or those with suspected disabilities. Past scores indicated that scores in this domain were lower than other domain areas.  


Finding
SBEC Pass Rates
90% of candidates passed Domain II of the TExES that measures candidates' knowledge of Assessment and Evaluation skills.

Action
Mastery Of SBEC Knowledge And Skills
Because 90% of the candidates passed Domain II of the TExES, we will now focus on Domain IV, which is Foundations and Professional Roles and Responsibilities. This year, candidates scored 80%. For next year, we want the average score of all candidates to be 85% on Domain IV.


Goal
Mastery Of CEC Knowledge And Skills
Candidates will meet target expectations of knowledge and skills on comprehensive examinations referenced to the standards set forth by the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Knowledge and Skills for Educational Diagnosticians. 


Objective
Mastery Of Council Of Exceptional Children Knowedge And Skills
Candidates will meet target expectations of knowledge and skills on comprehensive examinations referenced to the standards set forth by the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Knowledge and Skills for Educational Diagnosticians. 


Indicator
Comprehensive Exam Rubric
The faculty developed rubric for comprehensive exams evaluates the level of competence of the foundational knowledge and skills of the Council for Exceptional Children's teacher preparation standards. One of the standards is knowledge of national and state education laws and regulations. Because this standard is critical for avoiding legal grievances and upholding the rights of stakeholders in the assessment process, the faculty believe this to be of high importance. The comprehensive exam contains 7 questions with each question tied directly to the CEC standards. Candidates take the exam during the last course of their program and must pass the whole test at a minimum of 80%. However, each question is also individually graded by faculty to determine the passing rates of each question. Candidates are assigned random questions from our question bank and are given three weeks to write and complete the exam. Students who fail a question or more are given one opportunity to rewrite the question(s) and resubmit after one additional week.  


Criterion
Comprehensive Exam Pass Rates
100% of candidates will achieve at a level 3 (accomplished) on the comprehensive exam rubric that addresses the foundational knowledge and skills of national and state education laws and regulations.

Finding
Comprehensive Exam Pass Rates
94% of candidates passed at Level 3 or 4 (accomplished or exemplary) on the comprehensive exam question regarding foundational knowledge and skills of national and state education laws and regulations.

Action
Mastery Of Council Of Exceptional Children Knowledge And Skills
Because 94% of our candidates achieved at a level 3 (accomplished) on the comprehensive exam rubric, we want to aim for 100% of candidates to achieve at a level 3 (accomplished) on the comprehensive exam rubric that addresses the foundational knowledge and skills of national and state education laws and regulations.

Goal
Mastery Of Writing Skills
Students in the Special Education Diagnostician Program must successfully demonstrate their competence in written communication for purposes of professional reporting and dissemination of research based practices.

Objective
Mastery Of Writing Skills
Students in the Special Education Diagnostician Program will successfully demonstrate their competence in written communication for purposes of professional reporting and dissemination of research based practices.

Indicator
Passing Rates For Writing Skill
The faculty developed rubric for comprehensive exams evaluates the level of competence of the foundational knowledge and skills of the Council for Exceptional Children's teacher preparation standards. It also evaluates candidates’ proficiency in writing. The writing standard is critical to the success of diagnosticians in writing effective and comprehensible assessment reports and for the dissemination of research practices to school faculty, parents and staff. The special education faculty at SHSU believes this skill to be of high importance. Candidates take the exam during the last course of their program and must pass the whole test at a minimum of 80%. However, each question is also individually graded by faculty to determine the passing rates of each question. Candidates are assigned random questions from our question bank and are given three weeks to write and complete the exam. Students who fail a question or more are given one opportunity to rewrite the question(s) and resubmit after one additional week.


Criterion
Mastery Of Writing Skills
100% of candidates will pass the writing skill standard on the comprehensive exam rubric at the accomplished level (3).

Finding
Comprehensive Exam Pass Ratees On Writing Traits
100% of candidates passed the writing skill standard on the comprehensive exam rubric at a level 3 or 4 (accomplished or exemplary).

Action
Mastery Of Writing Skills
100% of our candidates met the criterion for passing the comprehensive writing skill at the leve of 3 or 4 which is accomplished or exemplary.

Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Special Education faculty who teach in the M.Ed. in Special Education program to the diagnostician cohorts encourage students to use the Writing Center. The faculty offered orientation workshops, which included their suggestion to use the writing center. Special Education Faculty work closely with the director of the writing center to support their efforts with our students. We did not implement the intervention to realign the comprehensive rubric to the new standards because the new standards had not yet been completed by CEC. We did not implement the intervention to conduct the workshop because we had limited faculty to work on this item. The sequence of the assessment courses was organized to include the achievement testing first, the cognitive testing after that, and the final assessment course last. New courses were not added to the Post Master Degree program because it would have significantly reduced our enrollment in 2015. Our scores on the comprehensive exams were higher than previous years. Because students utilized the writing center when they had to rewrite a question, the revisions were much improved. The data from the TExES scores was also collected and compared to scores from 2013-2014 year. This analysis found that the scores had increased.

Plan for continuous improvement Because 90% of the candidates passed Domain II of the TExES, we will now focus on Domain IV, which is Foundations and Professional Roles and Responsibilities. This year, candidates scored 80%. For next year, we want the average score of all candidates to be 85% on Domain IV. Because 94% of our candidates achieved at a level 3 (accomplished) on the comprehensive exam rubric, we want to aim for 100% of candidates to achieve at a level 3 (accomplished) on the comprehensive exam rubric that addresses the foundational knowledge and skills of national and state education laws and regulations. Even though our candidates 100% of our candidates met the criterion for passing the comprehensive writing skill at the level of 3 or 4 which is accomplished or exemplary, we want to assess writing skills across time and will use a revised writing rubric to examine the degree to which our students achieve proficiency as they go through the program. The writing rubric will be used in the first class Sped 5301 Individuals with Disabilities, Sped 6304 In Home Training & Family Issues and during comprehensive exams. Data collection will begin in January 2016. 

Sam Houston State University | A Member of The Texas State University System