Candidate knowledge and skills to meet Texas Educator Standards

Candidates will demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and dispositions by successfully completing the TExES School Librarian (150) test that is designed to assess examinees according to the prescribed domains that include the following: Domain I - Teaching, Learning, and the School Library Environment; Domain II - Program Management, Leadership, and Connections to the Community; and Domain III - Librarianship, Information Science, and Technology.

All candidates seeking school librarian certification must take the TExES (Texas Examination of Educator Standards) for school librarians. This exam directly corresponds to the state content competencies that are designed to measure the candidates' level of mastery as it relates to the field. Results of candidate scores on the TExES test for school librarians determine the pass rate for each testing period.

Candidates will pass the TExES Exam for School Librarian, and 80% of candidates will succeed upon their first effort. A scaled score of 240 is required for passing. The overall pass rate, with those who have to retake the exam, will exceed 90% of candidates.

The program was not successful in meeting the 80% criterion for candidates to succeed upon their first effort of passing the state's certification examination. In 2014-2015, the candidate pass rate for the examination was 69% for the first effort. This is down from 71% from the previous academic year. The 80% criterion will remain for 2015-2016.

The overall pass rate for the certification examination that includes first time test takers and repeaters was 74%. This does not meet the criterion of 90% for the overall pass rate.

The program required that candidates successfully complete a pretest prior to the end of their coursework. An additional support was made towards the end of the academic year. This additional support includes a whole group discussion of the rationales to answers on the pretest. This support was added as a response to candidates' frustration with their results from the pretest. It is unclear at this time as to whether the added discussion made a positive impact on the certification test results. However, the candidates have reported that they prefer including the discussion covering the pretest as part of their preparation. Thus, the discussion will be included as part of the preparation for the next academic year. Pretest administrators did notice that the inclusion of the discussion did raise morale among the pretest takers.

The faculty members will continue to use the preparation materials for the pretest that were in place prior to the addition of the discussion, which includes a glossary list of terms related to the profession. In addition, scenarios have been embedded within the content included in the courses. These scenarios are practice test questions to help candidates prepare for the certification exam. For candidates who are in need of remedial support, a faculty member will work with them until the candidates experience success in passing the certification examination.

Library science candidates prepare a final assessment portfolio for the MLS to demonstrate mastery and competence standards adopted by the field.

Candidates will demonstrate mastery of their knowledge, skills, and dispositions gained in the Library Science program on the final assessment of portfolio. The portfolio is governed by the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010). The five standards include: Standard 1 - Teaching for Learning; Standard 2 - Literacy and Reading; Standard 3 - Information and Knowledge; Standard 4 - Advocacy and Leadership; and Standard 5 - Program Management and Administration.

Every graduate program requires a final product for its course of study. The Department of Library Science has determined that the electronic portfolio is currently the best method of providing evidence that the candidate is prepared for the world of school librarianship. The electronic portfolio is designed for candidates to demonstrate through artifacts and reflection their completion and mastery of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Standards.

The candidate must meet acceptable or target evaluations of their final assessment portfolio. Professors review the portfolios using rubrics developed by faculty for this purpose.

All candidates will obtain an assessment of either acceptable or target as indicated by department rubrics on the final portfolio. Since candidates met the desired ratio of 30% Acceptable and 70% Target, the new percentages will be 20% Acceptable and 80% Target. This ratio has been adjusted to align the goal with the 2012-2013 results.

While the 100% pass rate was maintained for Portfolio, the percentage of candidates who scored Target was 70%, which is higher than the previous academic year where the percentage was 53%. The remainder 30% of candidates scored at the Acceptable level for 2014-2015. In support of the candidates’ success with Portfolio, edits were made to the Anecdotal Resume to provide clarification to the suggestions, recommendations, and requirements that are included in the document. These changes were made and in place for Spring 2015, which contained the largest group of candidates for 2014-2015; a total of 31 candidates completed Portfolio for Spring 2015. Even though the percentage of candidates who scored Target has increased when compared to the previous academic year, the program did not meet the criterion of 20% Acceptable and 80% Target for 2014-2015. A review of the Anecdotal Resume and other supports will be revisited and revised as deemed necessary by the program faculty members to help candidates as they complete Portfolio in the future. The criterion for the next academic year will remain the same.