UNK Assessment: English Capstone Experience

ASSESSMENT PLAN (Revised, 1997-98) All English education majors will participate in student teaching experiences in the public schools and will be evaluated and graded on that experience. Exit interviews and data will help evaluate the success of that experience. _______________ Revised, 1994-95 All English education majors will participate in student teaching experiences in the public schools and will be evaluated and graded on that experience. Exit interviews and data will help evaluate the success of that experience. _______________ Our education majors, in addition to the senior seminars, do student teaching.	1999-2000 ASSESSMENT There continue to be problems in our ability to track student success in the student-teaching capstone experience. A suggestion to the Assessment Committee from Martha Kruse, who teaches 424 and mentors student teachers, involves using an evaluation measure sent to the cooperating teachers under whom our students are teaching. By 2003 there will be a week set aside between student teaching and graduation during which student teachers’ classroom experiences can be evaluated, but some direct assessment of our students’ skills and abilities in the classroom carried out by the cooperating teachers would enhance our ability to monitor student success. The gap in time between completion of the teaching methods course (424) and the student teaching capstone experience continues to be a problem. As the methods course shifts to Level 3 in 2003, there will need to be a major refocus on student teaching replacing the methods course as a true “capstone.”
	1998-99 ASSESSMENT In the past, classroom visits were conducted routinely in conjunction with the teaching methods Capstone Course, 424. Currently the student teachers must request visits from the Department, and consequently observation and tracking processes are intermittent at best. Another problem that became apparent this year was the gap of time some students now experience between the capstone course (424) and the capstone experience (student teaching). The two aspects of the students’ programs are growing increasingly separated.
	1997-98 ASSESSMENT Due to students now doing student teaching for a full semester, they no longer teach in the same semester that they take their methods class. Whereas the methods instructor formerly made classroom visits to students during their ten-week student teaching assignment, it is now much more difficult to keep track of where our student teachers have been placed. While anecdotal evidence suggests that our student teachers continue to find employment in their content areas, the department might consider establishing a more formal system of exit interviews since the methods instructor may not visit each student teacher in his/her cooperating school. As the College of Education investigates the possibility of having faculty in the content areas participate in the supervision of student teachers, we will need to negotiate such matters as course releases and other reassignment of the method instructor’s duties.
	1996-97 ASSESSMENT The English Department continues to monitor and assess the progress of its education majors through regular academic advising with an English department faculty member, on-site visits by the English methods instructor to student teachers in their cooperating schools, an informal system of exit interviews conducted between graduating seniors and faculty members, and feedback from cooperating teachers and university supervisors regarding student teachers' performance. Our student teachers displayed good classroom management skills as well as good relationships with their classroom teachers. Many are hired for what openings are available in the cooperating schools. Cooperating teachers and university supervisors rate each student teacher's performance on a 1-5 scale, 5 indicating "exemplary methods/skills beyond the Standard." This year, all of our student teachers majoring in English scored a 4 or 5 on every indicator, with 6 categories out of 15 registering a straight 5. Students share their student teaching experiences in roundtable discussions at the English Department's Annual Student Conference on Language and Literature. Both of these means confirmed that our students are well prepared for student teaching.
	1995-96 ASSESSMENT The English department monitors and assesses the progress of its education majors through a number of measures, including regular academic advising with an English department faculty member; on-site visits by the English methods instructor to student teachers in their cooperating schools; an informal system of exit interviews conducted between graduating seniors and faculty members; feedback from cooperating teachers and university supervisors regarding student teachers' performance. Again, students who had completed their student teaching experiences conducted a roundtable discussion for other students at the English Department's Annual Student Conference on Language and Literature.
	1994-95 ASSESSMENT Seniors with education majors participated in student teaching experiences in area public schools under the supervision of the English Department supervisor, Education Department personnel, and public school instructors. The students were evaluated and graded. In addition, the English Department's Annual Student Conference on Language and Literature included a Roundtable of student teachers who reported on their student teaching experiences to the department and future teachers.
	1993-94 ASSESSMENT One section of the Student Conference on Language and Literature is a report from a panel of student teachers, allowing both the department and future student teachers to become more aware of the extent to which our academic preparation fits student teachers for their experience in the schools.v