Standard VIII: Monitoring and
Assessment
Swarthmore College Education > State Review
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The monitoring process of students planning to become certified begins as students enroll in Education l4, Introduction to Education. Undergraduates usually take Introduction to Education in the Spring semester of their Freshman year or in the Fall or Spring Semester of their Sophomore year. Most of the students taking Introduction to Education initially do not plan to be certified. They choose to take the course as one of their PDC requirements in the Social Sciences. As a result of taking this course, however, about 25-35 students in each typical undergraduate cohort decide to apply to become certified, and/or to complete Special Majors in Education and another discipline in the Honors or Course Program, or to be Education Minors in the Honors or Course Program. During Introduction to Education, students are informed about the general requirements for teacher certification as well as the requirements in each content area, and students who are considering pursuing certification are encouraged to discuss their plans with an Education faculty member. (The requirements for certification have already been made available to students in the packet from the Dean's Office that students receive during Freshman Orientation, but at that point the plans of most first-year students are quite fluid.)
As noted in Standard III, the formal admission process to the teacher certification program begins in the Spring Semester of Sophomore year when students submit their Sophomore paper and apply to the teacher certification program. At this point (beginning with the class of 2004), grade point averages and the required courses, or course equivalents, in Math and English will be documented, and satisfactory performance in Introduction to Education, including evaluations from the Cooperating Teacher and Education faculty who have taught the student, also will be reviewed and documented using the Advising Checklist. (See Appendix E for a copy of this checklist.) In the past we have not required students to complete the PRAXIS basic skills tests prior to admission to the program, and most have taken it during their final year at the College. Although we will encourage students to take the basic skills tests earlier in their college career, the fact that Swarthmore undergraduates have routinely passed all of these tests on their first attempt does not make these tests useful as a screening device. Thus we will not require that they be completed before formal admission to the program, and students may take them at any point before, during or after student teaching. The subject area tests also may be completed before or after the student teaching semester. The Principles of Learning and Teaching will be taken during the student teaching semester or after it, as the Curriculum and Methods seminar that accompanies student teaching includes a substantial portion of the content that is assessed on this PRAXIS exam. (See Standard IV for further discussion of the design and sequence of the certification program.)
When the Sophomore Paper plan and the application for teacher certification are accepted (or even if a student is deferred) in March of the Sophomore year, each student planning to be certified receives an Education advisor. From then on the student meets formally with their advisor at least twice yearly in the pre-registration period for the upcoming semester to discuss their progress toward certification. In practice, students interact frequently with their Education advisor during their last two years for informal and formal advising. Certification candidates also participate in two advising meetings per year with a faculty member from their major department. (The Registrar's Office does not allow students to register for the subsequent semester unless they have discussed their plans with their departmental advisor(s).)
Final approval to continue in the certification program is granted in the semester prior to student teaching, based on a student's performance in the major and in required Education courses. At this point, students are occasionally counseled out of the program. During the semester prior to student teaching, each certification student meets with the Director of the Education Program to discuss the student teaching process and their preferences for a school placement. The Program Director then arranges for each student to visit one or more schools, to observe one or more classes and to meet with potential Cooperating Teacher(s). After both the student and the Cooperating Teacher have agreed to the match, formal arrangements are made with the principal of the school and/or the relevant administrator in the district.
Multiple sources of data are used to assess a student's subject area competence/ performance in the major. Students are assessed regularly in the courses in their majors. Means of assessment include: analytic papers, research papers, laboratory reports, in-class and take-home exams, oral presentations, and journals. (See course syllabi from each major that describe the methods of evaluation and assessment employed. These will be available in the Document Room.) In addition, all majors require some form of Senior comprehensive exam, designed by the department faculty. These range from credit-bearing modes of assessments, (e.g. double credit theses, extensive research projects or participation in a Senior capstone seminar) to non credit-bearing written or oral exams, short papers or presentations. If students participate in the Swarthmore College Honors Program, they are also examined by an external examiner (a faculty member from outside of the College), on four double-credit preparations, which can consist of double credit seminars, double credit theses and/or a course and an attachment. (A document describing the Honors Program and external exam process will be available in the Document Room.)
Multiple sources of data are also used to assess a student's competence in the areas of professional knowledge and skills. In addition to passing the Principles of Learning and Teaching PRAXIS test, students must demonstrate competence in the 19 areas of focus included in Topics in the Professional Sequence. This is a Swarthmore Education Program document that lists all of the pedagogical knowledge, skills, and affective dispositions that students will acquire as they proceed through the certification program, the means to acquire them and the means by which they will be assessed. This document indicates in which Education courses students learn about the various competencies and how students are evaluated regarding the various competencies. The range of assessments used to document successful performance in Education courses and student teaching include: a variety of analytic and research-based papers, reflection/reaction papers, oral and written exams, take-home exams, group presentations, case studies, oral presentations, demonstration lessons, videotapes of teaching, web-site development, research projects, journals, curriculum units, and lesson plans. (See Appendix A for copy of Topics in the Professional Sequence.) During student teaching and the Curriculum and Methods seminar, students also compile an extensive portfolio which includes specified assignments as well as other examples of work or reflection pieces that the student chooses to include.
