NCE’s tradition of progressive student-centered education and a vision of positive social change form the foundation for NCE programs. Since our last ISBE/NCATE visit, we have developed an assessment system that:
1) ensures that candidates are assessed at multiple points, with multiple forms of assessment conducted by multiple assessors
2) respects the specific discipline content and standards of each program
3) is linked across all programs through alignment with our Conceptual Framework to ensure quality across programs and the unit.

The aggregation of candidate and other data for program and unit improvement is coordinated through the NCE Assessment Council, whose members are assessment coordinators from each program. While the assessment system must flexibly accommodate the diversity of program and disciplinary standards, a number of common elements exist across programs:

Admissions

• The academic qualifications of all candidates are examined by transcript evaluation. Graduate applicants also complete the Miller Analogies Test.
• Candidates for initial licensure programs must pass the Illinois Basic Skills Test, or the equivalent examination in Wisconsin or Virginia, prior to being admitted.

Formative and Summative

• Candidates for initial licensure must have successfully completed prerequisite academic and practicum experiences before student teaching or internships.
• Effective, July, 2004 candidates for initial licensure must pass the content examination in their field.
• Candidates in programs involving supervised field experiences are regularly supervised and reviewed by means of competency appraisal instruments aligned with NCATE, state, and SPA, standards as well as our Conceptual Framework.
• Candidates in all programs complete a professional portfolio aligned with NCATE, state, and SPA standards as well as our Conceptual Framework. The College has adopted a web-based tool, LiveText (see glossary). The data aggregation features of LiveText came on-line in Fall, 2003 allowing us to begin to aggregate candidate data within and across programs.
• Candidates for initial certification programs must successfully pass state content examinations in their teaching area before being eligible for certification.
• Candidates across all programs complete a study plan. Academic progress is assessed through course grades and is monitored by academic advisors.

Follow Up

• Candidates are asked to provide feedback on programs and the College through surveys at graduation and at one year after graduation.
  Tables 1.01 to 1.03 provide an overview of the specific assessments within programs.
  
  Table 1.01: Benchmark Assessments for Initial Licensure Programs
  Table 1.02: Benchmark Assessments for Advanced Programs
  Table 1.03: Benchmark Assessments for Other School Personnel Programs

Supporting evidence on assessments in Tables 1.01 to 1.03 is available in the Exhibit Room.

NCE Doctoral Programs use a common assessment process. Admissions assessments include: Graduate Record Exam Scores, GPA of 3.25 on master’s level courses, personal goal statement, 4 letters of reference, a writing sample, and an interview. Table 1.04 summarizes assessments used during and at follow-up after program completion.

Table 1.04 Doctoral Program Assessments

Alignment to Conceptual Framework
Program performance expectations are explicitly aligned to the Unit’s Conceptual Framework (ER: Tables 2.1a through 2.1f ). This alignment allows programs to further align specific courses and candidate performance assessments with the Conceptual Framework (ER: Program Assessment Reports). This conceptual alignment assures that candidates meet institutional standards as well as professional and state standards, and that we have data on common outcomes for program and unit reflection and evaluation.

As an example of the Conceptual Framework alignment, items from student teaching competency appraisal forms for each of the initial certification programs (early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education) have been aligned with the six Conceptual Framework outcomes. In addition, all of these instruments were coded for items that measured candidates’ ability to work with diverse learners as well as candidate professionalism and ethics. Our analyses verified that candidates are well prepared and meet institutional standards (ER: competency appraisal coding documents and analysis). Additional analyses were completed to align data from the competency appraisals with the five NCATE categories of assessment in Standard 1 (Content, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Professionalism, Dispositions, and Student Learning). These data will be reported in the appropriate areas of this text.