Standard 2: Assessment System and Unit Evaluation
The unit has an assessment system that collects and analyzes data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and unit operations to evaluate and improve the unit and its programs.

NCE has developed an assessment system that collects and analyzes data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and unit operations to evaluate and improve the unit and its programs. This process began soon after our most recent accreditation by ISBE/NCATE in 1999. At that time, the examiners noted that all initial and advanced NCE programs met the standards related to systematically assessing candidate performance and ensuring candidate competence. Since then, NCE has further developed those practices to create a college-wide system in order to make decisions about program and unit operations based upon candidate performance data.

NCE’s Assessment System
The Assessment Cycle (Figure 2.0) provides an overview of the NCE assessment system by illustrating the major structures that support the system (ER [Exhibit room]: NCE Assessment Plan). The NCE Conceptual Framework outcomes frame the process. Program level assessments processes are captured through a yearly reporting process. Programs document how their students meet the institutional outcomes outlined in the NCE Conceptual Framework as well as other relevant state and national professional standards. Programs also report on the ways in which their external partners offer consultation and review on their assessment processes. The format of the reports is designed to ensure that candidate learning is assessed around institutional and professional standards at multiple points on multiple measures during the program and a year after the completion of the program. The reports also describe how programs analyze and use candidate assessment data to inform program improvement.

These reports are completed and shared among faculty through LiveText, a software tool designed to support college assessment processes. This tool allows students to create standards aligned e-portfolios that can be electronically evaluated by faculty using standards aligned rubrics. The rubric evaluations can be periodically aggregated to provide information on patterns of candidate performance at various program benchmarks. The data aggregation features of LiveText came on-line in Fall, 2003 allowing us to begin to aggregate candidate data within and across programs.

The NCE Assessment Council, comprised of elected members from each NCE department, is responsible for the college level assessment processes (ER: Assessment Council charge). This Council synthesizes the program assessment reports to evaluate unit operations. They share their findings and make recommendations to the deans, department chairs, and the faculty for needed resources and other changes to enhance learning and assessment within NCE. The whole process invites dialogue, reflection, and evaluation regarding the NCE Conceptual Framework and our performance expectations for all candidates. Through this reflective cycle, we continually monitor the coherence and the effectiveness of program and unit operations in relation to our professional values, commitments, and performance expectations.

Figure 2.2

The Development of the Assessment System
Table 2.0 summarizes the steps NCE took to develop the unit assessment system and the plans for its continued development. Programs revised their performance outcomes for candidates and closely aligning those outcomes with the NCE Conceptual Framework and outcomes for all candidates (ER: minutes of Program Coordinator Meetings, Spring, 2001). They further added their respective national and the relevant state standards to this alignment (ER: Specialized Professional Organization Reports).

Programs developed and piloted a number of assessments to monitor candidate performance related to these standards both in formative and summative ways, and are currently refining processes of data aggregation to show trends in candidate performance and to identify needed program improvements.

Table 2.0: Evolution of the NCE Assessment System

In keeping with our Conceptual Framework values, the process of building our Unit assessment system has been a collaborative one in which feedback between program-level assessment processes and unit-level processes has shaped the overall design of the assessment system. The Assessment Task Force, comprised of faculty from different programs, worked from the summer of 2001 through the spring of 2002 to articulate the goals for the assessment system and develop a set of rubrics to guide programs in developing systems for assessing candidate progress (ER: Assessment Task Force minutes, 2001-2002). Members of the Task Force continued this work with the Evaluation Committee during the 2002-2003 academic year (ER: Evaluation Committee minutes, 2002-2003). Throughout this work, the faculty college committees worked closely with program representatives regarding their assessment beliefs and values (ER: Assessment Representatives meeting minutes, February, March, April, May, and June, 2003). This participatory process has been essential to building an authentic assessment system that honors the diverse ways of knowing represented among NCE faculty and candidates alike, a strong value within our professional community.

As we continue to implement and refine the NCE Assessment System, a significant future goal is to explore critical questions about professional learning. Given the size and the diversity of NCE’s programs, we are in a unique position to help identify the learning processes that promote high quality performances among candidates that in turn lead to improved learning for all students. Through these efforts, we hope to contribute constructively to policy debates about the preparation of educational professionals in more informed ways. We believe that we are on a trajectory, moving from candidate evaluation, to program evaluation, to college evaluation, to constructive policy evaluation. We know that careful system building is the only way to produce solid change across all levels.