LANDER UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS SUMMARY—1999

 Introduction

Lander's procedures for assessment and planning are rooted in the University's mission and are broad based, with participation from all constituencies of the faculty and staff.  Each unit establishes its assessment measures to evaluate the achievement of program goals that are consistent with institutional goals derived from the University's mission statement.  Because the faculty and staff of the University are very unified in their dedication to its mission, they welcome the opportunities provided by the assessment program to improve services to the students and to the people of the region. 

In 1999, components reported by Lander University are Majors or Concentrations and Library Resources and Service.  Academic Advising, which was last reported in 1997, will be reported in 2000.  General Education and Procedures for Student Development were last reported in 1998, and they will be next reported in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

 Majors or Concentrations

During academic year 1998-99, majors in teacher education reported assessment findings through the CHE Program Review that was a part of the NCATE accreditation process.  Interim reports were submitted for Mass Communications and Theatre and for Interdisciplinary Studies.  Because of the phasing in of the CHE’s calendar for assessment reports based on the Program Review dates, the periods since these majors were last reported varies.  Whereas the teacher education programs were previously reported in 1994, assessment of the Interdisciplinary Studies major was reported in 1995.  Mass Communications and Theatre had just come into existence when it was last reported in 1993.  The chart below summarizes the assessment measures used by the majors under review.

Report of Assessment data from NCATE Institutional Report/Program Review

Lander University's School of Education offers baccalaureate programs in Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education and Special Education and collaborates with other academic units in offering Secondary/K-12 programs.  At the graduate level, an M.Ed. program in elementary education and an MAT program in secondary education with concentrations in art, English, and science are offered.  The assessment program for all teacher education programs is broad based and incorporates assessment of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes.   While different surveys and exams are used for initial certification and advanced programs, the overall structure of the assessment program is consistent across all teacher education areas.  The disciplinary content for the Secondary/K-12 programs is evaluated chiefly in conjunction with major program assessment, which is reported separately; however, the appropriateness of those programs for teacher education is validated through the PRAXIS II area examinations.

The primary means of monitoring the content knowledge of graduates from teacher education programs at Lander is the tracking of scores on professional examinations.  Although this information has been collected for years, the chart below includes results for only the past two years since scores on the PRAXIS II examination are reported for all students, whereas the old NTE scores were reported only for first time test takers.  While the size of the groups tested differed greatly for the two years, in most areas, the percentages of students passing the exam were consistent.

The only areas of concern were special education and the secondary area of social studies.   The School of Education faculty believe that the low scores in special education in 1997-98 resulted from problems not inherent in the program.  In fall 1997, the person responsible for upper division special education courses died unexpectedly, and his position could not be filled until fall 1998.  It was during this unstable period that students did not perform as well.  That the problem has been resolved is reflected in the improvement in 1998-99 scores. 

 On the other hand, in the case of social studies, the problems were deemed to be programmatic.  Both the history and the political science majors leading to teacher certification had been quite non-prescriptive so that adequate coverage of subject matter depended on the student's choice of courses.  Beginning with the 1997-98 catalog, all the 27 hours of political science required to complete the major leading to teacher certification are either specified courses or courses from distribution lists, whereas previously only nine of the thirty-six required hours in political science were designated courses.  In addition, the revised political science program requires eighteen hours of history survey courses, whereas only six hours had been required previously.   With the 1998-99 catalog, the history major leading to teacher certification was also revised to be more prescriptive.  Whereas the program previously required only one survey course, the revised program requires three--one from world history and two from United States history--, and nine of the program's remaining twenty-seven hours in history must be in non-U.S. history.

While the School of Education has conducted Alumni Surveys for many years, the survey form was substantially revised as a part of the NCATE process.  Alumni were surveyed using the old form in academic years 1993-94 and 1994-95 and using the new one in 1997-98.  The new survey was sent to 1995-97 graduates, and a parallel survey was sent to school administrators.  These surveys have consistently resulted in positive evaluations of the teacher education program by both graduates and administrators; however, they have also produced suggestions for improvement.

Graduates and administrators expressed remarkably similar views, agreeing in giving high ratings to Lander graduates' knowledge of subject matter, instructional strategies, professionalism, and ability to work well both collaboratively and individually.  They also agreed in identifying areas that needed improvement: classroom management and conflict resolution, use of tech­no­logy in the teaching/learning process, and ability to address the concerns of children with special needs. In addition the graduates suggested that practicum experiences should be strengthened.

The questionnaire allowed graduates to make comments, which were overwhelmingly positive.  Of the seventeen comments that were evaluative in nature, only three were negative.  On the other hand, fourteen graduates praised the program, with seven noting feeling particularly well prepared.  Three specifically noted the importance of their Lander experience with the ADEPT program. Graduates from the M.Ed. program also made primarily positive comments, with seven of the ten evaluative comments praising the program.  Two of the remaining comments expressed the minority opinion that the master's program was too theoretical rather than practical.

In addition to information from surveys, the School of Education also collects information about its program from ADEPT evaluations of student teachers.  While the primary purpose of the ADEPT evaluation is to assist the individual student in improving teaching practices, the faculty examine the evaluations in the aggregate to determine areas for improvement. In response to information derived from ADEPT observations of student teachers and from feedback from school administrators and alumni through both formal surveys and informal contacts, numerous program improvements have been made in recent years.  

The strongest area of concern in all the surveys was technology.  Improvements in this area have been made both before and since the 1998 survey.  Increases in available hardware and software have made technology more available to teacher education students, and a course in Microcomputer Applications in Education has been revised and placed at the sophomore level to provide earlier exposure to the use of computers in the classroom.  All undergraduate teacher certification students complete this course except those in a few secondary areas that provide a content-based technology course.  In addition, technology has been incorporated across the education curriculum. 

Some of the changes made in response to assessment data apply to all teacher certification programs, both those offered by the School of Education and the Secondary/K-12 programs.  The number of hours of clinical experience has been increased for all initial certification programs, with larger blocks of time given to fewer clinicals that are now independent courses rather than elements of methods courses.  In addition, all undergraduate teacher education students are now required to take a course dealing with special-needs students and must include a philosophy course in their general education programs.

Changes were made in the general education element of programs within the School of Education in order to emphasize cultural diversity.  The history requirement was increased to two courses—one in world history and one in United States history, and students are now required to fulfill the humanities requirement by taking one world literature course with non-western elements and one American literature course.  In addition to these changes, majors in early childhood, elementary and special education are required to take general education courses in both art and music, and their science courses are prescribed.

Changes in major programs offered by the School of Education made in response to assessment data include a new screening process for entering the program that includes a writing sample and an interview with a faculty panel; a general pedagogy course at the sophomore level which prepares students for specialized methods courses and allows redundant presentation of general information to be eliminated from the more specialized courses; and the addition of a communication course at the sophomore level.  In addition, the course in diagnosis and remediation of reading difficulties has been made a required rather than an optional course, and additional reading pedagogy has been integrated into special education courses. 

For secondary programs, the methods course has been increased from two to three hours, and admissions requirements have been changed to parallel those in other teacher education courses.  Upper and lower elementary emphases were added to improve the M.Ed. program, and a Montessori emphasis for both undergraduate and graduate students has been developed as a result of frequently expressed requests from teachers in the field.

Interim Reports of Major Program Assessment

Mass Communication and Theatre:

While the Mass Communication and Theatre major was required only to make an interim report this year, the report was made in conjunction with an application for accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), which was prepared in preparation for a March 1999 site visit.  As a part of their assessment program, the Mass Communication and Theatre faculty receive student/graduate feedback from exit interviews and alumni surveys, but they have also incorporated assessment interviewing into pre-registration meetings with majors.  They assess the quality of student work through capstone projects and post-production evaluations, including adjudication by external evaluators.

The exit questionnaire was administered to thirteen students from Fall 1997 through Fall 1998.  The students praised faculty experience and accessibility, class size, availability of hands-on experience, and preparation for careers.  They were particularly complimentary about two new courses: Media 403: Camera Techniques and Media 341: Advertisement and Public Relations, which had been created in response to earlier assessment results.  However, they also noted a need for more and better equipment and production facilities, and more frequent course offerings.  In response to these concerns, the program is being revised to allow more flexibility in selection of courses, the faculty are offering multiple sections of some core courses and have increased summer offerings of courses that fulfill major requirements, and the division has improved the facilities available to the major.  The addition of a full-time faculty member in journalism will allow courses to be offered more frequently and faculty time to be used more efficiently. A classroom that had previously been used as a greenroom has been remodeled into a black box performing space, a new editing board has been purchased, and the division is examining the feasibility of leasing new cameras.

Both the interviews and other assessment strategies have documented the success of the program.  Capstone projects have allowed students to demonstrate their mastery of all elements of production, and they have brought to light no curricular concerns; nor have student auditions, which allow faculty to document student growth throughout the program.  Outside evaluators, including guest artists and adjudicators for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF), have given the program positive feedback as well.  KC/ACTF honors have included student nominations for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition and the student design competitions.  At the state level, Lander students have been selected to represent South Carolina in the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) auditions.  Both formal and informal sources of feedback from graduates and from employers indicate satisfaction with the professional skills developed in the program.  In the last four years all graduates from the program have begun careers in radio, journalism, television, theatre, or public relations.  While the Mass Communication and Theatre faculty continue to seek ways to improve the program and to enhance graduates' marketability, they are well satisfied with the results of their assessment measures.

Interdisciplinary Studies:

The Interdisciplinary Studies program provides students with very specialized interests the opportunity to work with faculty sponsors in designing their own major programs of study from courses drawn from at least two disciplines.  Each student's program must be approved by faculty sponsors from the two curricular areas and by the Interdisciplinary Studies Advisory Committee in order for the student to be accepted as an Interdisciplinary Studies major.  The director of the Interdisciplinary Studies program is responsible for the administration of program assessment, and turnover in the position twice in the last four years has brought new perspectives to that endeavor.   Prior to 1996, assessment of the program focused on the students’ total university experience and gave more attention to general education than to the major.  Since the major program was distinct for each student, that approach was understandable; nevertheless, in 1996, the plan of assessment was redesigned to focus on the major program itself.  The present director, who assumed responsibility for the program in spring 1998 has continued the administration of that program; however, recognizing that the decentralized character of the program presents unique problems for assessment, he plans to ask the Interdisciplinary Studies Advisory Committee to evaluate and improve the assessment plan in fall 1999.  Since the current assessment program was in place only two and one-half years prior to this report, only limited data have been collected to date.  

In exit interviews, graduating seniors have been very positive about the program.  However, some students commented on the need for clearer guidelines about the program's capstone project (IDS 499), on confusion about the procedures for dealing with multiple advisors, and on the absence of contact among students in the program since IDS students do not have common coursework.  In response to these concerns, more detailed guidelines for IDS 499 have been developed and will be distributed in the fall to all IDS majors and their advisors, IDS work­shops will be conducted each semester to promote communication within the program regarding advising, and efforts are underway to unify majors by establishing peer networks.  Placement data for IDS graduates have been very positive.  Since students choose the IDS major because they have very specific educational and career goals, they tend to have specific career plans in place prior to graduation. Only one student from this reporting period was employed in a field unrelated to his IDS program.

Assessment data for Interdisciplinary Studies has been limited in part by the small number of graduates in the program, so several initiatives have been instituted to give the program a higher profile, particularly among transfer students.  Transfer agreements have been established with several technical colleges allowing smoother transitions for students who wish to pursue a baccalaureate degree focused on fields that are not offered as majors at Lander.  Frameworks have been designed for innovative and unique programs of study that allow students to use their technical college training in interdisciplinary majors.  Information specific to these frameworks has been distributed in the community, and the IDS director has held presentations at technical college campuses, at local industries, and for a regional business / education partnership.  Response to these