The College of Education and Human Development includes five initial licensure programs (Early Childhood, B.A., M.A., and Post-Bac Certificate; Elementary, B.A.; and Special Education, M.A.), two advanced endorsements (Educational Administration, Principal Leadership, M.A. and Interdisciplinary Leadership - Superintendent, Ed.D.), and one school support personnel licensure program (School Psychology, Ed.S.) accredited by the Counsel for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). This accreditation extends to initial licensure programs in secondary education (English, B.A., Post-Bac Certificate; Biology, B.S., Post-Bac Certificate; Chemistry, B.S., Post-Bac Certificate; Mathematics, B.A., M.A., Post-Bac Certificate; Social Science, B.A., Post-Bac Certificate) housed in the College of Arts and Sciences. This seal of approval identifies quality in educator preparation founded in evidence-based analysis and continuous improvement.
CAEP recognizes the existing accreditations for School Counselor licensure program in Counseling (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, CACREP) in the College of Education and Human Development, and School Social Work (Council on Social Work Education, CSWE) and Communications Disorders Speech Language Pathology (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA) in the College of Health and Human Services. Maintaining accreditation requires a self-study report and site visit on a seven-year cycle. The next CAEP Self-Study Report will be submitted in July 2024 with a site visit in April 2025.
All initial, advanced, endorsement, and school support personnel licensure programs track, measure, and analyze data gathered with rubrics and forms in Student Learning and Licensure (SLL). Programs' assessments are aligned to Illinois Administrative Code licensure requirements and CAEP standards (impact on student learning, completer and employer satisfaction, partnerships with stakeholders, dispositions). CEHD programs accredited by CAEP also align assessments to their national professional association standards:
- • Early Childhood - National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators
- • Elementary - Counsel for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP)
- • Special Education - Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)'s Professional Preparation Standards
- • Principal - National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Program Recognition Standards
- • School Psychology - National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
On a consistent basis, further disaggregation by race and ethnicity and other measures provides the capability to identify achievement gaps and necessary supports for CEHD students seeking educator licensure. For example, the CAEP Standard 1 requires initial licensure assessment based on the ten Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standards. The CAEP InTASC Progressions Chart designed by the assessment coordinator captures early, mid, and final program data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with percentages of students meeting the InTASC standards. Beyond the early, mid, and final points, candidates' progression through their licensure programs include regular dispositions assessments, grades checks, and approval for clinicals by advisors, program coordinators, and the office of educator preparation, accreditation, and assessment.
Monthly meetings of the Educator Preparation Provider Unit are used to disseminate legislative updates to coordinators of all licensure, endorsement, and school support personnel programs housed in three different colleges. This time is used to analyze licensure exam data and identify necessary curriculum changes responsive to new legislation. Each monthly meeting of the Division of Education and Leadership includes discussion to address areas such as trends in disaggregated licensure testing data, field experience and clinical observation instruments, disposition metrics, and stakeholder feedback. Additionally, individual program coordinators meet monthly with all faculty within the program to further investigate data findings, update curriculum, and discuss students' progress.
Other programs in the College of Education and Human Development follow a similarly rigorous process of reviewing student learning outcomes. With student learning outcomes aligned to program rubrics in Student Learning and Licensure, a standards report provides detailed data about students' performance measured against expectations at early, mid, and final courses in the program. Overlap in courses and faculty among licensure and non-licensure programs in Division of Psychology and Counseling provide opportunities for faculty to be well-versed in assessment with the support of Center for Teaching and Learning Watermark Assessment Resources and the office of educator preparation, accreditation, and assessment.
Regular reports identify the end of an assessment cycle. Annual reports are submitted to CAEP, federal, and state agencies each spring. Additionally, all degree programs measure student learning outcomes using program rubrics with annual internal departmental reports. The Governors State University Academic Program Review Committee requires cyclical submissions of all degree and certificate programs. New programs and programs identified for priority review (low enrollment or other criteria) submit reports after three years of implementation. All other programs submit five-year reports. This internal review ensures program coordinators and faculty are regularly assessing program performance on metrics beyond students' mastery of learning outcomes, including alignment to the university mission and vision, comparison to programs at other institutions, analysis of program costs, and consistent program improvement.