CAEP* Annual Accountability Measures
The UA Little Rock Educator Preparation Programs annually report to the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation’s (CAEP) four annual reporting measures. These measures are used to provide information to the general public on our program outcomes and candidates’ and program completers’ impact on P-12 learning.
The following undergraduate initial licensure programs were reaccredited in 2017 by CAEP:
- BSE in Elementary Education
- BSE in Middle Childhood Education
- BSE in Special Education
- Undergraduate Minor in Education
The following graduate add-licensure programs were reaccredited in 2022 by CAEP:
- M.A. in Counselor Education
- MEd in Gifted & Talented Education
- MEd in Reading Education
- MEd in Special Education
The UA Little Rock EPP prepares our candidates for success not only in their licensure program but also in their P-12 classrooms after graduation. In this standard, we present evidence of our graduates’ impact on their P-12 students across the four facets of Standard 4: Impact on P-12 Student Learning and Development, Indicators of Teaching Effectiveness, Satisfaction of Employers and Satisfaction of Completers. Currently, value-added evidence is not collected by the Arkansas Department of Education nor do they provide individual student performance data linked to their individual teachers, preventing the EPP to directly link our completer teachers to their students’ performance. Below are the four CAEP measures and links to supporting evidence for each measure.
*The School of Education officially ended its membership with CAEP in May 2023 and will begin aligning its annual accountability measures with the Arkansas Department of Education’s new educator preparation program approval system beginning Fall 2023.
Measure 1: Completer Impact on P-12 Student Learning and Development (Component 4.1)
In 2021, the UA Little Rock School of Education received a $100k ForwARd Arkansas grant to initially begin transforming our initial licensure programs in elementary education and middle grades education. Within this work, the School of Education is currently working with Little Rock School District to design a shared-governance model from which data on P-12 student learning and development will be gathered each semester as a part of our new partnership. Data collected quarterly as a result of the shared governance model will provide the EPP with ongoing information about the quality of our coursework, the quality of mentoring, and the completer impact on P-12 learning during the first three years of their teaching. We anticipate starting to collect this data in Spring 2023.
In addition, the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education began providing data from ADE’s Annual Arkansas Educator Preparation Provider Quality Report (EPPQR) for 2018-2021 as evidence of completer impact on student learning and development. In these reports, survey data are provided of our completers’ perceptions, and their school-based supervisors’ perceptions, of the success of their preparation based on the four domains of the Teacher Effectiveness Support System (TESS), which in turn, is based on Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. The EPP’s aggregated means for each item are compared to the state EPP aggregated averages. Beginning in 2019, Novice Teacher Supervisor Survey Data – Perceptions of Preparation (Section D) represents our closest measure of impact on student learning. UA Little Rock students have earned scores of 3.0 and above meeting ADE’s standard for meeting TESS standards each of the past three years as rated by their mentor teachers. (4 pt. Likert scale)
EPPQR 2018, EPPQR 2019, EPPQR 2020, EPPQR 2021
Measure 2: Completer Effectiveness (Component 4.2)
The EPP demonstrates candidate growth and program completer effectiveness based on performances on key assessments that are aligned to the Arkansas Standards, based on InTASC, as well as program SPA standards. In addition, all candidates must pass state required standardized exams to be recommended for licensure, which have changed for many programs across recent years. At UA Little Rock, the policy that program completers would not be required to pass their licensure exams in order to successfully complete their degree was instituted in Fall 2020. As a result, it has been more difficult for us to track licensure test data once program completers have matriculated. Despite this challenge, the ADE EPPQR reports provide evidence from that our EPP completers’ licensure exam pass rates compare favorably to the overall state completer pass rates as revealed in the most recent EPPQRs below.
EPPQR 2018, EPPQR 2019, EPPQR 2020, EPPQR 2021
Data from previous employer stakeholder meetings as well as informal conversations with employers suggest that administrators from central Arkansas school districts’ prefer to hire our candidates upon completion of clinical teaching due to the high levels of employer satisfaction of candidate performance, quality, and efficacy in their classrooms. Data from ADE’s Annual Arkansas Educator Preparation Provider Quality Report (EPPQR) for 2018-2020 provide evidence of completer effectiveness. In these reports, survey data are provided of our completers’ school-based supervisors’ perceptions, of the success of their preparation based on the four domains of the Teacher Effectiveness Support System (TESS), which in turn, is based on Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (https://danielsongroup.org/what-we-do/framework-teaching-0). The EPP’s aggregated means for each item are compared to the state EPP aggregated averages. Beginning in 2019, Novice Teacher Supervisor Survey Data – Perceptions of Preparation (Section D) also reflects completer effectiveness. UA Little Rock students have earned scores of 3.0 and above meeting ADE’s standard for meeting TESS standards each of the past three years.
EPPQR 2018, EPPQR 2019, EPPQR 2020, EPPQR 2021
Measure 3: Employer Satisfaction (Component 4.3 | A.4.1)
In 2019, the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education started collecting initial licensure novice teacher supervisor data on the quality of our interns using the four TESS domains. In 2021, UA Little Rock interns (n=27) mean across the 22 subdomains was 3.18*, which was slightly above the state’s mean of 3.16 (n=570). Alternative route interns out-performed the traditionally prepared interns with means of 3.39 and 3.00 respectively. The EPP’s aggregated means for each item are compared to the state EPP aggregated averages, and, in general, it appears that supervising teachers in which our completer novice teachers are placed, are satisfied with our completers’ preparation and performance. *(4 pt. Likert scale with 4 = highly effective, 3 = effective, 2 = processing, & 1 = ineffective).
At the Advanced Level, the EPP created a new graduate employer survey and distributed it to school principals and building coordinators at which our graduates were employed. Only 10 employers responded, representing a 42% return rate and representing programs in School Counseling, Gifted and Talented, and Special Education. Comprised of 11 statements, eight address CAEP competencies in A.1.1. and three address the QAS. Overall, employers evaluated the unit’s success on CAEP competencies with a mean of 3.84 (4 pt. Likert scale) across the 11 statements with a range of 3.6 to 3.9.
Measure 4: Completer Satisfaction (Component 4.4 | A.4.2)
To allow for further comparison across the standard, completers of the EPP were identified and contacted to complete a survey regarding their preparation from Spring 2018 to Fall 2019. This survey inquires as to whether their preparation helped prepare them for their current teaching situation.
Completer Survey Data Summary, Spring 2018
Completer Survey Data Summary, Fall 2018
Completer Survey Data Summary, Spring 2019
Completer Survey Data Summary, Fall 2019
In addition, the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education began providing data from ADE’s Annual Arkansas Educator Preparation Provider Quality Report (EPPQR) for 2018-2021 as evidence of completer impact on student learning and development. In these reports, survey data are provided of our completers’ perceptions, and their school-based supervisors’ perceptions, of the success of their preparation based on the four domains of the Teacher Effectiveness Support System (TESS), which in turn, is based on Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (https://danielsongroup.org/what-we-do/framework-teaching-0). The EPP’s aggregated means for each item are compared to the state EPP aggregated averages. The Novice Teacher Survey results reveal that UA Little Rock interns rated their knowledge and application of TESS well above the state standard with score at or above 3.2 each of the past three years. (4 pt. Likert scale)
At the Advanced Level, the EPP created a new graduate completer survey and distributed it to 129 program completers since 2017 across all programs in early July followed by additional emails and telephone calls. Emails were sent three times, providing us with 24 program completer (7 CNSL, 7 GATE, 8 READ, 2 SPED) surveys representing roughly 20% of the total completers. With regard to type of program, 54.2% completed MEd programs, 20.8% completed MEd + embedded graduate certificates, and 25% completed graduate certificate programs only.
Comprised of 12 statements, nine address CAEP competencies in A.1.1. and A.1.2. and three address the QAS. Overall, program completers evaluated the unit’s success on CAEP competencies with a mean of 3.82 across the 12 statements with a range of 3.75 to 3.91. The overall means for Counseling, Gifted & Talented, Reading, and Special Education graduate education programs across the 12 statements were 3.83, 3.88, 3.85, and 3.5% respectively. *(4 pt. Likert scale)
EPPQR 2018, EPPQR 2019, EPPQR 2020, EPPQR 2021
Analysis and Summary of Impact Measures (Component 4.1-4.4)
The EPP triangulated data using multiple data sources to attempt to determine the impact of our candidates and completers upon student learning and development. Our data suggests that our completers were prepared to have a positive impact on their students in their initial years of service. Their employers also appear to be satisfied with our completers’ performance in the classroom. Finally, our completers appear to be satisfied with their preparation. Further, we also have developed a plan that we hope will provide better data on student impact in the future that could better inform the development of our programs. Our goal is to develop a quality control system that will allow us to better prepare our candidates to positively impact their students’ learning and development. To maintain continuous positive impact upon their P-12 students in their classrooms today and the field of education in general, our candidates and completers must be both successful and dedicated to remain in the classrooms of tomorrow to fully impact students.
Measures on Program Outcomes & Consumer Information
Measure 5: Graduation Rates (Initial & Advanced levels)
Please go to https://ualr.edu/institutionalresearch/ipeds-data to see the UA Little Rock Graduation Rate Data for each academic year from 2004-5 to 2016-17 and the Graduation Rate 200 Data for each academic year from 2008-09 to the present.
Measure 6: Ability of Completers to Meet Licensing Requirements (Title II)
Please see the attached UA Little Rock Title II reports for both the Traditional Licensure (undergraduate) and Alternative Licensure (graduate) Programs, as evidence of the ability of our completers to meet licensing requirements.
Title II Program Report Alternate 2018-19
Title II Program Report Traditional 2018-19
Title II Program Report Alternate 2019-2020
Title II Program Report Traditional 2019-20
Measure 7: Ability of Completers to Be Hires in Education Positions for Which They Have Been Prepared
Please see the attached Arkansas Department of Education’s Educator Preparation Provider Reports for UA Little Rock for the 2014-most current available academic years as evidence of the ability of our completers to be hired in the state of Arkansas in educational positions for which they were prepared.
EPPQR 2018, EPPQR 2019, EPPQR 2020, EPPQR 2021
Measure 8: Student Loan Default Rates and Other Consumer Information
UA Little Rock Financial Aid data and other consumer information for the past three academic years can be found at the IES NCES website. From 2016 to 2018 our average student loan default rate has averaged 8.1%.
