Element 1B: Content Knowledge for Other School Personnel
Four of the unit's programs prepare school personnel other than teachers:  Communication Sciences and Disorders, Educational Leadership and Technology, Literacy Education, and School Psychology.  These are considered advanced programs in that they require specialized knowledge that is beyond classroom instruction.  As with the initial programs, they have been or will be reviewed by the relevant Specialized Professional Association (SPA) and have incorporated the NCATE standards with the Conceptual Framework (see Exhibit S1-1). The advanced programs have important principles and concepts of the content fields sequentially addressed, assessed using a variety of measures/indicators at each of the developmental transition points after candidates have completed the prescribed sequence of courses or experiences.  It should be pointed out that almost all of the Communication Sciences and Disorders candidates also pursue certification as speech teachers and therefore follow many of the programmatic and testing requirements of the initial programs.

All of the unit's advanced programs assess candidates' content knowledge as part of their admissions process, weighing several factors: minimum GPA requirements, writing samples, interviews, and, in some cases, Graduate Record Examination scores and prerequisite graduate degrees.  Rubrics have been established by three of the advanced programs for faculty reviewing these applications based on the criteria for admission.  The rubrics for the writing samples are aligned with the elements of the Conceptual Framework—particularly scholarship, reflective activity, and creativity.  The rubrics for the advanced programs, as well as sample completed applications to the four programs, are available for review (Exhibit S1-18). Exhibit G-4 provides the GPA requirements and average GPA's of applicants for the advanced programs


Tests for Licensure
The Literacy Program follows the initial programs in that candidates taking the NYSTCE Liberal Arts, Content Specialized, and Teaching skills tests for licensure.  Communication Sciences and Disorders faculty uses the PRAXIS II test (although candidates pursuing the speech teacher certification also take the LAST and ATS-W State tests).  School Psychology does, as well, but voluntarily for their own purposes of evaluating candidates' progress.  And, as of this writing, the Educational Leadership and Technology has no licensing exam in New York State, although one has been piloted for use in 2007.  However, some of these candidates take the NYSTCE tests to be certified as teachers as well as administrators.  Table 1-1 offers the pass rates on the LAST for all programs as reported by New York State.  The pass rate for all candidates taking the test (including those in the advanced programs) is in line with the State pass rate overall: 99 percent.


Program Reviews:  New York State/Specialized Professional Associations
As reflected in Table 1-2, all of the advanced programs have received approval by the New York State Education Department (NYSED).  Of the four advanced programs in the unit, three have been awarded national recognition by the respective SPA.  One is scheduled to submit its SPA report in 2008.  The applications of the programs to NYSED for approval and notification of approval for the advanced programs are available as Exhibit S1-5.  The reports to the respective SPA and notification of SPA status by advanced program are available in the SPA books in the Exhibit Room and, again, collectively as Exhibits S1-6.  The program review documents show that the advanced programs are offering excellent coverage of content knowledge for their candidates.


Data from Key Measures/Assignments—Advanced Programs
All of the advanced programs have identified key benchmark assignments housed in courses taken by all candidates.  These assignments range from research, to case studies, to projects. These programs introduced portfolio assessment to their candidates in 2004 as part of their assessment plans, reviewed in Standard 2 of this repot. These portfolios are assessed to move candidates through the program as well as to assess academic coursework.  Candidates in advanced programs are reviewed via their performance on benchmark assignments—typically in methods and field-based courses (prior to the Synthesis transition point).  These assignments tend to reflect the types of tools and protocols used in authentic settings by these respective professions—from curriculum and technology plans to testing and diagnosis of candidates' abilities.  Rubrics used in these assignments reflect the standards and the Conceptual Framework; all of them address content knowledge explicitly involving scholarship, reflection, and/or creativity.

Data from the content knowledge rubric scores for the advanced programs is given in Table 1-3 (and the 2004-2005 benchmark data is offered in Exhibit S1-7).  Unlike the initial programs, the percentage of candidates in the advanced programs receiving "Distinguished" or "Proficient" marks slightly decreased from 88 percent at the "Exploration" transition point to 84 percent at "Synthesis" (the same trend in 2004-2005).  There may a range of reasons for this finding, but it is important to note that the nature of the curricula in the advanced programs differ from the initial programs in the development of content knowledge over the transition points (as will be discussed in Standard 2).  Changes in content knowledge proficiency would be less meaningful between Exploration and Synthesis.

The field experiences, practica, and internships also provide critical opportunities for unit faculty and field-based supervisory personnel to evaluate candidates' demonstrations of appropriate content knowledge in the advanced programs through written reports, case studies, and observations.  Literacy education and leadership candidates who possess an initial certification do not have to complete a full student teaching program but, instead, a practicum or internship demonstrating effectiveness with a new certification area. School psychology candidates complete a full internship.  Communication disorders candidates are not required to have a student teaching experience but most elect to seek certification as speech teachers.  There are selected elements of the Pathwise rubric (addressed in Standard 1-D) that assess content knowledge of advanced program candidates during their internships/student teaching.  However, some initial data collection from the rubric during 2005-2006 (see Exhibit S1-8) revealed that the advanced program candidates are also awarded "Distinguished" levels of knowledge at inordinately high requiring review by the faculty of the rubric during 2006-2007.

Course evaluations provide an important source of data with regard to advanced program candidates' reported gains in content knowledge.  Exhibit S1-11 shows a similar trend for courses in the advanced programs as in the initial programs:  faculty knowledge is seen as a relative strength while candidates would benefit from more instructional support for their writing in the courses. Table 1-5 presents average ratings on the additional questions for three of the four advanced programs; the question addressing the Conceptual Framework yielded an average rating of 1.4 to 2.6.   As with the initial programs, greater emphasis is being placed on faculty coverage of the Conceptual Framework in the advanced program courses as a result of these data findings.

Exhibit S1-12 summarizes the grade point averages of candidates for the advanced programs by transition point for Fall 2004 to Spring 2006.  For all but two of the programs, the grades increased from the Exploration to the Reflection transition point.  As discussed with the initial programs, the unit's faculty has been increasingly effective at intervening with candidates who should be dropped from the program, contributing to increased GPA's. 

Content knowledge is also evaluated through an exit survey of the advanced program candidates.  Review of the program-based survey results in the data books (and collectively in Exhibit S1-14) shows a similar trend in content knowledge to what is depicted in Table 1-6.  The alumni survey results are given in S1-17; the employer survey results given in Table 1-7. These surveys showed that graduates responded very favorably to the unit's Conceptual Foundation and the emphasis on multiculturalism;  employers of the unit's graduates (no distinction was made between initial and advanced programs) reported a very high level of satisfaction with their content knowledge.


Notable Examples of Data-Informed Program Improvement
Because of these and other data findings, three of the advanced programs' faculty have implemented a system of "course coordinators" to strengthen content knowledge of candidates.  In addition, the Educational Leadership and Technology program faculty has increased the inclusion of New York State standards' content in courses that address instructional leadership.