Claims
and evidence
As the program faculty members develop claims about their programs,
they must ask themselves critical questions about evidence: What
evidence do we have to support our claims? What quantitative or
qualitative evidence do we have that makes us confident that our
graduates are competent, caring, and qualified educators?
Kinds of evidence
Some claims merely assert, or question, the status of the graduates:
Do they know their subject matter? or Do they employ
technology? Claims like these can be supported with evidence
from the graduates alone and no other group needs to be examined.
Some claims assert a cause: The graduates know
how to use technology because the program requires six credit hours
of computer laboratories; or Does the academic major or
minor we require ensure understanding of the graduate’s teaching
subject? The evidence for claims of cause inevitably entails
the examination of a group that did not participate in some way
(e.g., did not take computer laboratories, did not take the major
or minor). The evidence for the claim would include a comparison
group.
Some claims may assert or question whether there
was any value added by the program: Did the students grow in
their understanding of technology over the course of the degree
program? Did their knowledge of the subject matter improve
over time? The answers to these kinds of questions require
comparisons of the group with itself over the course of the program.
Return to Claims and Rationale
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