Join the Academic Audit Research SIG

May 27th, 2009

Join the Academic Audit Research in Teacher Education Special Interest Group (SIG) at AERA to learn from colleagues about their research and findings related to the academic audit process associated with TEAC or NCATE accreditation or from state reviews. The first paper session of the Academic Audit Research in Teacher Education SIG was held on April 14 at the 2009 AERA Annual Meeting in San Diego.

The paper presentations at the first session of the Academic Audit Research in Teacher Education SIG covered a range of evaluative data, including the collection of pupil-level data, classroom observation data of pre-service teachers, and the collection and survey data from first-year teachers. The presentations represented a wide geographic range and research drawn from all three types of academic audit: TEAC, NCATE, and state review.

James Carroll from the University of Portland presented a student developed with colleagues Jacqueline Waggoner and Bruce Weitzel that analyzed student gain scores developed with the teacher work sample (TWS) methodology. Student gains were examined in relation to a number of student variables including grade level, content area, and ethnicity.

Vicki Cohen, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Joan Shields, St. Peter’s College, presented a pilot study using a state standards-based observation tool designed for use with pre-service teachers that was developed with colleagues Marlene Rosenbaum, Fairleigh Dickinson University; Heather Dunham, Centenary College; Linda Patriarca, Eastern Carolina University; and Christopher Campisano, New Jersey Department of Education. The presentation focused on the development of protocols and term definitions in order to address the validity and reliability of the instrument.

Misilina Sato, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, presented a paper developed with Mary Bents, Jane Gilles, Benjamin Jacobs, Taeho Jung, with Maia Sheppard, Daria Paul Dona, and Michael Miller from Minnesota State University-Mankato, and Linda Distad from the College of Saint Catherine, who worked together through a Minnesota consortium created to investigate their individual and collective program quality through a cooperative program auditing process. Their study used a survey instrument of first year teachers based upon the Minnesota Standards of Effective Practice for teachers and designed to measure elements of program effectiveness form a survey of first year teachers from the institutions.

Michael Strong from the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, presented an experimental student that used short video segments to examine the ability of different types of “experts” to distinguish between two levels of teacher effectiveness as defined by their historical ability to raise student test scores. Results showed considerable levels of agreement among judges, but their ability to identify teachers of high or low effectiveness was no better than chance. Interviews with judges showed that they relied on four kinds of criteria to make judgments: student engagement, teaching strategies, teacher characteristics, and subject matter knowledge. Dr. Strong also served as a discussant for the session papers.