Element One: Content Knowledge for Teacher Candidates

The school is aware that all candidates must have rich expertise within their chosen discipline. The importance of this is addressed in the Principles of Teacher Education. Candidates demonstrate that they have in-depth knowledge of the content that they plan to teach in the following ways:

Elementary candidates must develop a solid understanding of the range of disciplines taught in the elementary grades. In conjunction with Arts and Science faculty, the school has redesigned the general education component of the elementary program. General education courses have been aligned with the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning, the undergraduate general education guiding principles adopted by the university. There is a focus on building skills in written and oral communication, information technology, inquiry, science, literature, quantitative reasoning, and both global and democratic perspectives.

As a result of this effort, some freshman level courses have been linked and offered for education majors as Education Learning Communities. Students are encouraged to complete a program of general education by enrolling in these course clusters or learning communities designated for Education majors whenever they are available. In particular, students are urged to follow the general education template for the first 30 credit hours of their program. The sequence has been planned to provide a strong foundation and to build connections between the individual courses. In addition, the School of Education and School of Science faculty are working with practicing teachers to design integrated courses for elementary majors with a focus of preparing candidates to teach science in the elementary schools. This work has been supported by the 21^st Century Teachers Project Initiative (see Final Reports: English, Social Studies, Math, and Science).

Elementary candidates entering the university starting Fall 2002 will be required to complete a concentration as part of their program. This affords candidates an opportunity to investigate a given discipline in greater depth. The concentration is intended to be responsive to the interests and talents of individual students and to the public expectation that all teachers will have some area of particular expertise. Candidates may select from African- American Studies, Art, Creative Writing, English as a New Language, Foreign Language Studies, Geography, History, Literature, Mathematics, Movement & Dance, Music, Philosophy, Political Science/Government, Science or Theatre.

Secondary and All-grade candidates must complete from 36-52 credit hours of content areas courses in their major discipline area. Faculty members in the content area departments teach these courses. Candidates must have a GPA of 2.5 or higher in their major area in order to be eligible for admission to the Teacher Education Program (see TEP checklist). They must maintain this GPA of 2.5 or higher in order to be eligible to student teach and graduate.

All candidates entering the Teacher Education Program at Indianapolis must have an overall GPA of 2.5 in their general education coursework. Since spring 2001, all candidates admitted to the Teacher Education Programs have averaged an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher (see Admission to TEP Data).

The Indiana Professional Standards Board requires that all candidates take and pass the PRAXIS I test prior to licensure. Starting Fall 2000, the School of Education at Indianapolis adopted these same cut-off scores for admission into their teacher education programs (see Title II Report 1999-2000 and Title II Report 2000-2001).

Elementary candidates must complete prerequisites with a grade of "C" or higher in English, communications, educational technology, science, mathematic, history and music. They must also maintain a "C" or higher average in language arts, science, social studies and mathematics in order to be eligible for admission to the program. Candidates also must maintain a "C" or higher average in these areas to be eligible for student teaching and graduation. Secondary and all-grade candidates must complete pre-requisites in English, communications and educational technology.

All candidates are required to pass their appropriate PRAXIS II test(s) toward the end of their program (see Title II Report 1999-2000 and Title II Report 2000-2001). Students requesting admission to the Transition to Teaching Programs must receive a passing score on the appropriate PRAXIS II test(s) to be eligible for admission.

The school's Benchmark II is a performance task designed using Grant Wiggins' "Understanding by Design" framework. Feedback from the assessment of the Benchmark provides data as to the candidate's understanding of the content area addressed in the assessment. More details can be found under Standard 2 (see Elementary Benchmark II and Secondary Benchmark II).

Benchmark III is a more elaborate performance task modeled after the Initial Teacher Induction Portfolio designed by the Indiana Professional Standards Board. This benchmark requires the candidates to develop a portfolio with several components including a video of their teaching and a reflection about what the video shows. The content area knowledge of the candidates is addressed in the rubrics used to assess the portfolio.

Candidate content knowledge is assessed as they teach. During early field experiences and student teaching candidates must demonstrate their content knowledge. Student teaching evaluations and aggregated data from the student teaching progressive logs (Domain 1a) provide evidence of the content area knowledge of candidates (see Student Teaching Framework).

The school and other stakeholders have been involved in the mapping of content courses to state and professional organization standards. The Arts and Science faculty were introduced to the Indiana P-12 Academic Standards which they then used as guides when working with the unit in the re-designing of the content and general education portions of the teacher education programs (see Content Map Directory).

The school used the Student Teacher Survey during the spring 2002 semester to collect data from candidates concerning the teaching skills they had acquired through their teacher education program (see Student Teacher Follow Up Results Spring 2002). Items on this survey address the candidate's perceptions of their ability to make subject matter meaningful to students. The Student Teaching Mentor Survey, also completed during the spring 2002 semester, obtains similar data from the perspective of the student teaching mentor teacher (see Cooperating Teacher Data Spring 2002). A similar survey was sent to principals of schools where graduates of the Indianapolis programs were employed for their first teaching position (see Employer Survey Data).

Samples of work that documents candidates' ability to demonstrate their knowledge through inquiry, critical analysis and synthesis of the subject will be provided in the document room.

Element Two: Content Knowledge for Advanced Teacher Candidates

Candidates in advanced level programs must demonstrate a solid base of content knowledge for admission to the program.

Applicants must submit a complete application file including transcripts, letters of recommendation, GRE scores, and for students whose first language is not English, TOEFL scores. Letters of recommendation from professors or instructors who know the applicant's academic and intellectual skills are preferred. A baccalaureate degree from a college or university holding full regional or national accreditation is required for admission to all advanced programs. The minimum acceptable undergraduate GPA of 2.5 or higher is required of all advanced licensure programs. All licensure programs require that candidates maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 in graduate course work.

The school piloted a portfolio in L500 for advanced master's programs during the Spring 2002 semester. Candidates were asked to document their growth in each area defined by the five NBPTS core propositions for their portfolio. They had to provide specific examples of how their thinking has changed as a result of their work in the course and address how their teaching had improved. Artifacts that demonstrate some of the new things they and their students were doing, along with a description of the context for each artifact, were required.

A survey of candidates completing advanced programs was piloted during the Spring 2002 semester. Feedback from this survey will be used to re-design the instrument before use during the 2002-2003 academic year. Question 1 specifically addresses content knowledge.

Element Two: Content Knowledge for Other Professional School Personnel (Advanced Only)

The school offers programs that prepare principals, school counselors, and school social workers through graduate programs. Educational Leadership and School Counseling are core-campus programs.

Applicants must submit a complete application file including transcripts, letters of recommendations, GRE scores, and, for students whose first language is not English, TOEFL scores. A baccalaureate degree from a college or university holding full regional or national accreditation is required for admission to all advanced programs. The minimum acceptable undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher is required of all these programs. Candidates maintain a minimum GPA of 3.30 in graduate course work. Letters of recommendation from professors or instructors who know the applicant's academic and intellectual skills are preferred.

Applicants for the Educational Leadership Program must have at least two years of experience as a licensed teacher upon entering the program and five years by the time they have completed the program.

The core campus School Counseling Program is nationally accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and the School Social Work Program is nationally accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

Element Three: Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teacher Candidates

The need for candidates to possess pedagogical content knowledge is woven throughout the first four principles of the Principles of Teacher Education. Candidates must be able to design and implement instruction that facilitates students' conceptual understanding of the content.

Candidates in the elementary programs are required to take courses that address the pedagogical content knowledge in literacy (EDUC E340: Reading Methods I and EDUC E341: Reading Methods II), mathematics (EDUC E343: Math Methods), science (EDUC E328, social studies (EDUC E325) and the arts (EDUC M324: Teaching About the Arts) (see Teacher Education Program Checklist). In addition, a new 6-hour integrated literacy and mathematics course (EDUC E345: Literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood) has been added to the program starting Fall 2002 as a result of aggregated data from the Benchmark II pilot.

The school developed the Principles of Teacher Education as the overriding conceptual framework for its programs. These principles have driven the designed of the curriculum and assessments for the programs. The school has also mapped these principles to the INTASC standards, IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning and IPSB content and developmental standards to ensure programs that are standards-based and performance driven and that pedagogical content knowledge is addressed.

All secondary and all-grade candidates must take a special methods course as part of their blocking sequence. This course addresses the specific pedagogical content knowledge for their teaching area. A grade of "C" or higher must be achieved in this course before the candidate can move forward in the program.

Benchmark II is a performance task that asks candidates to demonstrate their ability to assess the prior knowledge of a student in relationship to a specific concept or standard. The candidates select a provocative task or question and interview a student about a particular mathematical concept or a content area standard and write an analysis of the student's understanding (see Elementary Benchmark II and Secondary Benchmark II). The candidates also reflect on their own performance as an interviewer and assessor.

Benchmark III is a more elaborate performance task modeled after the Initial Teacher Induction Portfolio designed by the Indiana Professional Standards Board. This benchmark requires the candidates to develop a portfolio with several components including a video of their teaching, an analysis of student learning, and a self-assessment of their teaching performance.

Throughout the student teaching experience, candidates and mentor teachers used the Student Teaching Framework to guide and establish expectations for the experience. Midway through the experience, the mentor teacher is asked to evaluate the student teacher on each of the elements. Levels 2 and 3 are held as the target levels for a student teacher. Level 4 is provided as a reference for planning future professional growth as the candidates enter the teaching profession. Aggregated data from completed logs have provided evidence of the content pedagogical knowledge under the element of Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy.

Candidates receive formative feedback from their mentor teachers during the student teaching at the midpoint of the experience. The student teacher and mentor teacher each independently complete a Midterm Goal Form. They then meet and discuss the goals each has selected and then collaboratively develop goals for the remainder of the experience. This provides feedback to the student teachers about their curriculum content and planning, instruction and assessment. The Midterm Goal is competed for each of the 8-week experiences.

At the end of each student teaching experience, mentor teachers complete a Student Teaching Final Profile that provides supportive and elaborative comments addressing the student teacher's strengths, areas needing improvement, and growth patterns during the experience.

Data from the student teachers, mentor teachers, and first-year employers have been collected via surveys during the Spring 2002 semester. Each survey specifically addresses pedagogical content knowledge in the first item.

Each candidate completing the elementary program must take the PRAXIS II: Elementary Education: Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Test. The unit's pass rates on this test have ranged from 98-100% (see Title II Report 1999-2000 and Title II Report 2000-2001).

Prior to entering the Teacher Education Program, candidates must take and pass with a grade of "C" or higher W200: Using Computers in Education. This course gives candidates an opportunity to have hands-on experiences with educational software utility packages and commonly used microcomputer hardware. The candidates are also required to use their computer skills throughout the program. Sample of electronic projects will be available in the documents room.

Element Three: Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Advanced Teacher Candidates

Candidates entering an advanced teacher education program must have completed a baccalaureate teaching degree and hold, or be eligible for, a teaching license. Applicants must submit a complete application file including transcripts, letters of recommendations, GRE scores, and for students whose first language is not English, TOEFL scores. The minimum acceptable undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher is required of all these programs. Candidates maintain a minimum GPA of 3.30 in graduate course work. Letters of recommendation from professors or instructors who know the applicant's academic and intellectual skills are preferred.

The unit piloted a portfolio in L500 for advanced master's programs during the Spring 2002 semester. Candidates were asked to document their growth in each area defined by the five NBPTS core propositions for their portfolio. They had to provide specific examples of how their thinking has changed as a result of their work in the course and address how their teaching had improved. Artifacts that demonstrate some of the new activities they and their students were doing along with a description of the context for each artifact were required.

A survey of candidates completing advanced programs was piloted during the spring 2002 semester. Feedback from this survey will be used to re-design the instrument before use during the 2002-2003 academic year. Question 4 specifically addresses content knowledge.

Element Four: Professional and Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills for Teacher Candidates

The Principles of Teacher Education embody the school's dedication to preparing candidates with professional and pedagogical knowledge and skills. The school strives to prepare candidates who have the ability to draw on their knowledge and frameworks to plan, implement, and assess effective learning experiences and to develop supportive social and physical contexts for learning (Principle 3).

"Learning to Teach/Teaching to Learn" is a carefully articulated program of study where courses are taken in blocks and in a prescribed order (see Elementary Teacher Education Program Overview). The courses develop the knowledge, dispositions, and skills required for entry into the profession. Some courses focus on knowledge, dispositions, and skills that underlie all teacher education programs. Other courses and field experience focus on what it takes to promote effective teaching and learning at a particular developmental level or in a particular school setting. Block I of the teacher education programs is an introduction to the profession of teaching and challenges candidates to re-examine their beliefs and assumptions about learning and teaching (see M320 Syllabus Spring 2002). Given exposure to constructivist learning activities and inquiry, the candidates reflect on how learning occurs for them personally, as well as how children develop their concepts and beliefs. Discussions of difference, diversity, equity and fairness enable candidates to develop an understanding of the complexity of supporting all learners. For many candidates, this is a semester of disequilibria and frustration as they move beyond their current beliefs and attempt to develop a viable professional stance toward learning and teaching.

The school developed the Principles of Teacher Education as the overriding conceptual framework for its programs. These principles have driven the design of the curriculum and assessments for the programs (see Programmatic Assessment Table). The school has also mapped these principles to the INTASC standards, IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning and IPSB developmental standards to ensure programs that are standards-based and performance driven.

Benchmark II is a performance task that asks candidates to demonstrate their ability to assess the prior knowledge of a student in relationship to a specific concept or standard. The candidates select a provocative task or question and interview a student about a particular mathematical concept (elementary) or a content area standard (secondary) and write an analysis of the student's understanding. The candidates also reflect on their own performance as an interviewer and assessor (see Elementary Benchmark II and Secondary Benchmark II).

Benchmark III is a more elaborate performance task modeled after the Initial Teacher Induction Portfolio designed by the Indiana Professional Standards Board. This benchmark requires the candidates to develop a portfolio with several components including a video of their teaching, an analysis of student learning, and a self-assessment of their teaching performance.

Candidates receive formative feedback from their mentor teachers during the student teaching at the midpoint of the experience. The student teacher and mentor teacher each independently complete a Midterm Goal form. They then meet and discuss the goals each have selected and collaboratively develop goals for the remainder of the experience. This provides feedback to the student teachers about their curriculum content & planning, classroom environment, and instruction & assessment. The Midterm Goal is completed for each of the 8-week experiences.

At the end of each student teaching experience, mentor teachers complete a Final Profile that provides supportive and elaborative comments addressing the student teacher's strengths, areas needing improvement, and growth patterns during the experience.

The survey completed by student teachers, mentor teachers, and first-year employers during Spring 2002 asked participants to respond to a variety of questions addressing professional and pedagogical skills.

Element Four: Professional and Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills for Advanced Teacher Candidates

The five core propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) are used as the basis of evaluation.

The school is piloting a "master's portfolio" that requires candidates to document their progress in addressing the core propositions. The portfolio is developed and expanded as the candidates move through the program and serves as a measure of performance assessment and is evaluated at several points in the program.

Course syllabi for graduate programs, including content and student performance requirements, are aligned with NBPTS for educators.

The school is developing a new Master's program in urban education which will be offered in Fall 2003. It is a cohesive, progressive, and rigorous program that reflects the urban mission of the unit.

During 2001-2002, the survey of candidates completing advanced programs addressed professional and pedagogical knowledge.

Element Five: Professional Knowledge and Skills for Other School Personnel: (Advanced Programs)

The School Counseling and Educational Leadership are core-campus programs (see Advanced Programs Page- Bloomington). The School Social Work Program is nationally accredited and meets all standards in this area.

Element Six: Dispositions for All Candidates

Dispositions are the intangible qualities that define professional educators in terms of how they respond to the ongoing challenges of working with students, colleagues, administrators, parents and the larger community. They are addressed throughout the teacher education programs at Indianapolis.

Applicants must complete an essay as part of the admissions packet to teacher education programs. They must describe a memorable learning experience they had working with children or adolescents and explain how this experience connects with their desire to become a teacher. During Spring 2000, faculty were asked to review the essays and assess them on the following criteria:

Faculty looked for evidence of dispositions that might be problematic. Applicants who received assessments that indicated major concerns in one or more of theses criteria were asked to meet with the Chair of Teacher Education and the Assistant Dean for Student Services to discuss the essays and ways to address the concerns. The school decided to continue to require the essays as part of the application process but will re-pilot the evaluations of the essays during the Spring 2003 semester.

Benchmark I is assessed by a rubric that measures candidates' basic knowledge, communication skills, and dispositions related to the Principles of Teacher Education. At the end of each semester, the team of instructors completes a rubric for candidates in their section. Data are entered into a database that generates individual and aggregated reports for the school. Candidates who have areas of weakness meet with an assigned faculty mentor to develop a plan to address the areas. If the goals of the plan have not been successfully met by the end of Block II, the candidate may be removed from the program. This assessment was piloted during spring 2002.

The school uses an ALERT Form that is available for practicing professionals connected with the teacher education program. They are invited to use this form to identify candidates in the program whose dispositions are seen as problematic. It is used when there is strong concern about the candidate's non-academic ability to become a teacher. The form is filed with the Assistant Dean of Student Services and the candidate is notified. Instructors who will work with the candidate during the next semester are also notified. Confirmation of this notification is sent to the person who filed the ALERT. If two ALERTS are filed for a candidate, the Student Services Appeals Committee reviews the case and determines an appropriate course of action. Candidates may appeal all decisions.

Elementary candidates complete a Block III Self Assessment at the beginning of the semester. They use this to complete a Midterm Goals assignment that is designed around the Principles of Teacher Education. The candidates then complete the Self Assessment at the end of the semester and use these documents to reflect on their professional growth.

The Student Teaching Framework addresses dispositions at the end of each section. Student Teaching mentor teachers are asked to assess candidate professional responsibilities in the Midterm Goals and Final Profile.

The survey completed by principals asked them to evaluate how recent graduates of the program fostered relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community during their first year of teaching. The Student Teacher Survey and Student Teaching Mentor Survey assess the candidates as reflective practitioners who continually evaluate the effects of their choices and actions on others and who actively seek out opportunities to grow professionally.

Element Six: Dispositions for All Candidates (Advanced Programs)

During spring semester 2002, candidates completing advanced programs were surveyed. The instrument was designed to evaluate the dispositions of advanced program graduates.

The ALERT process described earlier is also used by the graduate faculty in cases of concerns about candidates in advanced programs. The number of forms filed is about equally distributed between the initial and advanced programs.

Element Seven: Student Learning for Teacher Candidates

The school strives to prepare candidates who impact student learning which is the goal of the Principles of Teacher Education.

Both Benchmark II and Benchmark III are linked directly to the candidates' abilities to assess P-12 student learning. Benchmark II is an individual assessment of what a student knows and can do relative to a standard or concept. Benchmark III requires candidates to demonstrate their ability to plan a unit plan. Their portfolios are assessed with respect to the amount and quality of evidence that students learn as a result of the lesson taught.

The teacher education programs are school-based and candidates experience multiple opportunities to teach and assess student learning. There are repeated course assignments that ask the candidates to evaluate their impact on student learning.

Element Eight: Student Learning for Other Professional School Personnel (Advanced Programs)

Candidates in advanced programs are licensed teachers who are committed to students and their learning. Courses in the advanced teacher education programs offer the candidates the opportunity to reflect on their classroom practice, to assess student learning, and create instructional plans that are reviewed by faculty and peers. Candidates are asked to construct learning experiences that demonstrate sensitivity to a broad range of diversity.

Candidates complete action research projects that demonstrate proficiency with incorporating a variety of instructional methods and technologies.

Element Eight: Student Learning for Other Professional School Personnel (Advanced Programs)

The School Counseling and Educational Leadership are core-campus programs (see Advanced Programs Page- Bloomington). The School Social Work Program is nationally accredited and meets all standards in this area.