Massachusetts School and District Profiles

Cambridge College
EPPP
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2017
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Annual Goals

This report lists the annual improvement goals reported to ESE in the educator preparation program provider’s state annual report. Providers may report up to three goals for the upcoming year and are asked to report on progress made toward the prior year’s goals. Annual goals are reported in May of the academic year listed.

Annual Goals - 2017
Educator preparation program improvement goals for the upcoming program year
Goal #1 Greater intentionality in the recruitment, hiring, and assignment of faculty who are current licensed scholar/practitioners and involvement of P-12 partners in the curricular review, development, and design of courses. Achievement of this goal will help ensure the relevancy and currency of programs supportive of the field, and improve the quality of assessment practices along with the quality of feedback and supervision of candidates.
Goal #2 Improve the quality of instruction via ongoing, careful analysis of faculty pedagogical practices, supervision of pre-practicum/practicum placements, professional development needs, and program/curricular review to ensure the currency, relevance, and depth/breadth of courses offered.
Goal #3 Increase the documentation and immediacy of candidate feedback and quality of field-based experiences in all educator preparation programs aligned to the CAP and MA PAL.

Annual Goals - 2016
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 Goal: 1. Launch our performance standards for teachers (PST), fully implement the Candidate Assessment Program (CAP), and continue to monitor its effectiveness and make adjustment as needed. As a parallel, we are monitoring the effectiveness of our Massachusetts PAL implementation.
Goal #2 Enhance candidate communications systems for stronger advising.
Goal #3 Increase consistency of the implementation of our Massachusetts specific processes and practices across all our sites.

Progress Toward Goals - 2016
Progress made toward prior program year goals
Goal #1 Candidate Assessment Program (CAP) is fully implemented in all teacher education initial license programs. Supervisors and program chairs receive ongoing training and the system is monitored by the Coordinator, Pre-Practicum/Practicum Placement and Department Head in Teacher Education for implementation. Additionally, MA PAL implementation for education preparation of principals has occurred, with effectiveness monitored by the program chair and faculty in this area.
Goal #2 The School of Education was restructured to include two departments for stronger oversight of academic programs, including those in teacher education and educational leadership. The two department heads along with the Coordinator of Pre-Practicum/Practicum Placement report directly to the dean and, as members of the SOE's Leadership Team, oversee candidate selection and entry. The two department heads monitor the work of program chairs and faculty supportive of candidate selection, entry, field placements, and program completion. The Coordinator for Pre-Practicum/Practicum Placements also works with the department heads to ensure effective implementation of all pre-practicum/practicum placements and, in consultation with the dean, serves in a compliance role relative to effective documentation of program completion. Thus far, selection and entry criteria were revised to include new entry requirements and an application-to-practicum along with new protocols for monitoring pre-practicum and documenting program completion. Further emphasis was placed on improved communications with candidates, review of returning candidates, and (in teacher education) implementation of a feedback survey.
Goal #3 The new organizational structure also supports consistency of processes and practices across the College's multiple instructional sites. For example, in collaboration with site directors, the Coordinator for Pre-Practicum/Practicum Placements organizes orientation and selection of supervisors for the three campus locations in MA and serves in a compliance role for effective documentation of program completion for certification purposes. Similarly, the two department heads routinely review programmatic concerns, change-of-program requests, and entry requirements for new and returning candidates at these locations. Overall, the SOE Leadership Team increased the frequency of communications with site coordinators and involvement of them in decisions supportive of the SOE's collective success. This is accomplished using Zoom technology, email, and onsite visits. We also conducted a third party review of one of our largest programs that identified areas of improvement for consistency supportive of continuous improvement across all programs.

Annual Goals - 2015
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 Implement curricular changes aligned with new Performance Standards for Teachers.
Goal #2 Continue to monitor communications, practices, and protocol used for candidate entry into licensure programs, auditing of pre-practicum/practicum experiences, and documentation of program completion. Where necessary, make changes at the unit and program level supportive of candidate success.
Goal #3 Increase prospective students and candidate performance on state-level MTEL exams.

Progress Toward Goals - 2015
Progress made toward prior program year goals
Goal #1 Prior Year Goal #1: Implement curricular changes aligned with new Performance Standards for Teachers. We have completed the alignment with the new standards and given workshops to train the college program supervisors for practicum. We provided updates to the supervising practitioners in the field. We conducted a pilot program in the spring for full implementation for fall 2016.
Goal #2 Prior Year Goal #2: Continue to monitor communications, practices, and protocol used for candidate entry into licensure programs, auditing of pre-practicum/practicum experiences, and documentation of program completion. Where necessary, make changes at the unit and program level supportive of candidate success. We hired a new practicum coordinator who has created a system for tracking and monitoring candidates as they move through the licensure programs and provides advisement and system support for field experiences and placements. The practicum coordinator works with the program chairs and practicum seminar leaders to ensure candidate success.
Goal #3 Prior Year Goal #3: Increase prospective students and candidate performance on state-level MTEL exams. We have increased the monitoring of the test results and have created MTEL workshops for students who did not pass. We have improved our communication system for advising and support for prospective students and candidates as they enter the program.