Secondary Education Program

3

Social Studies Rejoinders (February, 2009)

School of Education

Program Review Rejoinder

for

Secondary: Social Studies Education

February 2009

The 2008 review of IPFW’s Secondary: Social Studies Education Program by the Indiana Department of Education was approved with one condition, which we have responded to below. The information received from the DOE was:

8.  Do the program assessment data summaries indicate that the program completers

are well qualified to teach the content to P-12 students?

Very well qualified Data indicate that at least 90% of the

candidates meet all of the assessment

expectations of the program.

X Well qualified Data indicate that at least 80% of the

candidates meet all of the assessment

expectations of the program.

X Somewhat qualified Data indicate that at least 70% of candidates

meet all of the assessment expectations of

the program.

Not well qualified Data indicate that 69% or fewer candidates

meet all of the assessment expectations of

the program.

Rationale:

(Somewhat qualified): Praxis II Middle School scores are at 79% in comparison to Social Studies Content Knowledge of 91%.

Student Teaching Lesson Evaluation by University Supervisors in INTASC Standards range from 3.2 - 3.92 on a 4 point scale with 5 Standards below 3.62.

Reported 73% pass rate for the PSY 235 Exam.

Performance Based Assessment of Student Teaching average score of 3.68 out of 5.

(Well qualified): Students' Praxis II scores have increased over the past three years (2004-2007). Specifically, students' scores in all the content areas but one (i.e., geography) are above national average.

Response to Somewhat qualified rating:

The data show that the overall pass rate on the Praxis Social Studies exam was above 80% for all of the 3 years of data presented. Middle School (EA) scores on the Praxis exam were at 79% pass rate for 14 candidates; during that same year, the pass rate for the Secondary students was at 94%. Thus, the scores average above 80% for 2005-2006 and were above 90% for 2004-2005 and 2006-2007. Further examination of the EA data demonstrates that three subcategories were at or above the national average, three subcategories were 1-2% below the national average, and only one subcategory (i.e., World History) was significantly below the national average.
Two factors should be noted with regard to the fact that Praxis II scores for middle school social studies teachers. First, state certification regulations require 51-60 hours of content courses for AYA, while 24 hours of content courses qualify a candidate for licensure in EA social studies; quite naturally, this dramatic difference in the quantity of course work leads to correspondingly different levels of content knowledge. Second, the course work currently required for EA social studies certification is rather generic; in response to this situation, a redesign of concentration requirements for social studies certification at the EA level is being proposed. If implemented, this redesign will proscribe specific courses that candidates for EA level social studies certification will be required to take, as follows:
ECON E 200 Introduction to Economics *
HIST H 105 American History I **
HIST H 113 History of Western Civilization I ***
HIST H 114 History of Western Civilization II ***
HIST H 232 The World in the 20th Century ***
POLS Y 103 Introduction to American Politics ****
PSY 120 Elementary Psychology
SOC S 161 Principles of Sociology
* Aligns with Indiana academic social studies standards (IAS) 6.4,
7.4, and 8.4
** Aligns with the 8th grade Indiana social studies curriculum
*** IPFW history courses that align most closely with social studies
IAS 6.1 and 7.1
**** Aligns with social studies IAS 6.2, 7.2, and 8.2
Increased scores on Praxis II examinations taken by EA social studies teacher candidates should result from this tightly focused, IAS-based course of studies. It should also be expected that AYA social studies teacher candidates will continue to record higher Praxis II scores than their EA counterparts due to the continued disparity in the total amount of content course work taken by each of the two groups. Overall degree requirements (including the fact that EA teacher candidates must complete certification in at least two [2] content areas) make it impossible to address this disparity. However, we believe that this plan will address the major deficiency for the EA social studies teacher candidates in world history.
Supervisor evaluations ranging from 3.2 – 3.92 on a 4.00 scale places candidates in the satisfactory range of above 80% proficiency. You will notice that the scores in 2007-2008 were significantly improved from the previous year with all of the ten standards being implemented by candidates at a minimum of 80% proficiency. To address these lower scores, we (program faculty) plan to do a thorough examination of the student teaching evaluations as well as undertake discussions with the university supervisors who work with pre-service teachers during their student teaching experiences.
Upon reflection of your feedback, we now question, for a multitude of reasons, the inclusion of the PSY 235 data as a measure of our content knowledge. In order to develop a standard means of assessing content area knowledge, therefore, the curriculum unit required of all AYA social studies pre-service teachers in the methods course (EDUC M 443) will be evaluated beginning with the Spring Semester, 2009. This project will be redesigned to assess both the subject matter knowledge demonstrated by the pre-service teachers as well as the pedagogical value of the units that are developed. For this curriculum unit, the Holocaust is the required unit topic. As such, a common body of knowledge will be considered, thus validating an evaluation of the pre-service teachers’ comparative content knowledge. A detailed rubric that considers both content and pedagogical aspects of curriculum planning is being developed. (n.b., It should be noted that the study of the Holocaust is included in the IAS for both world history and United States history at the high school level. Furthermore, the teaching of the Holocaust in high school the United States history course is mandated specifically as part of the Indiana legislative code, a unique curriculum circumstance.)
We believe that our candidates possess the knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary for teaching Social Studies content to EA and AYA students. The proposed changes will provide further evidence of these capabilities.