Standard 2

Data Collection, Analysis and Evaluation

PEARL is used on a regularly scheduled basis to improve instruction and assessment. The system ties to our mission of excellence in education and supports our conceptual framework through systematic evaluation of our candidates, faculty, programs, and the School of Education unit. In addition to being linked to our mission, vision statements, and performance expectations, our assessment system is tied directly to professional and state program standards. The development of PEARL was a cooperative endeavor between the SOE faculty and members of the professional community who participate in our community advisory committees and who contribute to the evaluation of our programs. 

PEARL links the multiple influences of the knowledge base that underpins our respective fields, standards adopted by professional education and counseling organizations, standards of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), and other national standards.  As a result of our implementation of PEARL, as we have indicated above, our assessment system

• reflects our conceptual framework,
• incorporates candidate proficiencies outlined in professional/state standards,
• accounts for examination of validity and utility of the data,
• uses multiple assessment points before program completion,
• encourages performance assessment as a means for predicting candidate success,
• establishes fairness, accuracy, and consistency of its performance assessment procedures,
• promotes changes in practice consistent with the results of these studies, and
• facilitates alignment of changes in practice with results of PEARL.

The assessment system measures four aspects of initial and advanced preparation:  (1) candidate evaluation, (2) faculty evaluation, (3) program evaluation, and (4) unit evaluation.

In academic year 2009-10, PEARL was reviewed and refined by the faculty and administrative members of the School of Education. The Assessment and Accreditation Committee (AA) led the School in reviewing and re-envisioning PEARL. The faculty, chairs, staff members under the direction of the Dean of the School of Education reviewed all unit assessment decisions.  As a result of a series of meetings, Transition Points and Key Common Assessments (Table 1.3.c) were identified for each program early in 2010.  In many cases, this was a process of honing the list of requirements, learning experiences, fieldwork, and program assessments to five to seven assessments that met the criteria for depth and breadth in program and candidate assessment.  In addition, the following five points were clarified: admission to program, entry into clinical practice, exit from clinical practice, program completion, and post-program completion (Table 1.3.c) per NCATE’s terminology and connected to the terminology of the PEARL system. 

The School of Education faculty approved the revisions to the unit’s assessment system in fall 2010.  The graphic for PEARL was developed as a model for our assessment system and it highlights the interrelationship of the conceptual framework and the School of Education operations. It reflects the four units of analysis (candidates, faculty, program, and SOE unit) and illustrates the system of evaluation for each unit: assessment (gathering evidence and data aggregation), reflection (data analysis and synthesis), and learning (decision making/taking action based upon consideration of evidence). Built into the system is an iterative feedback loop that ensures that data collection, analysis, interpretation, and decision-making will be ongoing, important and viable processes.