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| A-PLUS Grant Proposal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Table of
Contents
|Return to Teacher Testing Page| The results of the Massachusetts Teacher Test (MTT), which 147 Bridgewater State College (BSC) students took in April, has created both a need and an opportunity for the campus as a whole to review the communication, literacy, and other essential academic skills taught within its general education curriculum. Because each BSC student who took the MTT has completed general education requirements and a liberal arts and sciences major as well as 30 credits of teacher education coursework, and because the students who took the test represent the student population at large, we think that an assessment of all BSC students at the end of their academic programs would show similar results. Because the pass rate of 32.9% on the teacher test is unacceptable, we have designed A-PLUS (Assessing the Performance and Learning of Undergraduate Students) to improve the college level intellectual skills of the nearly 3,000 BSC teacher education students who must pass the MTT prior to being certified, as well as the performance of graduates who will seek careers in other fields. During the next academic year, BSC faculty and staff will
This process will also serve as a prototype for curriculum review and development in other areas of general education in future years. As the higher education institution that prepares the largest number of teachers in the Commonwealth, Bridgewater State College is responsible for ensuring that its graduates have the basic college level intellectual skills required for them to be effective educators. The 32.9% overall pass rate on the first administration of the MTT is unacceptable. The results indicate that the BSC students who took the test were weaker in the writing area (51% pass rate) than in either reading (67.3% pass rate) or the subject tests (62.4%), but in no area was student performance entirely satisfactory. The problem does not belong to teacher education alone; it belongs to the entire college. Teacher education students meet specific criteria to be admitted to a certification program; these include a minimum 2.5 GPA. They also complete two academic majors – one in arts and sciences and another in education. Consequently we have every reason to believe that students from other programs, where requirements may be no more than remaining in good academic standing (2.0 GPA), are likely to show similar weaknesses in these essential academic skill areas. A recent attempt to initiate a review of the BSC general education requirements (GERs) resulted in a request that the impact of the current GERs be assessed prior to any major restructuring. The results of the MTT have, in essence, provided data in the communication and literacy areas, and point to the clear need to strengthen the GERs. This year the faculty and administration must focus on developing expected outcomes and performance indicators for the essential academic skills defined within the GERs: to write clearly and effectively; to listen and speak clearly and effectively; to think critically; to think quantitatively; to think creatively; and to locate and process information. We must formalize a process for assessing the intellectual skills of all BSC students early in their college career so that they can strengthen areas of weakness prior to and as a condition of graduation. A-PLUS addresses these needs. Relationship to Funding Priorities Teacher preparation, central to BSC’s mission, remains a program of distinction. For many years, the College has been recognized for its success in preparing high quality educators for public schools in this state and throughout the nation. The public watches us and expects quality, as evidenced by the onslaught of media contacts with regard to the teacher tests during the past few months. A-PLUS links directly to priorities identified as part of the mission review process – to build on our current strengths and national reputation in teacher education; to strengthen and improve undergraduate programs across the curriculum; and to use the College’s extensive technological resources for innovation in teaching, learning and distance education. Prompted by the urgency for improving the skills of teacher education students, A-PLUS actually will benefit all students. Project Objectives and Expected Outcomes The proposed initiative will improve the performance of Bridgewater State College students in general, and teacher education students most specifically, by focusing the entire campus community on what we as an institution can do to develop and assess the general academic skills of our students, through activities in individual courses as well as through standardized performance measures. A-PLUS is expected to result in the submission of a proposal to campus governance that would require all BSC students to take a standardized test of college level intellectual skills prior to their completing 60 credits hours of academic work and that they pass the test prior to graduation. A-PLUS has three specific goals: 1. To develop policies, procedures, and practices that ensure that BSC students
have attained the essential academic skills defined by the College’s general
education requirements:
2. To improve the passing rate for BSC students on the Massachusetts Teacher Tests. 3. To adopt a plan for documenting the acquisition of college-level intellectual skills by all BSC upper-class students and graduates using a standardized assessment instrument. Project Objectives, Major Activities, and Expected Outcomes The table that follows describes activities that will be undertaken to accomplish the project objectives. The performance indicators will be used for both formative and summative evaluation. The project coordinator will meet each month with the provost, the school deans and the director of institutional research and assessment to review implementation, analyze quantitative (e.g., teacher test scores, results of pilot assessment) and qualitative (e.g., focus group results, faculty reports on workshops attended) data, review products developed (e.g., lists of outcomes, class activities, assignments and assessments; faculty development sessions), and provide insight and feedback. Staff in the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will analyze and report on the teacher test data and track improvements in the pass rate. They will also assist in defining and collecting baseline data on our students for use in monitoring student performance on a standardized assessment of college level intellectual skills over time. Although the impact of A-Plus on student performance cannot be documented in one year’s time, the final report will provide a plan of action for continued monitoring and development of college level intellectual skills at BSC in the future. Table of Project Objectives, Major Activities, and Expected Outcomes. The following table describes objectives to be met as a result of the year’s activities. The performance indicators will be used to identify success in reaching the objectives.
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