Standard 3

Within each of the advanced credential programs, faculty drew on a range of institutional data to help investigate their practices. For example, for the first time, programs began to look critically at their application, admission, and enrollment rates. They also began to consider what recruitment efforts had taken place and how those efforts had impacted who applied to their programs. Programs also documented the range of placements in which candidates were placed for their field experiences and began to consider the affordances and challenges of those placements, as well as the ways in which they collaborated with their P12 partners in those placements. Finally, programs documented the various ways they currently engage with stakeholders to evaluate the overall program practices.

The Internal Audit each program undertook provided a way for faculty to really begin to investigate their programs from the perspectives of their candidates. In some cases, such as with the Reading/Literacy Specialist and the School Counseling programs, faculty reached out directly to the candidates to learn about their perspectives of the different stages of the program--from application to completion. The School Nursing and Preliminary Administrative Services Credential programs instead took the opportunity to examine its own historical data to trace the success of previous candidates to consider how it had/had not supported that success. Both approaches led to new learning for the programs.

As with Standards 1 and 2, the advanced credential programs used the opportunity of preparing their responses to the Standard 3 aspects as a way to gather a deeper understanding of the work they do--to learn where their strengths are and where their areas for growth are. Because we view this work as the first step in our ongoing journey towards continuous improvement, programs also included next steps plans to address those areas of growth and to investigate their success.