Quality Assurance Report 2

Introduction and Overview of the Program and the Study

Prepared in Response to the 2021 AAQEP Guide to Accreditation

Land Acknowledgement: 
The Fresno State campus sits in the midst of the San Joaquin Valley, a valley rich in the traditions and representation of Native American peoples and cultures. We are grateful to be in the traditional homelands of the Yokuts and Mono peoples, whose diverse tribal communities share stewardship over this land. 

Overview: Fresno State
California State University, Fresno (Fresno State), now a public, comprehensive university, was founded as Fresno Normal School in 1911 with the goal of developing teachers. It  joined the California State University system in 1961 and was granted university status in 1972. Its 1,410-acre campus, including the university farm, is located several miles northeast of downtown Fresno. Fresno is located in California’s Central Valley, an agricultural region that produces many of the fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other food eaten across the globe. The area’s strengths are evident in its world famous national parks, fertile literary landscape (including two former poet laureates of the United States), linguistic diversity, and rich cultural traditions and history. 

With an enrollment of over 24,000 students (89% of whom are from the Central Valley), Fresno State offers 59 undergraduate degree programs, 44 master’s degree programs, three doctoral programs, 12 certificates of advanced study, and various credentials. Our alumni become successful teachers, writers, politicians, entertainers, academics, and even the chancellor of the California State University (CSU) system. Fresno State is one of 23 California State University (CSU) campuses. It is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) (See Figure 1.1 for demographics). We are proud to support our large population of first-generation students: Fresno State now boasts more than 14,000 undergraduates (nearly 2 out of 3 undergraduates) who are first-generation college students, drawing from a local demographic where less than 21% of the citizens hold college degrees of any kind. 

In recent years, the university has continued to receive recognition on the national level. For multiple years, Fresno State has placed among the top three best public universities in graduation-rate performance nationwide by U.S. News and World Report. In addition, Fresno State placed No. 2 in the category “Least Percent of Grads with Debt” among public national universities.  Fresno State placed 26th out of 389 public and private colleges on Washington Monthly’s 2020 annual list of top national universities based on social mobility, research, and promoting public service. Money magazine ranked Fresno 40th for "best value" universities in the United States and 7th for most transformative college, describing the university as a school “where students beat the odds by doing better than would be expected from their academic and economic backgrounds.” 

Within the CSU system, Fresno State continues to be among the universities graduating the largest cohort of K-12 educators each year. More than 60% of school leaders in our region have roots in Kremen School of Education and Human Development programs.  

Table 1. Fresno State Enrollment, Fall 2016-2020

Educator Preparation Programs at Fresno State
Educator preparation programs are housed in several colleges at the university,  though all programs are affiliated with the Kremen School of Education and Human Development (Kremen). Kremen’s mission is the recruitment and development of ethically informed leaders for classroom teaching, education administration, counseling, and higher education. We foster the candidate dispositions of collaboration, valuing diversity, critical thinking, ethical judgments, reflection, and life-long learning. The Kremen School theme, "Leadership for Diverse Communities," places considerable emphasis on developing educators who can function effectively as leaders in a culturally and linguistically diverse society. With more than 100 languages spoken in the region, our programs offer diverse field experiences, and our students learn strategies to optimize the education of emergent bilinguals while valuing what all students bring to their educational experiences. Additionally, integration of educational technology and performance assessment is essential to all programs. 

In the past seven years since we went through NCATE/CAEP accreditation, there have been a number of leadership changes, both at the university and within Kremen. Just as examples, since 2014, we have had two presidents and four provosts at the university level; within Kremen, we have had three deans and six associate deans. 

This rapidly changing leadership has contributed to a loss of institutional history leading to a  deterioration of infrastructure within Kremen that we have been working to rebuild. With the appointment of Dr. Saúl Jimenez-Sandoval as president of Fresno State in 2021, Dr. Randy Yerrick as the Kremen School of Education Dean and Director of Teacher Education in 2020, and Dr. Jenelle Pitt Parker as associate dean in 2021, we are confident that we are now on track to creating a sense of stability within the School. In addition, we’ve been able to appoint Dr. Juliet Wahleithner as our first ever Assistant Director of Teacher Education. Her duties encompass our educator preparation work in addition to providing accreditation oversight and leadership. We’ve also hired Dr. Felipe Mercado to serve as Coordinator of the Office of Clinical Practice. These key personnel work together to strengthen all aspects of our programs. Lastly, Interim Provost Fu and Special Assistant to the Provost Alam Hasson are in the process of reconceiving the university’s budget process and have been working to understand Kremen’s needs. We are hopeful that this will result in a budget allocation that meets the needs of our complex college. 

Table 2 
Educator Preparation Programs at Fresno State²

Overview of Advanced Credential Programs

• The Preliminary Administrative Services Credential (PASC) (see full description) is housed within Kremen and focuses on the preparation of school administrators. The program is embedded in the Master of Arts Degree in Educational Leadership and Administration (FS PASC/MAED), which prepares highly qualified aspiring school administrators through coursework and embedded fieldwork experiences. The model includes high expectations, mastery learning, and cohorts of individuals currently employed in the educational setting. The mission of the PASC/MAED program is to prepare credible and relevant leaders in education committed to advancing equity and excellence throughout the Central Valley. 
  The program includes seven full-time, tenured/tenure-track faculty.
  As highlighted in Table 3, in Fall 2021, 64 candidates were enrolled in the Preliminary Administrative Services Credential Program.
• The Reading/Literacy Leadership Specialist (RLL) Credential (see full description) (and the add-on authorization in this area) is also housed with Kremen, working to prepare reading/literacy district and school leaders. The Reading and Literacy Added Authorization (RLAA) and the Reading and Literacy Leadership Specialist Credential (RLLS) programs at California State University, Fresno reside under the auspices of the Division of Graduate Studies and are offered in conjunction with the Master’s in Education Degree-Reading/Language Arts Option. Although the added authorization is integrated within the Master’s Degree, both of these programs can be completed separately from the degree. 
  The program includes five full-time, tenured/tenure-track faculty and one lecturer.
  As highlighted in Table 3, in Fall 2021, 25 candidates were enrolled in the Reading/Literacy Leadership Specialist Credential Program.
• The Pupil Personnel Services: Counseling Program (see full description), also housed in Kremen, is designed for individuals seeking advanced preparation for a career in counseling within an educational setting, such as an elementary, middle and high school. Many students who are pursuing this credential are concurrently enrolled in our Counseling graduate program. According to the CTC: 
  “The specialization in School Counseling authorizes the holder to perform the following duties: 
  • “Develop, plan, implement, and evaluate a school counseling and guidance program that includes academic, career, personal, and social development 
  • Advocate for the high academic achievement and social development of all students
  • Provide schoolwide prevention and intervention strategies and counseling services
  • Provide consultation, training, and staff development to teachers and parents regarding students’ needs 
  • Supervise a district-approved advisory program as described in California Education Code, Section 49600”

The program includes 14 tenured/tenure-track faculty and one lecturer.

As highlighted in Table 3, in Fall 2021, 94 candidates were enrolled in the School Counseling Credential Program.

• The Pupil Personnel Services: School Nurse Services Credential Program (SNSC) (see full description) is a working partnership between the School of Nursing (SON) and the Division of Continuing and Global Education (CGE) (see full description). The SNSC program coordinators work closely with the Fresno State School of Nursing for coursework, faculty, and application requirement areas (in addition to maintaining an affiliation with the Kremen School); and CGE provides administrative support such as enrollment, records keeping, and cost. SNSC Coordinators attend monthly SON faculty meetings as well as periodic graduate program meetings or professional development as needed. SNSC coordinators also meet periodically with CGE supervisors to review course setup and enrollment numbers.

  The program faculty consists of seven part-time lecturers.
  As highlighted in Table 3, in Fall 2021, 47 candidates were enrolled in the School Nursing Credential Program.

Three of these programs are similar in that students can pursue a graduate degree at the same time that they are earning an Advanced Credential. Moreover, the programs produce professionals for leadership and support positions in K12 schools. These Advanced Credential programs are designed around specific CTC expectations and standards, undergo program review by our Division of Graduate Studies (since they are embedded in graduate programs), and otherwise allow students to pursue advanced study in the field of education. The one exception is the PPS: School Nursing program which is a partnership between the College of Health and Human Services and Continuing and Global Education. It is a stand alone program that those already working in the field of nursing can pursue in order to earn a School Nursing credential. Thus, it is not paired with a graduate degree nor does it engage in the Program Review process for graduate programs on its own, though it does have future plans to establish a Masters Degree in School Nursing/Leadership.

***The discussion of the SNSC Program was updated after initial submission to better represent the relationship between CGE and the SNSC.

Key Partnerships with Schools
As an educational unit, we are fortunate to maintain strong connections with the districts in our region. Fresno Unified is the third largest district in the state, with just over 72,000 students. Of these, over 85% qualify for free or reduced price meals, 18% are classified as English Learners, and 17% were reclassified as English Proficient. We maintain strong relationships with leaders at the site and district levels and regularly have the opportunity to partner with the district to provide field experience placements for our candidates across programs. Additionally, the majority of educators and leaders within the district have roots at Fresno State. In addition to partnering with Fresno Unified, we also maintain close collaborations with Clovis Unified, Central Unified, Madera Unified, Sanger Unified, among others, and leaders at the Fresno County Office of Education. In fact, the superintendents of all of these districts participate regularly in the biannual Presidents’ Commission on Teacher Education breakfasts. A subset of these leaders also serve on the P12 Superintendent Advisory Council, meeting regularly with Dean Yerrick and faculty from the Preliminary Administrative Services Credential.

For the advanced credential programs featured in this QAR, partnerships with schools look different than they do for our preliminary credential programs, primarily because the field placement experiences look different. In three of the four programs, candidates are already employed at school sites/districts, and so they complete their field placement experiences in those contexts. For example, Preliminary Administrative Services Credential candidates are typically employees of school districts during their studies and have designated district administrative mentors that have been selected and trained by Kremen. Each of these mentor candidates have rubrics, criteria, expectations and MOU agreements surrounding their field-placement experiences. For districts with a shortage of administrators, Kremen has also established an educational administrative pipeline and induction process to allow candidates to serve in administrator roles as interns while they complete their credential. In the School Counseling Program, program faculty connect candidates with partners in local districts so that candidates can set up placements in locations that work best for them. The program does have partnership agreements with Clovis, Fresno, and Madera Unified School Districts to help facilitate the process for candidates. In all other districts, students reach out to the schools of interest to find placements, though program faculty are working to establish partnership agreements with other districts. 

Overview of Self-Study
As this is our first AAQEP review, we viewed this self-study as an opportunity to establish a baseline portrait of where our programs currently are in relation to the AAQEP Standards and Aspects. Our rationale behind this was that, by establishing a baseline, we would have a solid understanding of where to begin our cycles of continuous improvement as we continue to move forward in our journey. 

In order to make the self-study process authentic and meaningful for program faculty, we allowed each program to select its own data sources. Faculty members then worked together to identify what success looked like on each measure and then to engage in an analysis of the data. Table 4 presents the Aspect Evidence Index, which lists the specific data sources used by each program to respond to the aspects included in Standards 1 and 2. Based on the findings from the analyses of those data sources, faculty then worked together to draw conclusions and articulate next steps. These processes are documented within each program’s response to each standard aspect.  We then looked across their findings to select priority areas for the educational unit as a whole.

While program faculty collaborated to engage in the self-study process, within each program, specific faculty members took the lead on constructing responses:

Preliminary Administrative Service Credential Program: Dr. Jennifer Moradian Watson, Program Coordinator through Spring 2021; Dr. Jessica Hannigan, Program Coordinator beginning Fall 2021; and Dr. Nicole Walsh all participated in the writing of this section of the QAR. 

Reading/Literacy Specialist Credential Program: Dr. Maria Goff, Program Coordinator through Spring 2021, took the lead on this section of the QAR, though she has now left Fresno State. Additionally, Reading/Literacy program faculty, including Dr. Lisa Bennett, Dr. Steve Hart, Dr. David Low, and Dr. Juliet Wahleithner, assisted with the preparation of this section of the QAR.

School Counseling Credential Program: Dr. Gitima Sharma, Program Coordinator, collaborated with Dr. Dominiqua Griffin, Program Coordinator through Spring 2021 and who has now left Fresno State, Dr. Song Lee, and new faculty member Dr. Nur Dedeoglu on this self-study. 

School Nursing Program: Professor Patricia Gomes and Professor Barbara Miller, who share the role of Program Coordinator, led this self-study. 

For each Standard, we present an introduction that details key information about how the responses to the standard were constructed, including data sources used. We then present each program’s response to each aspect of the standard. At the end of each Standard, we present a conclusion and next steps that synthesize the findings from across the programs, highlighting the strengths and areas for growth. Additionally, we include the identified priority areas for each program in response to the standard, along with the specific steps the program will take to address those priority areas.

We believe it is important to acknowledge the timeline in which we undertook this self-study. Fresno State joined AAQEP in Winter 2020, just prior to the onset of the global pandemic. At the time, Kremen was also undergoing a significant leadership change. The former dean, who had served in the position on an interim basis since Fall 2018 and who had led the initiative to transition to work with AAQEP,  announced she had accepted a position at another institution. Additionally, Dr. Kathleen Godfrey, a professor from the English department, was in her first of two years as the Interim Associate Dean. Though campus was shut down and meetings were now held virtually, discussions did begin about what would be required for AAQEP accreditation. However, the first set of three major deadlines for accreditation by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (PreConditions, Program Standards Review, and Common Standards Review) was looming, and completing that work became the focus. 

In Fall 2020, with Dean Randy Yerrick now leading Kremen, the decision to pursue AAQEP accreditation became finalized. The work on the AAQEP Proposal began, but programs continued to focus on preparing their documentation for the CCTC Program Standards Review submission (CCTC Program Review responses). When that work was completed, we then began preparing responses to the CCTC Common Standards, which were due March 1, 2021. It was at that point that we could truly begin to embark on our AAQEP journey, at a time when our faculty were already fatigued after a year like no other. 

Overall, the self-study process in response to the AAQEP standards has yielded important information for our individual programs and our educational unit as a whole, allowing us to highlight our areas of strength as well as the opportunity to look at data in new ways to uncover areas to improve so that we can better fulfill our mission of preparing educational leaders who will serve the students of our region.

Table 4
Aspect-Evidence Index to the Quality Assurance Report 

• Preliminary Administrative Services Credential
• Reading/Literacy Specialist Credential
• School Counseling
• School Nursing 

Description and Program of Study for Each Program

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