Meeting+Thursday+Oct.+21

Thank you all again for coming to our faculty meeting on Oct. 21. At the meeting, Rocky Shwedel helped us to understand the School of Education and the MAT-ESL assessment system, and clarified their roles in the upcoming NCATE/TESOL accreditation visit. The visit is in September of 2012, I believe, and our report must be submitted by September of 2011. Our associate dean, Mary-Lou Breitborde, has asked for the completed report by May, 2011. We are required to have two years of assessment data to submit.

Before Spring, 2010, we were using Chalk and Wire. Faculty created tasks that usually were assigned as "final projects" or other assignments in their classes, rubrics were posted on C&W, and students were to upload their work to be assessed. These tasks were considered to be outcome assessments, and they addressed the MA DESE knowledge standard for licensure in ESL. Now that TESOL will be involved in the NCATE acceditation process, we all need to be sure that those tasks/assignments/assessments address the TESOL standards for the accreditation of teacher education programs. The standards can be found here. [|TESOL standards] Check to see that you are looking at the Dec. 2009 revision.

Last year, I reminded you all that there needed to be such a task and a rubric for it uploaded to Chalk and Wire. When in Spring, 10, I was told that we were to use those same tasks and rubrics but instead of placing them on C&W, we were to record the scores on each criterion for each student on an excel file, and send the rubrics and the scores to Lynn Blayer, at eblayer@salemstate.edu. If you have not already done so for last Fall 09, Spring,10, and Summer, 10 classes, please do so ASAP. I was told that if one just sends the students' names and rubric scores for each criterion to Lynn, as well as the original rubric, she will put together the excel file. **//Our data for each student must begin with classes taken in Fall 09 in order to have//** //**two years of data to**// //**submit**// //**to NCATE/TESOL.**//.

We also need everyone’s syllabi for the current semester, or the most recent semester during which you taught the course(s). The Provost, Dr. Kristin Esterberg, has asked all of us to write syllabi in a specific format, and I will attach her letter which includes this format. In addition, I would ask that you indicate which of those TESOL Standards the course addresses, after you indicate the goals and objectives. You will also need to update your course bibliographies, which should appear on the syllabus and is distributed to your students. NCATE discourages sources more than five years old, unless they are “classics,” and will be looking for sources published recently.

Courses taught by two or more instructors must be aligned. The goals and objectives should be the same, the catalog description will, of course, be the same, and the final assessment, which addresses one or more TESOL standards, must be the same, so that our students are assessed in the same way, regardless of the instructor, for the same course. Since we collect the assessment data for each student, to be meaningful, they should be assessed in the same way no matter in what section of the course they were students.

I am going to find a sample rubric to post here. However, the best one to use as an example would be another rubric from our program, so if anyone has one ready to send me, and is willing to share it, I would appreciate it very much. Don’t forget that Rubistar, found online, is a great help in creating rubrics.Rocky is also a great help. Contact him at ashwedel@salemstate.edu To sum up, I would like you all to submit to me your syllabi, resumes, faculty info according to the “template,” assessments with rubrics (those created to address TESOL standards) and rubric scores from courses taught Sept. 09 through Summer 10. Please submit all of these to me by December 1.After this semester is over, please submit your Fall 10 syllabi, and then the same for Spring 11.

Thank you all so much for your substantial efforts towards being awarded accreditation by NCATE and TESOL.You, and all you do for our students, are very much appreciated.