Many Hands Make Light Work: Leveraging Partnerships to Capture the Elusive Student Growth Data

• In Event: Bridging Gaps: Innovative Assessments and Partnerships for Educational Equity and Improvement

Abstract

Teacher preparation is a communal commitment. Educator preparation programs, education departments and P-12 schools work best when working together. We present a case of the importance of strong partnerships. Data outside the university are often hard to acquire. CAEP Standard 4 requires EPPs demonstrate completers are effective (contribute to P-12 student-learning). Measuring impact requires collecting completer data, often from schools employing teachers from many programs. We share how EPPs worked with P-12partners to use existing data to evaluate impact, demonstrating a case of partnerships that meet the EPPs needs, limiting burdens on the P-12 partners. We examine the correlation between teacher evaluations and student growth to determine if teacher evaluations can be used as a proxy for student learning.

Authors

• Beth W. Kubitskey, Eastern Michigan University

• Anne Renee Tapp Jaksa, Saginaw Valley State University

• Catherine Wigent, Michigan Department of Education

• Gina M. Garner, Michigan Department of Education