Grambling State University Standard 4 Compendium3

R4.3 Satisfaction of Completers

The 2021-2022 survey respondents across all areas and programs were generally more satisfied than in the previous years. It was noted that there were fewer Elementary respondents than in past years that might account for the increase in ratings; however, there were several areas of strength. Both of the Elementary respondents were “Very Satisfied” with their “ability to create a safe and managed learning environment”, “ability to align their teaching with state and national standards”, their “ability to utilize technology” and their “ability to engage in leadership and mentoring activities”. Both were satisfied with their ability to teach diverse P-12 students but not “Very Satisfied”, which indicates again a need for more focus in this area. The Kinesiology respondent rated all areas as “Very Satisfied” with the program’s preparation. All of the MAT respondents rated all areas as “Satisfied” or Very Satisfied”. Looking further into how they responded by program, the MAT Elementary and Special Education respondents rated all areas as “Very Satisfied”, while the MAT Secondary Education and Special Education respondents were “Very Satisfied” with all areas except for “ability to utilize technology” and “ability to teach diverse P-12 students” where one respondent rated both areas as “Satisfied”.

Focused Interview

The four completers from the undergraduate programs and all had been teaching for less than three years. They represented Elementary, Secondary and Music education preparation programs. As a group they spoke of their confidence in teaching, how some were already acting in leadership or mentoring positions, and that overall, they expressed the belief that they had been well-prepared in contrast to completers from other teaching programs. They were especially positive about their abilities to work with technology and the different software programs available to educators. Still, they would like to have had more preparation in working with diverse students, especially students who are struggling or have specialized learning needs.

Summary: Triangulated data from the Follow-up Survey of Curriculum and Instruction Completers and the Focused Interview indicated that completers are mostly satisfied with the preparation program. The focused interview revealed that completers believed they were well-prepared, but as seen in the survey, would have liked to have had more information on differentiating instruction in order to reach diverse learners. They felt extremely comfortable with the technology and how they incorporated it in the classroom. Interestingly, they noted in the interview that the work load that they encountered in their EPP program prepared them for the workload of a teacher in the schools.

Continuous Improvement

Focus Area(s):

- Continue using focus group to pinpoint specific areas of need, especially in response to ongoing Covid and post-Covid environments, and include MAT completers in interviews or conduct interviews with them separately.

- Using data to increasing pinpoint needs across the areas in which completers teach— are completers in some areas more successful or less successful in certain teaching environments? This can be done by looking at all results more closely across the teaching environments—urban, rural, suburban, regional, economic area, size of district, traditional, online, hybrid, etc., to pinpoint specific areas of need and strengths both generally and for specific areas.

- Providing more practice in classes for completing pre-lesson assessments and diversifying instruction to meet the needs of students