Standard Three Compendium 1 - RA3.1 Recruitment

Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium

RA3.1 Recruitment

1

Alignment to National Standard: RA.3 Candidate Quality and Selectivity: The provider demonstrates that the quality of advanced program candidates is an ongoing and intentional focus so that completers are prepared to perform effectively and can be recommended for certification where applicable.

RA 3.1 Recruitment: The provider presents goals and progress evidence for the recruitment of highquality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that align with their mission. The provider demonstrates efforts to know and address community, state, national, regional, or local needs for hard-to-staff schools and shortage fields. The goals and evidence should address progress towards a candidate pool that reflects the diversity of America’s P-12 students.

How Alignment is assured: The Assessment Coordinator in consultation with Program/Discipline Chairs, aligns the evaluation measures and assessment tasks with CAEP, InTASC, and appropriate Technology Standards. The Assessment Coordinator maintains alignments and adherence to mul tiple Louisiana state laws and policy regulations. All Standards have been maintained utilizing Watermark – Taskstream. This standards database is maintained by the Assessment Coordinator so that alignments can accommodate updates to standards, program competencies, courses, or assessments.

Evidence Overview

The information below discusses the goals, mission, and recruitment of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that aligns with the mission of Grambling State University.

Mission: The mission states Grambling State University is a comprehensive, historically-black, public institution that offers a broad spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs of study.

Goals: In an effort to carry out the mission (the University seeks to reflect in all of its programs the diversity present in the world) the Education Preparation Program (EPP) recruits a diverse population of students which include local, regional, national, and international candidates. Efforts are being made to advise and encourage more teachers to add special education certification and/or the reading specialist endorsement because these are high-needs area across the country, particularly after the pandemic.

Recruiting: As evidence is reviewed, it is obvious that recruitment efforts at Grambling State University are extensive; however, it is clear that we do a great deal for the candidates at Grambling State University, but what is clearer is that even with everything we have done, we still have much more to do. As was stated in the Initial Programs Standard Three Compendium 1 – R3.1 Access and Equity, the largest room in the world is the room for improvement, and as such, our culture of continuous improvement is always at the forefront to provide the best learning environment for teachers.

Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International "College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.

Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium 1

Mission: The Mission of Grambling State University includes the recruitment and retention of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations. Multiple strategies are used to support the mission of increasing the diversity and strength of the pool of candidates. For example, in 2020, the Louisiana Board of Regents approved the 100% online delivery of both the M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction-Reading and the M.Ed. in Special Education. This allows us to recruit both nationally and internationally and further reflect the increasing diversity of the P-12 schools.

Goal: The EPP focuses on addressing, fulfilling, and monitoring the recruitment of diverse candidates who meet the employment needs of the service area. It seeks to know and address community, state, national, regional, or local needs for hard-to-staff schools and shortage fields. The U.S. Department of Education has listed Special Education as a shortage area in Louisiana for the past five years TSA REPORT. In addition, ACT 607 of the 2022 Legislative Session focuses on reading difficulties, with all approved EPPs required to include at least a 3-credit hour course in dyslexia STATE Mandate. The state considers this course to be a literacy course, not a special education course, increasing the need for literacy specialists. Consequently, the College of Education collaborates with the University Recruitment Office and the Office of Graduate Studies to develop recruitment and retention plan s that reflect the needs of the University as well as the state, region, and nation.

Conceptual Framework: The Conceptual Framework serves to catalyze change. Through broad-based curricula consisting of performance-based assessment, research-based instruction, and strategic field experiences, the curriculum and instruction and educational leadership programs at Grambling State University graduate teachers and educational and community leaders. Content, professional, and pedagogical knowledge, skills and dispositions enable professional educators to help all advanced candidates reach their full potential. The College of Education, the College of Professional Studies and the School of Graduate Studies recognize three strands: preparers of subject matter scholars, facilitators of learning, and enhancers and nurturers of affective behaviors.

Recruitment: Faculty and staff actively engage in efforts to recruit candidates for high-need content areas, as well as for specific geographic areas with high needs. Recruitment of a diverse candidate pool continues to be the goal of both GSU and the EPP. In addition, the EPP also actively encourages candidates to join professional associations such as the North Louisiana Reading Council (an affiliate of International Literacy Association), and Council for Exceptional Children.

Evidence and Analysis

Description of Evidence: The narrative, URLs, tables, and screenshots in The Evidence section below provide information about:

• the general admissions criteria for graduate candidates at GSU,

• program-specific admissions criteria for the College of Education Advanced Programs, and

• diversity of entry cohorts

Grambling honors its admissions policy and welcomes applications from all interested potential students, the College of Education has program-specific admissions criteria (see below).

Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium 1 RA3.1 Recruitment

General Admissions Requirements: #GramFam is more than a hashtag, it’s a culture. Candidates are informed how they will become part of a learning community where their uniqueness will be celebrated, their growth will be cultivated, and their paths will prepare them for success. The University defines admission as follows:

Specific admissions information can be found by clicking on this link.

Program-specific admissions criteria for the College of Education Advanced Programs: The Department of Curriculum and Instruction proudly boasts of its status as the oldest department at Grambling State University. Accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) since 1964, the department is committed to preparing teachers and other school professionals who possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become successful career educators.

The major purpose of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction is to develop educators who demonstrate competency in their respective areas of responsibility, exhibit characteristics of reflective practitioners, and who utilize research and best practices. Further, the department encourages educators to become informed decisionmakers and advocates for children who hold themselves accountable to their clients, to the community, and to the profession.

The Department offers two Master of Education degree programs at the graduate level. Excellent advising and close supervision help to ensure advanced candidate success. New candidates from other institutions have remarked about the supportive contact from advisors and faculty. Faculty are encouraged to use, and encourage candidates to follow current trends, best practices in research, collaboration, reflection, technology use, and professional development support and enhance candidates’ experiences throughout their matriculation. Performance assessments and professional standards are inherent in the program design. Faculty are committed to providing comprehensive advanced educator preparation programs that include courses and experiences dedicated to producing highly qualified educators who are knowledgeable, skilled, and compassionate masters of subject matter content, facilitators of learning, and nurturers of affective behaviors.

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction fosters collaboration with other departments and colleges at the university and encourages the active participation of all stakeholders in program planning, implementation, and evaluation that is aligned with the unit’s conceptual framework and the University’s mission for the preparation of teachers and other school professionals.

Admissions requirements for the various programs, along with corresponding documents, may be found by clicking on this link

Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution

"College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.

Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium

RA3.1 Recruitment

1

Demographic data for our cohorts in the M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction and M.Ed. in Special Education may be found in Standard Three Compendium 2 – RA3.2 Candidates Demonstrate Academic Achievement and Ability to Complete Preparation Successfully.

These data mirror local, state, and national needs for hard-to-staff schools. The National Center for Education Statistics (2022) provides evidence of the teaching shortage.

The recruitment goals will not only support P-12 students, by increasing the number of teachers who are certified in the shortage area of Special Education, but will address Literacy concerns in the state, nation, and internationally by increasing the number of educators who have completed advanced training as Reading Specialists. For example, candidates who are in the program and completed action research projects have cited international research studies that demonstrate that literacy concerns across all content areas are not confined to this country, but are worldwide.

PROGRAM GOALS PROGRESS

2022-2023 M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction- Reading

Recruit 6 new candidates into the program, both male and female, traditional and online

2022-2023 M.Ed. - Special Education Recruit 6 new candidates into the program, both male and female, both traditional and online

2023-2024 M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction- Reading Recruit 8 new candidates into the program, both male and female

2023-2024 M.Ed. in Special Education Recruit 7 new candidates into the program, both male and female, both traditional and online

Analysis and Interpretation

Recruited 4 candidates into the program, 2 males, 2 females, all traditional

Recruited 1 candidate, female, 100% online

TBD

TBD

As stated in the GSU Standard Three Compendium 1 - R3.1 Access and Equity, the evidence presented above shows that the provider sets goals and monitors progress for admission and support of high-quality program candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations, more specifically a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). These data align with the mission and goals set by the College of Education.

Filling the teaching needs in America is a very challenging task especially when the teacher shortage is such a national epidemic. The retirement of teachers along with the effects of COVID 19 has caused 45% of schools to report at least one vacancy. Also, 61% of public schools reported having at least one vacancy due to COVID-19. With this and other statistics provided by NCES (2022), a crisis in education is upon us. The demand for teachers at the local, state, regional, and national levels is at an all -time high and Grambling State University’s efforts in helping to fulfill this need are evident. The National Center for Education Statistics (2022) provided additional evidence of the teaching shortage.

Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International "College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.

Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium 1 RA3.1 Recruitment

Focus Area(s):

Focus Area 1: M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction- Reading: Increase the number of advanced candidates in our program through collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs, and specifically Enrollment Management. We must market the program more aggressively throughout the state and nation. We will have to look at short- term and long-term strategies for viability and capitalize on program strengths and flexibility.

Focus Area 2: M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction- Reading: Increase the number of diverse candidates in the areas of gender and ethnicity. Anecdotal observations and research into the “crisis of boys” suggest that promoting more males into the field of literacy could have a positive effect on the academic achievement of P-12 males.

Focus Area 3: M.Ed. in Special Education: Similar to Focus Area #1, Increase the number of advanced candidates in our M.Ed. program in Special Education through collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs, and specifically Enrollment Management. Even though this is a shortage area nationwide, we must market the program more aggressively throughout the state and nation. We will have to look at short-term and long-term strategies for viability and capitalize on program strengths and flexibility.

Focus Area 4: M.Ed. in Special Education: Increase the number of diverse candidates in the areas of gender and ethnicity. Anecdotal observations and research into the “crisis of boys” suggest that promoting more males into the field of special education could have a positive effect on the academic achievement of P-12 males by reducing the disproportionality of males and particularly males of color in special education programs.

Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed