CAEP Annual Reporting Measures

At the UVA School of Education and Human Development, we don’t just train teachers. We aim to graduate effective and compassionate school leaders who are ready to make a difference in their students’ lives.

Rigorous, evidence-based coursework, carefully paired with practical experience in the field, prepares our future school leaders with the skills and experience they need to create enriching learning environments for their students.

Whether they’re developing their leadership abilities in administration and supervision, learning classroom management in teacher education, studying social-emotional development in clinical and school psychology, training to become compassionate advocates in counselor education, or nurturing young readers in reading education, our students go on to lead fulfilling and successful careers in education. We know this because we measure it. The School of Education and Human Development relies on data – compiling graduate surveys, tracking licensure, test scores and more – to gain the insight we need to make our programs even better. We believe that teachers and school leaders should be empowered to make a difference in their students’ lives from the first day they step foot in the classroom.

The Educator Preparation Program (EPP) offers the following programs, which are accredited by CAEP:

  • Administration and Supervision
  • Clinical and School Psychology
  • Counselor Education
  • Early Childhood 
  • Elementary (baccalaureate) 
  • Elementary (master's)
  • English as a Second Language
  • English 
  • Mathematics 
  • Reading Specialist
  • Science - Biology
  • Science - Chemistry
  • Science - Earth Science
  • Science - Physics
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education General Curriculum (baccalaureate)
  • Special Education General Curriculum (master's)

CAEP Accountability Measures

UVA EHD is committed to preparing educators who positively impact the development and learning of their students. Positioned in a state which does not provide EPPs with data on completer impact, UVA’s Teacher Education program developed and monitors multiple measures to understand the degree to which completers are contributing to expected learning and growth in schools. This includes collection of teacher evaluation data from partner districts, division leader focus group data, and triangulated impact ratings on the VEAC Employer survey. These measures have been selected due to their alignment with the Virginia Uniform Performance Standards (VUPS) used to evaluate all Virginia teachers, as well as CAEP and InTASC competencies.

Teacher Evaluation Data Summer 2022Teacher Evaluation Data Pilot | Employer Focus Group

Teacher Evaluation  Data: In 2021, VDOE established the VUPS, which measure performance in eight teaching domains: 1) Professional Knowledge; 2) Instructional Planning; 3) Instructional Delivery; 4) Assessment for Student Learning; 5) Learning Environment; 6) Culturally Responsive Teaching and Equitable Practices; 7) Professionalism; and 8) Student Academic Progress. Ratings on the VUPS are based on a building administrator's review of multiple pieces of evidence provided by the teacher, including evidence of students' academic progress and classroom observations by one or more building administrators. Each school system must document the validity and reliability of its rating process. Thus, completers' VUPS ratings provide evidence through structured and validated observation instruments to demonstrate completers effectively apply the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions that the preparation experiences were designed to achieve. Each of the eight standards is closely aligned with the evidence needed for CAEP Standard 4. The Student Academic Progress standard specifically provides evidence that documents program completers' contribution to an expected level of student-learning growth. EHD has collected data from program completers from classes of 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-2021 through relationships with local school divisions HR departments. Data were requested in 2021 and 2022. EHD has data from a variety of endorsement areas and from three Virginia school divisions. Aggregated data from these three cohorts indicate the majority of students are rated as proficient (effective) or exemplary in their official summative evaluation on each performance standard. The EPP did not collect school division evaluation data in summer 2023, but will continue to collect school division evaluation data in summer 2024.

Focus Groups: EHD conducts focus groups with different sets of stakeholders to understand key trends that address several components of the CAEP standards. EHD recruited a panel of P-12 school leaders and developed a focus group protocol designed to elicit perspectives on the satisfaction of employers with EHD programs, graduates, and their impact on P-12 student learning and development in 2021. The Director of Assessment and Director of Teacher Education developed the focus group protocol, aligning items with the language of standard R4.1, CAEP workbook guiding questions, and questions of interest to the program for continuous improvement. The Director of Assessment then conducted the focus group via Zoom using the designed protocol, recording the focus group to transcribe participant responses and analyze responses for overarching themes. Participants were selected purposefully to reflect a diversity of school size, demographic and socio-economic makeup, and grade levels. In this way, EHD selected a representative sample of employers from whom to solicit program satisfaction feedback.

The purpose of the focus group was to establish evidence that the TED program provides effective preparation which results in completers’ instruction for P-12 student learning and development and that employers are satisfied with the relevance and effectiveness of the TED program. In addition, EHD aimed to establish evidence showing that our candidates effectively contribute to P-12 student learning growth and apply the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions that our experiences were designed to achieve. Results suggest employers feel completers effectively contribute to P-12 student-learning growth and apply the appropriate knowledge, skills, and dispositions gained through the Teacher Education program. Completers demonstrate proficiency with content knowledge, identification of resources, applying effective and appropriate strategies for differentiation, and relationship-building with students, families, and peers. Participants indicated they perceive the TED program’s clinical experiences to be strong, providing a solid foundation for applying requisite knowledge and skills in the classroom as completers. Particularly, participants described completers’ strength around an asset-based approach to planning and instruction. They noted completers’ knowledge - as novice teachers - around initiatives focusing on equity, including culturally responsive teaching. The summary document linked above provides detailed focus group results.

The EPP did not conduct a focus group panel of P-12 school leaders in 2023, but did conduct clinical experience focus group data in the 2022-2023 academic year.

VEAC Employer Survey: UVA participates in the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) initial licensure employer survey, which is fielded annually to program completer’s employers from the last three years. The VEAC initial licensure employer survey concludes with an item asking principals to individually rate each program completer using the following text: “Based on your experience with this teacher, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to meet the needs of your students in your school?” Respondent employers could respond “Fully ready (able to have an immediate impact on student learning)”, “Mostly ready (able to successfully meet the needs of most students)”, “Moderately ready (in order to be successful, needed additional training, support, and coaching beyond what is typically provided to beginning teachers),” “Minimally ready (limited success meeting the needs of students and improving outcomes even with additional supports)” or “Not ready (unable to meet the needs of students even with additional supports).” UVA believes that this item strongly triangulates with evidence of program completer’s ability to have a positive effect on all learners. As Virginia does not provide impact data, evidence from principals when evaluating one specific candidate (not a broad question framed – “candidates from UVA impact…”) is an effective method of collecting this feedback data. VEAC matched data (N=8) from four partner EPPs collected from both official school-division provided impact scores from Spotsylvania County Public Schools and principal overall evaluation rating from 2020 and found a Pearson correlation coefficient of .82 between the two measures. This is a moderate to high level of positive correlation between the two measures, suggesting that these measures triangulate with impact scores. Note that these data are only from one school division which was able to share measures to calculate this type of score. However, logically, principals complete state mandated summative final evaluations within a month of the VEAC initial licensure employer survey. We expect to see that these measures should be similar, as they measure the same underlying concept.

From the 2022-2023 survey, 90% of employers (N=105) rated UVA program completers as “Fully ready (able to have an immediate impact on student learning)” or Mostly ready (able to successfully meet the needs of most students).” In comparison, 85% of the VEAC network (N=1208) were rated “Fully ready (able to have an immediate impact on student learning)” or “Mostly ready (able to successfully meet the needs of most students).” As an EPP, we believe that our program completers are able to effectively impact the lives of all learners at or above the same level as our in-state peers.

EHD works closely with many internal and external partners to engage in program design, evaluation, and continuous improvement. Several partnerships are highlighted below.

Clinical Partners Groups: Teacher Education faculty and staff collaborate with P-12 teachers, building administrators, and central office personnel through Clinical Partners Groups (CPG). The purpose of these groups is to co-construct, review, and refine program materials, assessments, and clinical experiences to the mutual benefit of teacher candidates and school partners. Recent data dialogues have engaged partners in reviewing results from completer surveys, employer surveys, and clinical educator evaluations. Meeting minutes and materials also demonstrate ways in which partners have engaged in joint problem solving and curricular review. Outside of the CPG structure, EHD also solicits external stakeholder feedback through individual conversations and structured focus groups.

Sample Data and Instrument Review: Clinical Educator EvaluationSample Instrument Co-Construction: Internship Evaluation

Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC): VEAC represents another external partnership supporting EHD’s continuous improvement efforts. The purpose of VEAC is to provide a centralized assessment structure for Virginia EPPs. In addition to reducing the complexity of survey completion for administrators, the use of common instruments has allowed EHD to benchmark its data against the larger consortium of participating EPPs. The use of shared instruments also provides a common language for EPPs, which can prompt discussion around areas for collective improvement across Virginia. The VEAC steering committee - which includes EHD’s Director of Assessment and Director of Teacher Education - have facilitated a range of statewide virtual meetings to engage stakeholders in conversations about shared problems of practice. Recent meetings have focused on topics such as meaningful stakeholder engagement to inform program improvement and strategies for facilitating data dialogues across stakeholder groups. Through VEAC, EHD has positioned itself as a leader and collaborator in state-level assessment initiatives that support continuous improvement efforts.

Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative | Sample Data Review: Assessment and Use of Data

Virginia Community College System: Recruitment is another area in which internal and external partnerships play a critical role in program design, implementation, and evaluation. The Teacher Education program maintains a strategic recruitment plan that details the many internal and external personnel across units with whom faculty and staff engage in recruitment efforts, including the dean’s office, central admissions, and the EHD Office of Communication and Marketing. The Teacher Education program also collaborates with partners from Virginia’s Community College System (VCCS) to build sustainable structures to support the recruitment and retention of transfer students.

Teacher Education Data Committee: The Teacher Education Data Committee was established in 2015 to provide oversight and support for all data collection efforts in the Teacher Education program. Committee members meet to review Teacher Education Participant Pool data collection processes and instruments. The committee includes faculty and staff with a range of expertise. The Director of Teacher Education convenes the committee, and the Director of Assessment and Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education Data Manager serve as ex officio members. Faculty representatives include tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty from within the Teacher Education program as well as a faculty member from the Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Policy with expertise in education policy and teacher labor markets. By including a wide range of university personnel, the Data Committee ensures decisions balance considerations for research, programmatic improvement, and accreditation.

UVA K-12 Advisory Council: The UVA K12 Advisory Council was formed in 2001 as a way for the UVA School of Education and Human Development to establish coherent, sustained relationships with school districts that support the continuing professional development of the K12 education community. The model for these relationships incorporates job-embedded professional learning and examines the possibilities for co-creation of learning opportunities within the districts we serve. 

K-12 Advisory Council

Teacher Education

The Employer Survey is distributed annually to principals in all schools in which graduates from the previous three years are currently teaching. The survey measures employers’ satisfaction with the preparation of School of Education and Human Development graduates for their assigned responsibilities in working with P-12 students. UVA participates in the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative Employer Survey for Initial Licensure programs. The Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative utilizes a common, standardized survey of program completers and their employers using the language and concepts of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Uniform Performance Standards. There are 36 Educator Preparation Programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia surveying program completers and their employers each year seeking to improve their programs and meet requirements of the Virginia Department of Education and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. By standardizing survey recruitment, timelines, and process, VEAC hopes to reduce the complexity of surveys that principals and administrators complete each year to support EPPs. By benchmarking with the other VEAC participants, EPPs can better understand their strengths and areas for improvement. Additionally, VEAC provides a common language and prompts discussion for program improvement.

2023 | 20222021202020192018

To provide additional data in support of CAEP R4.1 and R4.2, the Teacher Education program conducted an Employer Focus Group in fall 2021. Measure 1 includes a description of the focus group protocol and summary of findings. A copy of the protocol and results is available here: Employer Focus Group.

Administration and Supervision

The VEAC Advanced Employer Survey is distributed annually to administrators in schools and divisions in which graduates from the previous three years are currently serving. The survey measures employers’ satisfaction with the preparation of School of Education and Human Development graduates for their assigned responsibilities in working with P-12 students and schools. UVA participates in the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative Employer Survey for the Administration and Supervision program. The Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative utilizes a common, standardized survey of program completers and their employers using the language and concepts of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Uniform Performance Standards for Principals. 

2023

Reading

The Employer Survey is distributed to division and school leaders in schools in which graduates from the previous three years are currently working. The survey measures employers’ satisfaction with the preparation of UVA’s School of Education and Human Development Reading Specialist program graduates for their assigned responsibilities in working with P-12 students and teachers as Reading Specialists.

Data from the 2020-2021 survey administration indicate that, on the whole, employers are satisfied with preparation of our Reading Specialist graduates. Additionally, data collected from the pilot VEAC advanced employer survey (N>5) indicate that completers are prepared or fully prepared to meet the needs of their preK-12 learners. The EPP is currently surveying employers of program graduates through VEAC in Spring 2024. Results will be shared in the 2025 CAEP Annual Report.

Counselor Education

As part of their ongoing CACREP accreditation, the Counselor Education Employer Survey is administered annually. Results demonstrate that, in general, employers of program graduates perceive these graduates as well-prepared for the positions they secure following program completion.

CACREP Annual Report

School and Clinical Psychology

The School and Clinical Psychology program has developed strong and ongoing relationships with employers across the Commonwealth in a variety of settings, including hospitals and acute-care clinics in the state. To gather information and feedback on the quality of preparation provided by the program for its graduates as they enter the field, the program has begun conducting interviews of employers who regularly hire program graduates. The feedback garnered from these interviews has been overwhelmingly positive. Summary remarks are shared below:

"They all come in with strong research backgrounds and clinical skills informed by current research and also are in the habit of consulting recent research to make treatment decisions and plans and are skillful at knowing how to do that."

"Overall I tend to be very, very pleased with their [graduates]...they’re really well-prepared, responsible, ethnically diverse which is wonderful."

"...the students from Curry are poised, professionally mature, have had a nice stance in terms of not knowing a lot about the job [yet] but comporting themselves in a way that positions them to be recognized as one of the doctors and that’s a tribute to the selection and the maturity of Curry students."

In addition, and as part of their ongoing APA accreditation activities, the School Psychology program tracks graduate employment milestones at five years post-graduation and two years post-graduation. All 7 alumni who graduated five years ago are employed in professional settings (n=1 at School District, n=1 at Correctional Facility, n=1 in Independent Practice, n=3 at Hospital/Medical Center, and n=1 in Other: Project Manager). The 5 alumni who graduated two years ago are also all fully employed (n=2 in Independent Practice; n=2 in Hospital/Medical Center, and n=1 in a mix of Independent Practice, Psychiatric Facility, and School District).

Initial Licensure

Teacher Education degree and course requirements are aligned to Virginia’s Regulations Governing the Review and Approval of Education Programs in Virginia, and the TED office submits program matrices demonstrating alignment with state regulations. Multiple sources of evidence are used to ensure candidates are prepared for certification at completion of the program. The TED office systematically monitors candidates’ progress from admission through program completion using a series of transition points. These transition points are aligned to competencies outlined in R1 and include measures used to measure candidates’ content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical skills, critical dispositions, professional responsibilities, and the ability to integrate technology effectively in their practice. At every transition point, candidates’ GPA and grades are monitored to ensure compliance with school and program benchmarks and to assess candidates’ acquisition of content and pedagogical knowledge in courses. Prior to the culminating internship, candidates submit passing scores on all licensure exams and evidence of completion of statutory requirements. At the end of each clinical experience, the Internship Evaluation is used to measure candidates’ professional dispositions and performance in the classroom. At the end of the program, the Portfolio is used to measure candidates’ growth and mastery of competencies across the trajectory of the candidate’s experience in the program.

Academic Requirements: Throughout the program, candidates must meet specified grade thresholds in courses applied to the state-approved program: B- for graduate candidates and C+ for undergraduate students. Candidates must pass all coursework with the minimum grades stated above to be eligible for degree completion and licensure. Across all programs, three cycles of GPA data indicate all cohort averages are above the CAEP threshold of 3.0 every semester, and 100% of completers meet the B- or C+ requirements for their respective programs.

Licensure Exams: Prior to the culminating internship, candidates must submit passing scores on all licensure exams, including the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment (all candidates), Praxis Specialty Test (all candidates except special education), and Praxis Teaching Reading Elementary (early childhood, elementary, and special education). Data from the last three Title II cycles indicate program pass rates for completers are 100%, and scores are consistently higher than the state average.

Statutory Requirements: Candidates must also provide evidence of completion of statutory requirements: child abuse and neglect training; training in emergency first aid, CPR, and the use of AED; dyslexia training; and behavior intervention and support training. Candidates are unable to complete the program until these requirements have been met, and therefore 100% of completers meet these requirements.

Internship Evaluation: Clinical coaches and mentor teachers evaluate candidates’ content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, dispositions, and performance on the internship evaluation. Candidates also complete a self-evaluation. The internship evaluation measures candidates’ progression on competencies aligned to the VUPS and InTASC standards. The development, structure, and implementation of the evaluation are outlined in the internship evaluation instrument guide. The expectation is that candidates score a 3.0, the target rating of “Proficient,” on the final set of evaluations. Candidates participate in a final conference with their coach and mentor to review feedback and establish professional development goals for their first year of teaching. Data from this reporting cycle demonstrate candidates are meeting and exceeding this threshold.

Portfolio: To supplement current data collection efforts, the TED program piloted a new portfolio rubric in 2022. The portfolio measures candidates’ development on competencies aligned to the VUPS and InTASC standards. The portfolio is a summative assessment and occurs at the end of the candidates’ experience in the program, although candidates use artifacts from across their time in the program to demonstrate each competency. Information about the development, structure, and implementation of the portfolio is available in the portfolio instrument guide. The expectation is that candidates score a 3.0, the target rating of “Proficient,” on the portfolio rubric. Data from this reporting cycle demonstrate candidates are meeting and exceeding this threshold.

Teacher Education

The School of Education and Human Development collects initial employment data of its program completers in various ways, including an employment survey distributed upon program completion, email communication between program completers and the Academic Programs and Student Affairs team, an alumni survey, and web-based searches. The table below provides the percentage of programs completers who were employed as a classroom teacher, employed in an education position other than that of a classroom teacher, employed outside of the education field, enrolled in higher education, or their employment status is unknown.

2023 | 20222021

Administration and Supervision

Data from the INSPIRE Graduate Survey provide an indication of the types of positions program graduates take.

2017 | 2016

Reading

The reading program administers a survey to program graduates to elicit feedback on the program. As part of this survey, graduates are asked whether the degree and/or additional certification earned as part of the program enabled them to move into a new position. Data from the fall 2017 survey are not presented here, as N < 10. In future years, data will be compiled across administrations to meet or exceed a minimum N of 10.

Counselor Education

The counselor education program surveys graduates at exit and annually to determine job placement and position type. Job placement rates for the counselor education program are consistently 100%.

CACREP Annual Reporting Measures

School and Clinical Psychology

As part of accreditation requirements for APA, the school and clinical psychology program at UVA collects data on employment of its graduates. Please note that this program prepares both clinical and school psychologists, and the majority of program graduates enter the clinical psychology field. All 7 alumni who graduated five years ago are employed in professional settings (n=1 at School District, n=1 at Correctional Facility, n=1 in Independent Practice, n=3 at Hospital/Medical Center, and n=1 in Other: Project Manager). The 5 alumni who graduated two years ago are also all fully employed (n=2 in Independent Practice; n=2 in Hospital/Medical Center, and n=1 in a mix of Independent Practice, Psychiatric Facility, and School District). 

APA Annual Reporting Measures

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