Standard 1

Element 8: Student Learning for Other Professional School Personnel (OPSP)

The unit offers four programs for Other Professional School Personnel (OPSP). These are Reading Specialist, Educational Administration at the Building Level, Educational Administration at the District Level, and School Psychology. The Conceptual Framework themes of Research and Best Practice, Content and Pedagogical Knowledge, and Professionalism are reflected in each program. Each program area is required to include a minimum of eight assessments in its assessment plan, one of which measures candidate effects on student learning. A description of the assessments used by each program is available in the KSDE program reports at http://soe.ku.edu/ncate/program-reports.

Examples of assessments include those based on student work samples, portfolio tasks, case studies, follow-up studies, and employer surveys. This element also asks units to provide evidence that candidates understand the communities that they serve, can work with children and families, use research in practice, and utilize technology in their practice. The following examples from Other Professional School Personnel help demonstrate that the element is met.

• Reading Specialist. KSDE standards govern this program, which were informed by those of the International Reading Association. Candidates for the Reading Specialist endorsement complete a semester-long practicum. In this enrollment (the 728 course), they complete a case study on a student who has reading difficulty. Candidates state an appropriate research question, study the available research, develop a method for answering it, deliver an intervention for six weeks, aggregate data and analyze it, and report the results of their research in a class presentation. The presentation is scored not only on the basis of the research, but the manner in which the candidate has developed and reported the research professionally, another theme of the Educators as Leaders conceptual framework.
• Building Level Educational Administration. In the second summer of this master’s-level cohort program, candidates take T&L (or hereafter) ELPS 854—Students and Society. This seminar is designed to assist candidate reflection on the populations of students that they serve. Its course description is “A study of children and youth with particular emphasis on demographic characteristics of the population served by schools and implications of those characteristics for schools and schooling.” In the summer of 2006, candidates read five contemporary works; they reflected, discussed, and wrote about them. Among those read were Corwin’s (2000, William Morrow and Company) And Still We Rise: The Trials and Tribulations of Twelve Inner-City High School Students and Wiseman’s (2002, Three Rivers Press) Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence. Reflection questions include, “Who are you and how has the book affected your ideas? How will it affect your work? What new ideas has the book made you consider? And, "How, if it has, made you think about a familiar topic differently?” The scoring rubric for each book's paper is included in the course syllabus.
• District Level Educational Administration. The first KSDE district level administrator standard states that an educational leader is one who promotes the success of all students and staff. As one example of how this is standard is assessed, a specific project in the District Leadership course (ELPS 956) requires candidates to read a book, participate in a study group, and make a presentation on leadership to refine their perspective on the district leader’s role in establishing a vision for learning. Through this project, candidates are challenged to confront a vision of leadership for learning that involves stewardship—the heart of a servant—and the expectations of followers from their leaders. Additionally, in this course, candidates are assessed on their knowledge of the research on those districts that have been successful over an extended period of time in raising student achievement and closing achievement gaps.
• Building and District Level Educational Administration. Candidates at both levels complete year-long field experiences. Candidates are required to journal their experiences and are assigned a grade based on their performance in completing the required experiences, the journal, evaluations by their field-based mentor and university faculty supervisor, and a review of candidate performance based on licensing standards. Candidates are determined to be at “Level 1”—not able to show evidence of meeting the standard or inconsistently applies the standard—to “Level 3”—consistently applies and integrates the standard.” In the 2005-2006 academic year, 13 candidates completed the building level endorsement and 12 sought the district level endorsement. All 13 building level candidates were judged to have met all six standards at Level 2 or Level 3. In the six standard district level program, the faculty supervisor was responsible for making 72 decisions, as each of the 12 candidates was responsible for meeting six standards (12 x 6 = 72). Seven standards were judged to have been met only at Level 1, while 16 were met at Level 3; 49 were met at Level 2. Details of this assessment process can be found in the Educational Leadership exhibit (http://soe.ku.edu/ncate/exhibits/ed-leadership).
• School Psychology. One of the standards of NASP, which accredits the school psychology program, is Standard 8: Families and Communities. The standard reads, “The school psychologist works effectively with families, educators, and others in the community to promote and provide comprehensive services to children and families.” All candidates complete one of their practica in “Therapeutic Intervention: Home and School.” The course includes a review of literature and theory as well as supervised practice. Therapeutic intervention is broadly conceived, including individual and group counseling and parent and teacher consultation. The importance of the family-school relationship is stressed. Much of the work for candidates is completed with students and their families in the Center for Psychoeducational Services, a technology-rich facility in the School of Education.

Reviewers are encouraged to visit with both candidates and their faculty mentors on these and other measures at the time of the visit.