An Examination of Institutional Reports: Use of Data for Program Improvement

Owing to national emphasis on accountability, teacher education programs are under close scrutiny by federal and state-level entities to justify their purpose and usefulness in preparing future teachers. Accrediting agencies have set high standards, which ask for systematic assessment of teacher education programs and their candidates. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher preparation program assessment systems and unit evaluations-specifically, the use of data for program improvement. Using the interpretive/constructivist paradigm, we used a qualitative approach to compare and contrast 80 institutional reports from teacher education programs based on National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's Standard 2, Element 3 ("Assessment System and Unit Evaluation: Use of Data for Program Improvement"). The findings revealed that the most common areas of program improvement were (1) changes in curriculum, (2) assessment systems, (3) unit and program structures, and (4) admissions and advising policies and procedures. In addition, programs throughout the country generally identified similar problems and proposed common solutions, no matter the institution size, type, or geographic location.