Faculty Fellows for Assessment

The Faculty Fellows for Assessment initiative began in 2015. The purpose of the initiative is to expand and increase faculty’s knowledge of assessment and support the development of high quality assessments of student learning.

Faculty often have a less than positive view of assessment and the demands student learning assessment places on their time and energy. We want to change this perception by supporting faculty to build assessments that measure things they really care about and really want to know more about such as how their students are learning and performing on essential knowledge, skills and dispositions. The more faculty understand assessment, the more programs, departments, and candidates can be supported.

Expectations for Faculty Fellows

• Task
  Deliverable
• 1. Engage in 20 hours of professional development related to assessment and/or accreditation.
  Professional learning log.
• 1. Attend Fall or Spring CAEP Conference
  Community of Practice Debrief Sessions
• 1. Collaboratively develop an action plan and timeline for the revisions of program level assessments.
  Completed Action Plan from Assigned Programs
• 1. Provide guidance and facilitate the process for programs to evaluate their assessments and rubrics based on the CAEP Assessment Rubric and support revisions as necessary.
  Completed CAEP Assessment Rubrics for each program area assessment from assigned programs.
• 1. Collaboratively identify, plan and/or implement professional development and/or faculty support sessions to advance knowledge, skills, and dispositions relating to assessment of student learning and continuous improvement for assigned program areas.
  List of professional development session(s) offered with attendance sheets and or list of supports provided to the program.
• 1. Coordinate and facilitate validity and reliability studies on the program area assessments.

  List of program assessments that are ready for inter-rater reliability examination and timeline for when that can occur. 

  Inter-rater reliability reports on assigned program assessments as appropriate.

2015-2017 Faculty Fellows

• Four faculty members from departments across the EPP (Educator Preparation Provider) comprised the initial cohort of Assessment Fellows
• Dr. Sohyun An – Associate Professor of Social Studies Education Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education
• Dr. Melissa Driver – Assistant Professor of Special Education Department of Inclusive Education
• Dr. Belinda Edwards – Associate Professor of Mathematics Department of Mathematics
• Dr. Karen Kuhel – Professor of TESOL Department of Inclusive Education

Faculty Fellows Projects

Although the primary focus for the initial faculty fellows was to support program faculty in revising their six to eight program assessments, they also played a pivotal role in shaping a yearlong agenda of professional learning opportunities related to assessment for the entire EPP. The yearlong assessment agenda included sessions on the assessment rubric provided by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), strategies to create effective assessment, how to assess for deep learning, and how to use assessment strategies for continuous improvement.

• Establishment of a Bias Panel to review EPP program key assessments for fairness and bias – Drs. Karen Kuhel and Sohyun An
• Examination of CAEP Case Study Methodology – Dr. Melissa Driver
• Establishment of a Reliability Protocol for EPP programs – Dr. Belinda Edwards

For More Information

If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact Dr. Leigh Funk, Associate Dean for Assessment and Accreditation at lfunk@kennesaw.edu.