School of Learning and Teaching Accreditation & Continuous Improvement Plan
AAQEP Accreditation - Call For Third-Party Comment
Submission Deadline: March 9, 2022
On April 7-8, Pacific University will host an accreditation visit by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). In preparation for the visit, the AAQEP Quality Review Team is soliciting public comment about the quality of educator preparation provided by Pacific University. All comments must be submitted by March 9, 2022 through the AAQEP website: Submit Comment
Transition to AAQEP Accreditation
In partnership with many other colleges of education across the state of Oregon such as Eastern Oregon University, George Fox University, University of Oregon, Southern Oregon University, and the University of Portland, the Pacific University College of Education has opted to transition to a new state-approved national accreditor, the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). AAQEP promotes and recognizes quality educator preparation that strengthens the education profession’s ability to serve all students, schools and communities, in equitable and sustainable ways.
We have been working closely with Oregon’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) throughout this transition and received continuing state recognition in February 2020 where we received commendations for our “emphasis on real-world focused and practice-based learning experiences” for our candidates. Our focus continues to be on providing our candidates with teaching experiences that best prepare them for their futures within classrooms across the state of Oregon and beyond.
Our decision to partner with AAQEP stems from our common and shared values. AAQEP and Pacific University both promote excellent, effective and innovative educator preparation. Our continued partnership with TSPC and our new partnership with AAQEP reinforces our commitment to live our vision of visionary practice, principled advocacy and ethical action.
Please contact me, Leif Gustavson, PhD, Dean of the College of Education, at gustavson@pacificu.edu if you would like more information about our national accreditation process and our transition to AAQEP.
Continuous Improvement Plan
It is important to us that we have a reliable sense of how effective our graduates are as teachers as well as how satisfied employers and our graduates are with our teacher preparation programs. In order for us to have a comprehensive understanding of effectiveness and satisfaction, we have designed a quality assurance system that surveys employers and our graduates, analyzes statewide student assessment data, and documents our graduates teaching in the field.
Continuous Improvement Instruments
The Employer/Completer Survey - The Employer/Completer survey asks our graduates how well they believe our program prepared them for their first year of teaching. The survey also asks superintendents and principals of schools that employ our graduates about their observations of our graduates' performance. The survey's objective is to help the School of Learning and Teaching determine how the program is effective at developing the essential knowledge and skills that teachers need to be successful. It also identifies areas where we can improve. The Employer/Completer survey is distributed annually.
The Employer/Completer survey asks superintendents and principals to rate our graduates using the inTASC standards as the measure for teacher effectiveness. Superintendents and principals rate our graduates in four main categories of preparation: learner and learning, content knowledge, professional responsibility, and instructional practice. Graduates are asked to rate their preparation on a 1 to 4 Likert scale with 1 meaning “Very Dissatisfied” and 4 meaning “Very Satisfied.”
P12 Student Performance on Statewide Achievement Tests - Beginning in 18-19, the Oregon Department of Education will be providing all teacher preparation programs with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade achievement test data, disaggregated by teacher preparation program. This will enable us to track our our graduates for three years and provide one lens into how our program has contributed to their success in the classroom.
Case studies on Pacific University Teacher Effectiveness - In an effort to triangulate data from several sources, Pacific University is designing case studies to test the effectiveness of our graduates in their classrooms. Pacific intends to study p12 effectiveness in an Action Research paradigm by using a stratified random sample (program, level, content area) of our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year graduates to provide another lens onto how our program contributes to their success in the classroom. Our plan is to begin collecting this data in 18-19.
Continuous Improvement Instrument Results
Our teacher preparation program’s impact on P-12 Student Learning
- Data in development: Expected 20-21
Indicators of Teacher Effectiveness
- P-12 student performance on statewide achievement tests: expected 20-21
- Case studies on Pacific University Teacher Effectiveness: expected 20-21
- 18-19 Teacher Effectiveness Survey Summary
- 17-18 Teacher Effectiveness Survey Summary
- 16-17 Employer/Completer survey summary
Employer Satisfaction with Pacific University Graduates
Results of the Employer/Completer survey for Pacific graduates who were hired between 2013-2016 indicate that superintendents and principals were pleased with our preparation. 100% of the administrators checked “yes” to “Would you hire or recommend hiring this teacher” and 100% of administrators who completed the survey checked that they were “very satisfied” with the overall performance of the teacher.
- 18-19 Employer satisfaction survey summary
- 17-18 Employer satisfaction survey summary
- 16-17 Employer satisfaction survey summary
Graduate Satisfaction with their Pacific University Program
- 18-19 Alumni satisfaction survey summary
- 17-18 Alumni satisfaction survey summary
- 16-17 Alumni satisfaction survey summary
Program Completion Data
- Pacific University graduation rates by program
- 18-19 Teacher graduate employment rates:
- 17-18 Teacher graduate employment rates:
AAQEP EPP Annual Report - Academic Year 2019-2020
Annual Reports provide a regular opportunity for all AAQEP members to update their program data and for accredited members to show that program quality is being maintained or enhanced and that AAQEP standards continue to be met. In the process, Annual Reports also provide information on common indicators and transparency to stakeholders and the public.
The 2020 EPP Annual Report for the 2019-20 Academic Year is available by clicking here.