Accreditation & Annual Reports

Education Program

Education Program Accreditation and Annual Reports

The Vincennes University (VU) teacher preparation program has been accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) since 2012. National accreditation is a mark of distinction and provides recognition that educator preparation programs have met national professional standards.

In 2014, the consolidation of NCATE into the accrediting body of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), an evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning, was recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Vincennes University is currently fully accredited through the Higher Learning Commission.

The national accreditation process includes two parts. Part 1 involves review of individual programs. All initial licensure programs are approved by the Indiana Department of Education. Additionally, each licensure program is recognized a specialty professional organization as indicated in the chart below. Part 2 of the national accreditation process involves the review of the unit (the collection of programs). The unit reviews include a self-study and an on-site visit.

VU Program	Specialty Professional Association
Special Education, Mild Intervention, Elementary Education K-6	Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) https://exceptionalchildren.org/ CAEP Evidence of Standard One
Secondary Mathematics Education	National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) www.nctm.org/ncate
Secondary Science Education	CAEP Evidence of Standard One

TITLE II REPORTS:

1388 REPORTS:

House Enrolled Act No. 1388 (HEA 1388) was enacted during the 2014 session of the Indiana General Assembly and was incorporated within IC 20-28-3-1 and IC 20-28-11.5-9. This act requires the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) to collect and report information from teacher preparation programs, principals, and teachers.

ANNUAL REPORT

CAEP Annual Report Measures

Accrediting Agencies: Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), Indiana Department of Education (IDOE)

Current Status: Accredited by CAEP, IDOE

Most recent reaffirmation of accreditation: Fall 2019

The following initial licensure programs were included in the Spring 2019 Site Visit and are full accredited by CAEP:

Special Education Mild Intervention K - 12
Math Education
Science Education

Next reaffirmation of accreditation: Fall 2026

Academic Year 2022-2023 General Profile

Academic Programs

All school-based professional preparation programs offered at Vincennes University are housed within or coordinated through the College of Social Science, Performing Arts, and Communication (SSPAC).

Historically, the Education Department has offered associate degrees in education since the mid-1960s. In 2004, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education granted VU permission to offer baccalaureate degree education programs in special education, mild intervention/elementary education, secondary mathematics, and science education to address state-wide teacher shortages in those specific areas. VU first offered coursework in these education majors in the Fall of 2007. The Dean of the College of Social Science, Performing Arts, & Communication is Dr. Cynthia Ragle, and the Education Department is chaired by Ann Herman. Numerous faculty members from other departments at the institution teach required courses in the three programs. The Education Department has established and maintains collegiate relationships with faculty members from these various departments. Faculty members from other departments have attended professional development opportunities with Education Department faculty to receive information about the program and to provide input into the program. Additionally, Education faculty members along with K-12 teachers and administrators, participate in the Teacher Education Advisory Council (TEAC). This council meets twice a year to make recommendations concerning the curriculum for the Vincennes University Education Program.

The chart below lists the name of each program, the corresponding certification level (initial or advanced), the academic degree awarded, and the name of the Specialized Professional Association (SPA).

Program Name

Certification

Level

I = initial

Degree

Nationally Recognized by Specialized Professional Association

Mathematics (grades 5-12)

Baccalaureate

NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

www.nctm.org/ncate

Science (grades 5-12)

Baccalaureate

CAEP Evidence of Standard One

Special Education, Mild Interventions, K-12

Baccalaureate

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)

https://exceptionalchildren.org/

Elementary Education (dual licensure program with Special Education - Mild Intervention)

n/a

CAEP Evidence of Standard One

Initial Certification Program Completer Undergraduate (Academic Year 2018 -2023)

	Number Prepared 2022-2023	Number Prepared 2021-2022	Number Prepared 2020-2021	Number Prepared 2019-2020	Number Prepared 2018-2019
Special Education with Dual Licensing in Elementary Education	11	11	15	21	22
Mathematics (grades 7-12)	3	0	0	1	0
Science (grades 7-12)	1	0	2	0	0

Number Prepared

2022-2023

Number Prepared

2021-2022

Number Prepared

2020-2021

Number Prepared

2019-2020

Number Prepared

2018-2019

Special Education with Dual Licensing in Elementary Education

Mathematics (grades 7-12)

Science (grades 7-12)

Data Source(s): Title II Reports

Measure 1: Completer Effectiveness

The EPP recognizes a gap in our data regarding Measure #1. As a response to previous concerns raised by CAEP in both our Annual Reports and during our site visit in 2019, we began work to create an assessment that would address our completers' impact on P-12 learning and development more directly. While some of our survey data does seem to address different dimensions of teaching and learning (and therefore P-12 learning impacts indirectly), we did not have a direct measure to use for Standard 4. This led to the development of the Program Improvement Assessment (PIA). The PIA was developed to address dimensions of teaching effectiveness and P-12 learning and development through an easy-to-implement instrument distributed to principals that directly supervise our completers during their first three years post-graduation. This instrument was distributed for the first time in April 2022. Working with the EPP's Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, the EPP aims to determine the validity and reliability of the instrument during its first few iterations.

Teacher Effectiveness survey data from the Indiana Department of Education show that our completers are performing relatively well in the workforce once they leave VU. Over the past three years, state-provided data about teaching effectiveness show that VU completers (in their first 3 years of teaching) are being rated as either effective or highly effective 98% of the time on average.

In addition to the state data given, the EPP has decided to collect data from our recent graduates and their teaching effectiveness through the use of the My Class Inventory Instrument. The "My Class Inventory" (MCI) instrument is a simplified form of the "Learning Environment Inventory" and is suitable for children in the 8 to 12 years’ age range. Although the MCI was developed originally for use at the elementary school level, it also has been found to be very useful with students at the seventh-grade level, especially among students who might experience reading difficulties. There are five scales - cohesiveness, friction, difficulty, satisfaction, and competitiveness. Statistical information about the MCI information is available.

Students' perceptions of the classroom psycho-social learning environment have a large impact on learning and behavior. While not directly acquiring individual student and classroom achievement data, Vincennes University would be gathering data on those aspects of students’ perceptions that directly impact student achievement. This instrument would be distributed to our recent completers twice a year for completion - once during the first couple of weeks of the school year and once during the last month of the school year. By implementing the MCI twice a year we can measure the teacher's impact on student perceptions over the course of the year on the classroom psychosocial environment and their impact on student learning and behavior. Teachers of lower grades would have to read the questions to the students. Data collection using the MCI will begin in the 2022-23 academic year.

Data Source(s):

Measure 2: Satisfaction of Employers and Stakeholder Involvement

The Principal’s Survey (administered and collected by the Indiana Department of Education) evaluates the EPP's preparation of the recent completers. Recent data from this instrument also shows a similar trend to the data collected for Measure 1. The 2019 Principal Survey was administered by the State of Indiana in the spring of 2019 to evaluate the preparation of teachers who had received their initial licenses in the past two years. Principals were asked to evaluate the EPP in three different domains - knowledge, pedagogy, and dispositions- and offer a summary judgment on how satisfied they are with the preparation their teachers received by the EPP. The overall satisfaction rating (Very Satisfied + Satisfied) was 100% for VU (n=11). This compares well against the state average of 92.8% for that same survey year. More recent data are not available to the EPP due to the requirements of the state in not publishing data if fewer than 10 responses are received.

The internal Administrator's Survey data collected by the EPP tell a similar story. Over the past three data cycles (2017, 2018, 2020), employers rate their satisfaction with our graduates at 93% overall. It will be noted, however, that the 2019 data are missing - we attempted to convert the Administrator's Survey to a Google form in that year and received no responses. One disturbing trend of note out of these survey data, however, is the overall decline in our ratings between 2017 (n=1), 2018 (n=12), and 2020 (n=15). Since n=1 for 2017, it is hard to take any of the data coming from that response seriously as far as determining trends. However, given the relatively robust response rates in 2018 and 2020, it is interesting to note that the 2020 cohort was rated lower for all of the teaching effectiveness measures than the 2018 cohort. Also noticeable was that the percent of very satisfied employers went down from 75% in 2018 to 33% in 2020. Since there is no year in between to help evaluate if this is a slow slide downward, a response to how well our graduates dealt with COVID, or a statistical anomaly, it will be interesting to see where the 2021 cohort fits into this trend. This, however, does not match qualitative data drawn from our discussions with TEAC or informal conversations held with stakeholders in our community.

Data Source(s):

Principal Survey Data (State Collected)
Measure 2 - Employer Satisfaction - Principals Survey (IN DOE)

Administrator Survey (VU collected)
Measure 2 Employer Satisfaction (VU Administrator Survey) revised

Measure 3: Candidate Competency at Completion

Institution Pass Rates listed below are generated by the Title 2 Report and are calculated based on Indiana's Cut Scores.

Assessment Pass Rates

The pass rates table is populated from files provided by the testing company or state. The table provides information on the performance of the students in your teacher preparation program on each teacher credential assessment in Indiana. In cases where a student has taken a given assessment more than once, the highest score on that test is used. In the case of a teacher preparation program with fewer than 10 scores reported on any single initial teacher credential assessment during an academic year, the program shall collect and publish information with respect to an average pass rate and scaled score on each state credential assessment taken over a three-year period. (§205(a)(1)(B))

Source: Title II Report: Vincennes University Traditional Report AY 2022-23

Summary Pass Rates

The pass rates table is populated from files provided by the testing company or state. The table provides information on the performance of the students in your teacher preparation program on each teacher credential assessment used by your state. In cases where a student has taken a given assessment more than once, the highest score on that test is used. In the case of a teacher preparation program with fewer than 10 scores reported on any single initial teacher credential assessment during an academic year, the program shall collect and publish information with respect to an average pass rate and scaled score on each state credential assessment taken over a three-year period. (§205(a)(1)(B))

				Statewide
Group	Number Taking Assessment	Number Passing Assessment	Institutional Pass Rate	Number Taking Assessment	Number Passing Assessment	Statewide Pass Rate
All program completers, 2022-23	13	13	100%	1828	1611	88%
All program completers, 2021-22	11	10	91%	2155	1940	90%
All program completers, 2020-21	16	14	88%	2255	1899	84%

Measure 4: Ability of Completers to be Hired

Source: Title II Report: Vincennes University Traditional Report AY 2022-23

PLEASE NOTE: To be hired in teaching positions, candidates must graduate from the program and pass the Indiana Department of Education’s required certification test for that specific program/content area/grade span. For AY 2020-21, the EPP had a total of 17 completers. Of those 17, only 6 did not meet licensure requirements. Therefore, 65% of graduates have the ability to be hired.

In spite of these preliminary metrics, we do have self-reported evidence from completers of being hired in their academic areas, whether it is on an emergency license or after completion of the licensing exams following graduation, but outside of the Title II reporting windows. The table below shows where our most recent graduates have self-reported earning employment, and the overall percentage of completers in their cohort in the workforce.