Weber State University   

CHF - Early Childhood / Early Childhood Education

Results of Assessment

1999-2000 (submitted fall 2000)

An end of student teaching evaluation rating form was developed which included 17 items taken from our outcomes list. At the end of Autumn 1999 and Spring 2000 semesters the rating sheet was used by the lead teachers to evaluate the competence of the students (both Early Childhood and Early Childhood Education majors) completing their student teaching in the Melba Lehner Children's School. The purpose of this evaluation was to obtain some data regarding the success of our program at meeting our outcome goals.

As a part of our Early Childhood majors final seminar we administered a comprehensive essay examination that sought to obtain their knowledge and understanding of developmentally appropriate guidance strategies, curriculum development, application of theory to planning and evaluation, understanding of the purposes, content and application of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and their ability to decide when children's behavior requires outside consultation and/or referral. The purpose of this examination was to obtain information on the student's understanding of major concepts, their ability to synthesize this knowledge in writing, and provide some insight into the success of our instructional practices.

Besides the rating form and the comprehensive examination we also have students construct a portfolio that represents themselves as teachers. These are formally evaluated at the end of the planning course but further work needs to be done on evaluation at the end of student teaching in the preschool. Early Childhood Education students are evaluated when they student teach in the public schools but a systematic way for this information to be passed on to us has not yet been devised.

A discussion of the results of the 1999-2000 evaluations was done at the August 2000 department retreat.

Data from the end of student teaching evaluation form indicated that our student teachers were achieving most of the outcomes very well. Based upon the data, the Early Childhood program appears to be doing well in preparing the students to plan and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum. Furthermore, the students’ behaviors are consistent with NAEYC’s ethical practices. The program also seems to be moving towards better preparing students to recognize family and cultural differences. This data suggests that our Early Childhood students need more preparation in understanding theories as a basis for curriculum choices. This seems to be consistent with what we found on a written exam given to students enrolled in the final seminar course. Although our students seemed to know developmentally appropriate guidance strategies, they were unable to connect the theories to the guidance practices.

Additionally, it seems as though the anti-bias curriculum and integrated teaching models should be infused more in teacher preparation. Also, our students should be assisted in learning methods for involving parents in the education of their children and using transitions, meals, and outdoors more effectively as learning times. The results indicated that the students have digested the major applications of developmentally appropriate practice with preschool children.

The results from the written examination identified several problems. The students were weak on their ability to apply theory to guidance and planning. The curriculum planning question was not good. We decided to go ahead with the exam with the Spring 2001 seminar students but will redesign it. Looking at the overall results I noted that from my previous knowledge of the students and their work that their levels of response could be predicted.

We will continue to use the end of preschool student teaching checklist to monitor that aspect of the program outcomes. We will revise and administer the written examination to our Early Childhood seminar students. Our long term objective is to require passage of an end of program written examination by all our majors. We will also work on making better use of student portfolios as program evaluation resources. Hopefully we can begin to plan for alumni follow-up. We will also keep in contact with Teacher Education in order to obtain end of student teaching data on our Early Childhood Education majors.

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