2014 Teacher Preparation Feedback Report

UPDATE: On 16 Jan I learned that the data for EKU is inaccurate due to missing data is some input sources which depressed some scores.

This from Kentucky's Education and Workforce Development Cabinet:

New data from the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS) on teacher preparation and retention for 28 Kentucky public and independent colleges and universities were released today. 

The data provide an initial snapshot at an aggregate level regarding the time to employment upon completion of a teacher preparation program and the retention rates of those programs. The report provides a profile of their recent enrollment and graduation numbers from 2012 and follows teachers who graduated in 2008 to track employment and retention rates in the state.

Robert Brown, executive director of Kentucky’s Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB), said the 2014 Kentucky Teacher Preparation Feedback Report is a good initial report that provides baseline information about new teachers in Kentucky and the higher education institutions where they received their degrees. 

For example, the 2014 Kentucky Teacher Preparation Feedback Report shows that three out of four graduates hired as certified public P-12 teachers within one year of graduation in 2008 were still employed as public school teachers in Kentucky in 2012.

The report also gives specific information about each of the 28 institutions, such as total enrollment, number of undergraduate and graduate students in teacher preparation programs, in-state and out-of-state student data, academic majors for first-time teaching graduates, median annual salary, time to employment for first-year teachers, and retention rates for five years.

The state retention rate for 2007-2008 education graduates averages about 75 percent for in-state students during 2011-2012.

For example, the report shows that Georgetown College had the largest percentage of teacher preparation students as a portion of its total student enrollment at nearly 30 percent in 2012.  Compared to the other 27 institutions, Georgetown also had the third highest retention rate of graduates still teaching within five years of graduation in 2008, at 85 percent.

Other programs with the largest percentage of teacher preparation students in 2013 were the University of the Cumberlands, nearly 25 percent; Midway College, about 23 percent; Union College, nearly 17 percent; and Asbury University, nearly 17 percent.

Additional programs with high retention rates within five years of graduation in 2008 were Spalding University, 100 percent; University of Kentucky and University of Pikeville, each about 86 percent; and Union College, about 83 percent.

Colleges and universities will be able to use data to inform practice and to analyze data for continuous program improvement. Colleges and universities can enhance partnerships with K-12 to identify specific district needs and create professional learning opportunities to address those needs. 

The report also provides maps for each institution that shows which districts employed first-time teaching graduates earning a bachelor’s degree in 2007-2008 who were hired from 2008-2012. The maps indicate that most graduates are employed in the area where the institution is located, except for the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University, which generally have more statewide reach.

“The work of the EPSB Program and Assessment Review Committee (PARC) and Kentucky Information Technology for Educator Preparation (KITEP) will continue to build Kentucky systems to collect and publically report data which fully support educator preparation transparency,” Brown said.  

The current information in the feedback report lays the foundation for monitoring compliance and aligns to the proposed new teacher preparation accountability regulations under Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Included in those proposals is the requirement for states to report on employment outcomes which include rates of teacher placement, teacher retention, placement in high-need (high-poverty) schools, and retention in a high-need school for new teachers and graduates produced by the program.

The feedback report closely aligns with the critical work of Kentucky’s educational partners and will assist educator preparation institutions in collecting and analyzing program data for continuous improvement.  KCEWS partners plan to expand this report in the future by including data per academic major for time to employment and retention and include multiple years of P-12 student achievement data at the aggregate level.