Defining and Measuring Excellence in the Changing World of Higher Education: Case Stories from Five Colleges of Education

This paper presents a collection of case stories from five Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) within colleges of education, four from institutions in Texas and one from California, to present a micro cross-sectional narrative interpretation of what constitutes excellence in educator preparation. The broad framework utilized in this interpretation focuses on the individual approaches used by each institution for creating and sustaining positive cultures of data-informed decision-making, with the ultimate objective of continuous program improvement, while also meeting the accreditation expectations of each institution.


Abst r act
This paper presents a collection of case stories from five Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) within colleges of education, four from institutions in Texas and one from California, to present a micro cross-sectional narrative interpretation of what constitutes excellence in educator preparation. The broad framework utilized in this interpretation focuses on the individual approaches used by each institution for creating and sustaining positive cultures of data-informed decision-making, with the ultimate objective of continuous program improvement, while also meeting the accreditation expectations of each institution.

Research Article
Teacher preparation is integral to most public institutions? missions, as an educated society is dependent upon quality teachers. However, defining and measuring the quality of educator preparation programs has grown more complex and challenging as the context in which these programs operate have encountered increased In this paper, the authors have adopted the term ?data-informed? rather than ?data-driven,? not to de-emphasize the importance of collecting and utilizing meaningful data to inform decisions, but rather to recognize the importance of valuing the expertise and input of stakeholders in analyzing and deriving usable information from the data. The institutions represented recognize the importance of institutionally-defined excellence, rather than accreditor-defined excellence. While there are state and national expectations for excellence defined by accrediting agencies, not all programs elect to pursue these accreditations. The variation in these stances are explored, as the authors detail how and why each approach and definition of excellence was adopted, utilized, and measured, and how each invests stakeholders, faculty, and staff in the process of achieving their defined excellence. Additionally, continuously raising expectations and implementing self-assessment, and the empowerment of faculty, staff, and students in the process are discussed.

Sam Hou st on St at e Un iver sit y
Sam Houston State University is a comprehensive regional university located in Huntsville, Texas. The university is uniquely situated, located within an hour ? s drive to Houston, but also surrounded by smaller rural districts. The College of Education produces approximately 500 Texas teachers each academic year, and candidates receiving their teacher preparation at SHSU have the opportunity to gain field experience in rural, suburban, and urban school settings. The college embarked on a strategic planning process in the fall of 2016, and central to this process was defining college excellence and the belief statements that support that. The plan expresses the college? s core values, with individualization by units.
The college arrived at a definition of excellence focused on preparing teacher leaders who are prepared to impact a diverse and evolving world, and supported by the following belief statements: -What we all do matters; -Innovation fosters creativity, critical thinking, and passion; At Sam Houston State University, defining excellence is not taken lightly. As an institution whose teacher production is consistently in the top quartile of Texas educator preparation programs, it is critical that those graduates are well-prepared to impact the future. This underscores the multi-dimensional meaning in the adopted belief statement ?What we all do matters.?Every faculty and staff member in the SHSU College of Education is a component of the quality of education received by SHSU teacher candidates, who in turn impact every Texas schoolchild that passes through their classrooms.
These school children, respectively, can impact the future of the state, the nation, and the world. COEHS employs its mission statement as a method to strive for high quality and to define excellence.
The statement reads: COEHS ?provides excellence driven programs that prepare student-scholars to become scientists, teachers, administrators, and practitioners who proactively address the transformational challenges of a complex digital environment and global society. We promote instructional engagement, responsive research, quality service, and active partnerships with external constituencies.?
The push for excellence stems, in part, from the legacy of TAMUC? s beginnings as a ?normal? school. There are currently 21 local school districts with teaching staffs compromised of more than 50% TAMUC graduates. All of those districts have recently had successful ratings from the state. Also notable, eighty-six percent of teachers produced by TAMUC are still teaching after the first five years.