Please view our narrative responses below in black and hyperlinked evidence in gold below. Please note revisions for Program Standard 1-6, based on CTC feedback are highlighted in blue, including both narrative and evidence revisions.
ES Program Standard 2 is met as follows:
The Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs) explain in detail the knowledge, skills, and abilities new teachers should be able to demonstrate. Candidates engage with the universal, ECSE, and literacy TPEs beginning in their orientation, through course assignments, and fieldwork experiences. The culminating field experience, student teaching, culminates with the Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), conducted in the student teaching seminars. During student teaching placements, the supervisor observation form explicitly asks for evidence of the TPEs and identification of areas of strength and need.
The ECSE program was revised to align with the new TPEs for Early Childhood Special Education, ensuring that all the universal and ECSE specific TPEs are introduced, practiced, and assessed throughout the program (see the Course Matrix). The program is designed so that candidates have multiple opportunities to engage with and practice each TPE before they are assessed, in order to receive constructive feedback and guidance on their development. Candidates observe in classes to identify evidence of the TPEs before being expected to demonstrate their own skill. Candidates, as well as program supervisors, participate in activities in courses and meetings, respectively, to identify how the TPEs could surface across different ages and environments, and then how the individual elements within each TPE could surface.
Each TPE is discussed in courses and integrated into assignments to ensure understanding and demonstration of the TPE elements. In addition, candidates are supported in the reflective process of watching one’s own teaching and receiving and offering constructive feedback, as they will do with the TPA. For example, in the course EDUT 6202 Children with Special Needs (p. 7), candidates videotape themselves engaging in Dialogic Reading for the purposes of receiving formative assessment.
The Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) is an assessment of each candidate’s mastery of the TPEs and was designed to support the reflective process of teaching, which includes planning, teaching & assessing, reflecting, and applying. The TPA breaks down this process explicitly for novice teachers to critically engage with each component as they begin their profession. The intention is that this reflective and recursive practice will continue throughout their career. The TPA requires candidates to demonstrate their teaching skill through a variety of means: written narratives, lesson plans, student work, assessments, and a videorecording of their work as a teacher. These kinds of products are used as assignments throughout the program to prepare candidates for the work of the TPA. During the final two semesters, candidates engage in seminar courses that align with their field experiences in early intervention (EDUT 6208 ECSE: Seminar & Field Experience Early Intervention) and preschool-kindergarten (EDUT 6209 ECSE: Seminar & Field Experience Preschool-Kindergarten). These seminars provide additional learning on the TPEs and guidance on the TPA.
Continue to Program Standard 3: Clinical Practice
Return to the ECSE Program Standards Navigation Page Here
Please note the hyperlinks below are woven within the narrative above in gold:
