Mapping the Journey of Reform and Assessment for an Elementary Education Teacher Preparation Program

Abstract

This article describes the non-linear journey of an elementary education teacher preparation program in a large southeastern university during an eight-year process of program improvement.  In that time period, the program developed and implemented innovative programs; collected data from various sources; and adopted a robust, valid, and reliable performance assessment instrument in order to enact program improvement.  The authors provide details and lessons learned that highlight the relationship of practices for improving teacher candidate programs and performance assessment data.  They conclude by sharing suggestions for continual improvement by utilizing actionable data.