Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium
R3.1 Access and Equity
1
Alignment to National Standard: Standard 3: Candidate Recruitment, Progression, and Support
The provider demonstrates the quality of candidates is a continuous and purposeful focus from recruitment through completion. The provider demonstrates that development of candidate quality is the goal of educator preparation and that the EPP provides supports services (such as advising, remediation, and mentoring) in all phases of the program so candidates will be successful.
Standard R3.1 Access and Equity The provider presents goals and progress evidence for recruiting highquality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that align with their mission. The provider demonstrates efforts to know and address local, state, regional, or national needs for hardto-staff schools and shortage fields. The goals and evidence should address progress toward a candidate pool that reflects the diversity of America’s P-12 students.
How Alignment is Assured: The Assessment Coordinator in consultation with Program/Discipline Chairs, aligns the evaluation measures and assessment tasks with CAEP, InTASC, and appropriate Technology Standards. The Assessment Coordinator maintains alignments and adherence to multiple Louisiana state laws and policy regulations. All Standards have been maintained utilizing Watermark – Taskstream. This standards database is maintained by the Assessment Coordinator so that alignments can accommodate updates to standards, program competencies, courses, or assessments.
Evidence Overview
The information below discusses the goals, mission, and recruitment of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that aligns with the mission.
Mission: The mission states Grambling State University (GSU) is a comprehensive and historically-black public institution that offers a broad spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs of study.
Goals: In an effort to fulfil the mission, the University seeks to reflect in all of its programs, the diversity present in the world. Thus, the Education Preparation Program (EPP) recruits a diverse population of students which includes local, regional, national, and international candidates. Efforts are made to advise and encourage more students to add special education certification and early childhood endorsements because these are high-needs area across the country.
Recruiting: The recruitment and retention efforts at GSU are extensive. The commitment to student success is evident throughout the institution. Even though the evidence indicates great strides have been made, efforts are ongoing to ensure continuous quality improvement remains at the forefront across the university. Initiatives are implemented in academic affairs units as well as those in student affairs. Additionally, collaboration between and among units is essential to effectively serve students by eliminating silos which often persist in higher education institutions. The College of Education (COE) demonstrates important collaboration by engaging partners from other colleges for the purposes of our secondary education programs. By working together, we offer transformative experiences for our students and facilitate their preparedness to become educators upon completion of their matriculation.
Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution 4.0
International "College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.
Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium
R3.1 Access and Equity
The Evidence
1
Mission: The mission of Grambling State University includes the recruitment and retention of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds. Multiple strategies are employed to support the mission of increasing the diversity and strength of the pool of candidates, including though not limited to the following initiatives: Connect 2 Success, formerly known as GEAR-UP, Call Me MiSTER, Career Services Handshake, and Grab Day, formerly known as High School Day.
Goal: The EPP focuses on developing and sustaining the active recruitment, retention, and graduation of a diverse candidate pool who are prepared to meet the employment needs of the service area. The EPP seeks to identify and address community, state, national, regional, or local needs for hard- to-staff schools and shortage fields, which currently includes, STEM, ELL , and SPED. The College of Education collaborates with the University Recruitment Office to develop a recruitment and retention plan that not only reflects the needs of the University, but those of the state, region, and nation as well.
Conceptual Framework: The Conceptual Framework depicts the EPP’s over-arching paradigm as a catalyst for change. The programmatic offerings are informed by evidence-based and data-driven best practices. Performance-assessment, research-based pedagogy, and strategic professional field experiences are common threads across the EPP departments Curriculum and Instruction, Developmental and Higher Education, as well as Kinesiology, Sport, and Leisure Studies. The graduates emerge well-equipped to hit the ground running as teachers and leaders. The curricular content , pedagogical knowledge-base, as well as professional skills and dispositions acquired through successful matriculation in the EPP programs are the strong foundation upon which graduates can become educators who are ready to assist their future students in achieving their full potential. This is made possible through the collaborative engagement of the GSU College of Education, College of Professional Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, and Division of Graduate Studies. The EPP Framework includes three strands: Masters of Subject Matter Content, Facilitators of Learning, and Enhancers and Nurturers of Affective Behaviors. The college philosophy is, Committing to excellence in teaching, scholarship, service, and professional development through lifelong learning and the empowerment of learners.
Recruitment: Faculty and staff actively engage in efforts to recruit candidates for high-need content areas, as well as for specific geographic areas which may be under-resourced. Recruitment of a diverse candidate pool continues to be the goal of both GSU and the EPP. The EPP also actively promotes involvement in student organizations and intentionally links candidates to opportunities such as Kappa Delta Pi and Aspiring Educators. Faculty members in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction serve as the advisors for the various clubs. All candidates are encouraged to consider joining a club that hosts regular meetings and offers service learning projects.
Evidence and Analysis
Description of Evidence: The narrative, URLs, tables, and screenshots in The Evidence section below provide information about:
General admissions criteria for GSU, Program-specific admissions criteria for the College of Education Initial Programs, and Diversity of entry cohorts
4.0 International
Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution
"College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.
Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium
R3.1 Access and Equity
1
GSU honors its admissions policies and welcomes applications from all interested potential students, the College of Education has program-specific admissions criteria (see below).
General Admissions Requirements: #GramFam is more than a hashtag, it is a culture. Candidates are informed about how they will become part of a learning community in which their uniqueness will be celebrated, their growth will be cultivated, and their paths will illuminated. They will be prepared for success. The University defines admission as follows:
Specific admissions information can be found by clicking on this link.
Program-specific Admissions Criteria for the EPP Initial Programs: The Department of Curriculum and Instruction in which the teacher preparation programs are predominantly housed, proudly boasts of its status as the oldest department at Grambling State University. Accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) since 1964, the department is committed to preparing teachers and other school professionals who possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become successful career educators.
The major purpose of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction is to develop educators who demonstrate competency in their respective areas of responsibility, exhibit characteristics of reflective practitioners, and utilize research and best practices The department also prepares graduates to become informed decision-makers and advocates for children. No matter which professional path they pursue, they must be accountable to their students, clients, community, and profession.
The EPP offers a total of 17-degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, serving an overall average of over 450 declared majors seeking certification in PK-3, 4-8, and 7-12 for regular and/or special education and other professional areas such as Kinesiology disciplines. The EPP provides high touch advising and excellent supervision help to ensure candidate success. Throughout their matriculation, candidates’ experiences are enhanced through the implementation of pedagogical best practices as well as current research on collaboration, reflection, technology, and professional development. Performance assessments and professional standards are incorporated in the program design. Faculty are committed to providing comprehensive educator preparation programs that include courses and field experiences dedicated to producing well-qualified educators who are knowledgeable, skilled, and compassionate masters of subject matter content, facilitators of learning, and nurturers of affective behaviors.
The EPP fosters collaboration with other departments and colleges at the university and encourages the active participation of all stakeholders in program planning, implementation, and evaluation that is in alignment with the EPP’s conceptual framework and the University’s mission. Admission requirements for the various programs, along with corresponding documents, may be found by clicking on this link The following link offers data for a three-year
Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International "College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.
Grambling State University Standard Three Compendium 1
R3.1 Access and Equity
demographic profile, Diversity of Entry Cohorts. The data mirrors local, state, and national needs for hard- to -staff schools. The National Center for Education Stati stics (2022) provides evidence of the ongoing teacher shortage.
Analysis and Interpretation
The evidence presented above shows that the EPP sets goals and monitors progress for admission and support of high-quality program candidates from a wide range of backgrounds, particularly a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). These data align with the mission and goals set by the EPP.
EPPs throughout the nation are diligently working to address the critical shortage of teachers. It is a national challenge. The retirement of teachers combined with the comprehensive impact of the pandemic has caused 45% of schools to report at least one vacancy. Also, 61% of public schools reported having at least one vacancy due to COVID-19. With this and other statistics provided by NCES (2022) , a crisis in education is upon us. The demand for teachers at the local, state, regional, and national levels is at an all-time high and the Grambling State University EPP’s heeding the call to action. The National Center for Education Statistics (2022) provided additional evidence of the teaching shortage.
Continuous Improvement
Focus Area: The dire shortage of teachers is further exacerbated by the extreme underrepresentation of Black males as classroom teachers in schools nationwide. With only two percent of teachers in the US being Black males, it is imperative that solutions be developed and implemented. The EPP has created an effective means to that end. It is an EPP Signature Program entitled, “Call Me MiSTER” (CMM) The program effectively addresses recruitment, retention, and graduation of Black Males, thus providing a unique approach which will be implemented comprehensively in all EPP programs. The program originated at Clemson University and the GSU model is uniquely developed to address teacher shortages in the state of Louisiana. It is the only program in the nation that was granted federal funding and has effectively more than doubled its enrollment within the last year. The CMM model holds great promise as the tenets are in alignment with the EPP’s recruitment and retention goals.
Template for the Presentation of Evidence by Dr. Michele Brewer and Dr. Amber Vraim is licensed under Attribution 4.0
"College of Education Office of Technology, Assessment, and Compliance: Template for the Presentation of Evidence." Copyright 2020 by Wilmington University.
International
The EPP Signature Program entitled, “Call Me MiSTER” (CMM) will be continued and monitored.
