McNeese rated effective by LDOE Teacher Preparation Quality System Rating

Published 6:19 am Tuesday, December 12, 2023

McNeese State University’s undergraduate and post-baccalaureate education programs have been deemed effective by the Louisiana Department of Education’s (LDOE) Teacher Preparation Quality System Rating.

This rating system is required by federal regulation to “provide teacher preparation providers with meaningful information for improvement, identify programs of excellence and provide aspiring educators with information on selecting quality programs,” according to a release sent out by LDOE.

On Friday, Dec. 8, LDOE released the latest results of the Teacher Preparation Quality System Rating, which accounts for the 2020-21 school year. Overall, the state quality rating scores for that year are the highest since the system was introduced; the state’s undergraduate pathway score increased by .6 points to a ranking of 2.6 and the post-baccalaureate pathway score increased by .4 to 2.8. With these scores, both of these pathways are Level 3 Effective.

McNeese’s pathways – teacher preparation programs that are post-secondary, state approved course of studies– are above the state average – both are rated 3.0 and are ranked Level 3 Effective.

The system is broken down into four ranks: Level 1 Ineffective , Level 2 Needs Improvement, Level 3 Effective and Level 4 Highly Effective. Programs are evaluated on three domains: preparation program experiences, meeting educator workforce needs and teacher quality.

Preparation program experience measures the quality of the teacher preparation program through an on-site review. McNeese’s pathways were reviewed in the Spring of 2022, and both earned a 3.0 out of 4.0 for “Quality of Recruitment and Selection,” 4.0 out of 4.0 for “Quality of Content Knowledge and Teaching Methods,” 2.0 out of 4.0 for “Quality of Feedback and Candidate Performance,” and 3.0 out of 4.0 for “Quality of Continuous Improvement Process.”

Both of McNeese’s pathways also earned a 3.0 out of 4.0 for “meeting educator workforce needs.” Using data from the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, this was calculated by comparing the “need for teachers in high-need certification areas and high-need schools with the extent to which each program is meeting these needs,” according to the released performance profile.

Neither pathway was evaluated on teacher quality due to the suspension of standardized testing in the 2019-20 school year that was caused by COVID-19. The suspension led to a lapse in data.

The mission to develop and implement “updated policies relative to the initial and ongoing approval of teacher preparation programs” started in June 2016 with the approval of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Regents, said Em Cooper, deputy assistant superintendent of educator development, LDOE.

The goal is to ensure teacher preparation programs in Louisiana utilize best practices to produce high quality teachers, she said.

“Over time, this suggests more effective teachers and increased student outcomes, beginning teachers feeling more prepared and ready in their first year, and higher retention of early career teachers.”

The results that were released on Friday are the first to be made public, as prior evaluation years were just for information purposes

Starting with the 2021-22 school reports, BESE will use the information gathered in the evaluations to make renewal decisions for the pathway programs.

Programs that don’t maintain a Level 3 Effective or Level 4 Highly Effective rating will “undergo progress monitoring with specific measures that shall be approved by BESE,” Cooper said.