Teacher Preparation Program Accountability:
Iowa

Analysis of Iowa's policies

Iowa's approval process for traditional and alternate route teacher preparation programs does not hold programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce.

Most importantly, Iowa does not collect or report data that connect student achievement gains to teacher preparation programs.

However, Iowa does rely on some objective, meaningful data to measure the performance of teacher preparation programs. The state requires that its preparation programs document the quality of their programs by collecting evaluative data from practitioners who work with the teacher candidates as well as "evidence of evaluative data collected by the unit through follow-up studies of graduates and their employers." Regrettably, Iowa does not appear to apply any transparent, measurable criteria for conferring program approval. 

Further, there is no evidence that the state's standards for program approval are resulting in greater accountability. In the past three years, no programs in Iowa have been identified in required federal reporting as low performing.

The state's website does not include a report card that allows the public to review and compare program performance.

In Iowa, there is some overlap of accreditation and state approval. Although NCATE/CAEP and the state conduct concurrent on-site reviews, Iowa delegates its subject-matter program review process to NCATE/CAEP. 

Citation

Iowa Administrative Code 281-79.13, -.15(7) Title II State Reports https://title2.ed.gov www.ncate.org

Recommendations for Iowa

Collect data that connect student achievement gains to teacher preparation programs. 

As one way to measure whether programs are producing effective classroom teachers, Iowa should consider the academic achievement gains of students taught by programs' graduates, averaged over the first three years of teaching. Data that are aggregated to the institution (e.g., combining elementary and secondary programs) rather than disaggregated to the specific preparation program are not useful for accountability purposes.  Such aggregation can mask significant differences in performance among programs.

Gather other meaningful data that reflect program performance. 

Although measures of student growth are an important indicator of program effectiveness, they cannot be the sole measure of program quality for several reasons, including the fact that many programs may have graduates whose students do not take standardized tests. The accountability system must therefore include other objective measures that show how well programs are preparing teachers for the classroom. Iowa should expand its requirements to also include such measures as: 

1.    Average raw scores of teacher candidates on licensing tests, including academic proficiency, subject matter and professional knowledge tests;

2.    Number of times, on average, it takes teacher candidates to pass licensing tests; and

3.    Five-year retention rates of graduates in the teaching profession.

Establish the minimum standard of performance for each category of data. 

Merely collecting the types of data described above is insufficient for accountability purposes. The next and perhaps more critical step is for the state to establish precise minimum standards for teacher preparation program performance for each category of data. Programs should then be held accountable for meeting these standards, and there should be consequences for failing to do so, including loss of program approval.

Publish an annual report card on the state's website. 

Iowa should produce an annual report card that shows all the data the state collects on individual teacher preparation programs, which should be published on the state's website at the program level for the sake of public transparency. Data should be presented in a manner that clearly conveys whether programs have met performance standards.  

Maintain full authority over the process for approving teacher preparation programs. 

Iowa should ensure that it is the state that considers the evidence of program performance and makes the decision about whether programs should continue to be authorized to prepare teachers. 

State response to our analysis

Iowa noted that NCATE/CAEP and the state conduct concurrent on-site reviews for institutions choosing national accreditation in addition to state accreditation. Iowa does not delegate its subject-matter program review process to NCATE/CAEP. This is completed by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. Subject-matter program review is performed by NCATE/CAEP only for those programs choosing national accreditation in addition to state accreditation. 

Last word

NCATE's website indicates that Iowa defers to NCATE's program review system. If this is not accurate, the state is urged to clarify its practice with NCATE/CAEP.