Teacher Preparation Program Accountability:
North Carolina

Analysis of North Carolina's policies

North Carolina's approval process for its traditional and alternate route teacher preparation programs is on the right track but could do more to hold programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce.

North Carolina collects some program-specific, objective data that reflect program performance. Regulations require the state to publish data on each teacher preparation program housed in an institution of higher education (IHE), including the mean value-added score of the program's graduates, employment rates and evaluation ratings. 

For program approval, the state requires evidence that during the two preceding consecutive years, 95 percent of graduates employed by public schools have earned a continuing license. North Carolina also collects programs' annual summary licensure test pass rates (70 percent of program completers must pass their licensure exams). However, the 70 percent pass-rate standard sets the bar quite low and is not a meaningful measure of program performance.

The state, however, does not collect these data for its alternate route programs not housed within an IHE. 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 North Carolina have been identified in required federal reporting as low performing.

The state's website includes report cards that allow the public to review and compare program performance.

North Carolina requires national accreditation for program approval.

Citation

16 NCAC 06C.0202 Higher Education Report Cards http://apps.schools.nc.gov/pls/apex/f?p=141:5:1640122465961801::NO::: www.caepnet.org

Recommendations for North Carolina

Collect other meaningful, program-level data that reflect program performance.
Although measures of student growth (value-added data) 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. North Carolina should expand its requirements to its alternate routes and also include such measures as:
1.    Satisfaction ratings by school principals and teacher supervisors of programs' student teachers, using a standardized form to permit program comparison
2.    Average raw scores of teacher candidates on licensing tests, including academic proficiency, subject matter and professional knowledge tests
3.    Number of times, on average, it takes teacher candidates to pass licensing tests
4.    Five-year retention rates of graduates in the teaching profession.

Establish minimum standards 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. North Carolina should be mindful of setting rigorous standards for program performance, as its current requirement that 70 percent of program completers must pass their licensing exams is too low a bar. Programs should be held accountable for meeting rigorous standards, and there should be consequences for failing to do so, including loss of program approval.

Distinguish between alternate route programs and traditional preparation programs in public reporting.   
It is more useful to the public—especially hiring school districts—if reports on teacher preparation program performance include specific data at the program level. North Carolina should take care to make this distinction when publishing its new IHE data on teacher preparation.

Maintain full authority over teacher preparation program approval.
North Carolina should not cede its authority and must 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

North Carolina recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.