Completer Survey Results
The College of Education has used anonymous annual surveys to capture the next steps and input of our teacher preparation program completers. A completion year is included as a survey question in broad-based surveys so as to create a cohort model, otherwise surveys are sent to completers within an academic year. Surveys are anonymous to encourage honest, unbiased responses. Students are provided contact information if they choose to report any ambiguous questions or language, which is used for survey validity and reliability.
Prior to AY 2014-2015, the College sent surveys within six months of program completion, while the completers still had access to their PSU email accounts. However, while this was effective to collect program satisfaction, it did not allow time for completers to obtain positions in PK-12 classrooms and report on a deeper level how their program prepared them for the classroom. Beginning Spring 2014, non-PSU emails were collected from students applying for PA certification, which provided for historical contact data. This semester, PSU announced that all completers would be able to permanently keep their PSU email accounts, which will provide the College with a second source of contact.
The following excerpts of classroom teachers' data are from the August 2017 Master Exit Survey. This survey was emailed to 529 completers, with 148 responses: 120 P-12 Teachers, 16 P-12 Other Professionals, and 12 Other Education degrees. The categories below are shortened versions of detailed prompts which began with the phrase: How well you think your preservice teacher preparation program prepared you to...
Table of P-12 Teachers Rating Preparedness based on inTASC Standards (101-113 responses, as percentages)
| Survey Category | InTASC | Proficient | Adequate | Limited | Not at All |
| How Learners Grow | Learner and Learning | 55% | 38% | 6% | 1% |
| Diversity | Learner and Learning | 39% | 44% | 13% | 4% |
| Learning Environ | Learner and Learning | 65% | 31% | 4% | 0% |
| Content Knowledge | Content | 62% | 35% | 2% | 1% |
| Application of Content | Content | N/A | |||
| Assessment | Instructional Practice | 58% | 32% | 9% | 1% |
| Planning Instruct | Instructional Practice | 50% | 38% | 10% | 2% |
| Strategies | Instructional Practice | 53% | 37% | 10% | 0% |
| Prof Development | Prof Responsibility | 61% | 35% | 4% | 0% |
| Leadership | Prof Responsibility | 58% | 38% | 4% | 0% |
| Align to Standards | N/A | 60% | 29% | 8% | 3% |
Other interesting data that were collected in this survey includes the variety of states where 96 P-12 teachers completing from Spring 2016 through Spring 2017 had obtained positions. As expected, Pennsylvania had the largest percentage with 47 students, but other states mentioned were Alabama (1), California (1), Delaware (1), District of Columbia (1), Florida (3), Hawaii (1), Indiana (1), Maryland (7), New Jersey (2), New York (2), North Carolina (4), South Carolina (2), Vermont (1), Virginia (17), and Washington (1), plus three from outside the US.
The majority of these teacher were teaching in public schools (78); however, 18 teachers were teaching in private schools, charter schools, a school for severe disabilities and primary grades inside a psychiatric hospital. Finally, 34% were in a rural location, 21% were in an urban location, and the remaining 45% were in a suburban setting.
In comparison, the following excerpts of classroom teachers' data are from the August 2018 Master Exit Survey. This survey was emailed to 529 completers, with 332 responses: 274 P-12 Teachers, 34 P-12 Other Professionals, and 24 Other Education degrees. The categories below are shortened versions of detailed prompts which began with the phrase: How well you think your preservice teacher preparation program prepared you to...
Table of P-12 Teachers Rating Preparedness based on inTASC Standards (188-191 responses, as percentages)
| Survey Category | InTASC | Proficient | Adequate | Limited | Not at All |
| How Learners Grow | Learner and Learning | 65% | 32% | 3% | 0% |
| Diversity | Learner and Learning | 58% | 31% | 11% | 0% |
| Learning Environ | Learner and Learning | 70% | 26% | 4% | 0% |
| Content Knowledge | Content | 64% | 30% | 6% | 0% |
| Application of Content | Content | 60% | 33% | 7% | 0% |
| Assessment | Instructional Practice | 64% | 28% | 7% | 1% |
| Planning Instruct | Instructional Practice | 60% | 34% | 5% | 1% |
| Strategies | Instructional Practice | 65% | 28% | 7% | 0% |
| Prof Development | Prof Responsibility | 71% | 24% | 5% | 0% |
| Leadership | Prof Responsibility | 67% | 26% | 6% | 1% |
| Align to Standards | N/A | 72% | 21% | 6% | 1% |
Other interesting data that were collected in this survey includes the variety of states where 82 P-12 teachers completing from 2017 and 2018 had obtained positions. As expected, Pennsylvania had the largest percentage with 36 students, but other states mentioned were Arizona (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (1), Florida (3), Georgia (2), Illinois (1), Maryland (7), Massachusetts (1), New Jersey (4), New York (2), North Carolina (2), Ohio (1), South Dakota (1), Texas (1), Virginia (14), and Washington (1), plus three from outside the US.
The majority of these teacher were teaching in public schools (63); however, 19 teachers were teaching in private schools, charter schools, preschools, a dual Spanish immersion school, an international English school, and a federally funded reservation school. Finally, 16% were in a rural location, 23% were in an urban location, and the remaining 61% were in a suburban setting.
Completers are also asked to rate the quality of their program. Reviewing the 40 responses collected in Summer 2020 from initial level teacher preparation completers reflected a continuing high level of preparation effectiveness and satisfaction. For the question, “how would you rate the quality of the program,” 37 of the 40 (92.5%) responded Excellent or Very Good. For the question “Would you choose the same program if you had the opportunity to do it over again” 20 of the 40 (50%) responded definitely yes and 17 of the 40 (42.5%) responded probably yes; only 3 of the 40 (7.5%) responded probably or definitely not. Comparison of these responses to those collected in Spring 2017, 48 of the 85 (56.4%) responded definitely yes and 28 of the 85 (32.9%) responded probably yes; only 8 of the 85 (9.4%) responded probably or definitely not. Overall these responses indicate candidates endorse the quality of their program. The Epp recognizes the trend of fewer negative responses as a measure of continued improvement, however, strives to increase the percentage of those candidates endorsing the highest ratings. It may be the sudden impact the pandemic had on student teaching, graduation, and other completers’ experiences resulted in slightly lower ratings, however, the EPP will continue to monitor satisfaction in upcoming years.
Additional data that verifies the positive findings from the completer surveys, the PDE Candidate survey responses that were collected and shared with the EPP in 2017 and again in 2020 reflects both the overall strong endorsement of the EPP and the candidates' improved confidence in working with diverse learners.