1 The Department of Teaching and Learning The graduate programs in the Department of Teaching and Learning are organized into four program areas: secondary education, elementary education, special education and science education. Secondary education is the largest and arguably the most complex program area, comprised of about eight subareas (including art education, music education, social studies education, English education, ESL/Foreign Language Education, math education, language, literacy and culture (LLC), and curriculum and supervision). The Elementary Education program area is organized into several literacy-affiliated subareas, including language arts, reading education, and LLC. Special Education and Science Education have independent standing as program areas because they were once (some time ago) independent departments that still carry their original department course numbers today. And it is these departmental numbers that are the main organizational points for the compilation of the university data used in the accompanying program assessments. I submitted a four page report for each of the program areas, taking my extra page to integrate data and commentary related to our Masters degree programs, which constitute an important part of what we do. Peter Hlebowitsh Professor and DEO, Department of Teaching and Learning Editorial note from the Graduate College: All students discussed in this assessment receive their degree in Teaching and Learning or in Science Education which are the two degree majors. Elementary Education and Special Education are official subtracks. Although we track students in Secondary Education, it is not an official subtrack, but could be considered an umbrella program for its subareas, most of which are official subtracks. At the time of degree conferral, students may request to have the subtrack noted in parentheses on their transcript. Their diploma will reflect the degree major Teaching and Learning or Science Education. Secondary Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning The graduate program in secondary education is comprised of a wide combination of subareas commonly dedicated to the purpose of the producing school-based researchers and K-college teachers. At the PhD level, the focus is on preparing researchers and educators who will work in higher education settings, mostly in departments that have some association with teacher education. These graduates typically take jobs in colleges of education, but they are also equipped to take any number of administrative and research positions in government offices and in a variety of pre-college school settings. At the Masters level, the graduate program has a vital MAT program, designed to bring high achieving latecomers into the k-12 teaching profession, as well as a MA degree program that serves as a continuing education mechanism for local and regional school teachers. The subareas in the secondary education program, which include art education, music education, math education, social studies education, ESL/foreign language education, curriculum and supervision, and English education, provide students with an important area of specialization. At the PhD level, these subareas are unified in the core research courses required of all graduate students and in their contributory involvement in teacher education. Admissions Processes and Criteria The admission processes and criteria used in the MAT, MA and PhD programs vary slightly across the subareas. As indicated in Table 1, the Masters programs have a selectivity index appropriate to their role in providing continuing education opportunities to professional teachers and in generating new teachers (MAT graduates) for the profession. Given the geography of the Masters candidates (mostly, local and regional teachers), the yields at the Masters level are higher than the doctoral yields, even as the selectivity indices are, as expected, more rigorous in the doctoral program. Table 1. Number of Applications, Admitted, Enrolled Graduate Students for 5-Year Period Fall 2004-Fall 2008 (Secondary Ed) Program Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Secondary Education (2004 2008) 152 95 51 62% 53% 159 66 24 47% 36%
2 The GRE and entering GPA scores for the students in secondary education are comparable to the university averages and are better than the aggregate college of education averages (see Table 2). The secondary education doctoral program also has a significant outreach to the international student community, enrolling, since 2004, about twenty international students at the start of each academic year, making it the chief source for international student enrollments in the Department of Teaching and Learning (Table 3). The program also attracts significant numbers of female graduate students. At the Masters level, over 60% of the graduates, between 2003 and 2009, were females. At the doctoral level, the numbers were even more tilted in the direction of female enrollments, as over 80% of graduates were female (see Table 4). These numbers likely reflect the realities of the public school teaching ranks, as close to 80% of the nation s school teachers and about 65% of all high school teachers are females. The program area continues to be challenged in attracting nonwhite minorities. This is, in fact, an area of primary concern for recruitment. Table 2. GPA and GRE of Entering Students in Secondary Education, 2004-2007 GRE Scores GPA Verbal Quantitative Verbal + Quantitative Secondary Education 3.46 529 575 1104 College of Education 3.39 501 583 1084 University of Iowa 3.45 515 626 1141 Table 3. Average Graduate Student Enrollment in Secondary Education at the Beginning of Each Academic Year, by Diverse Cohorts, 2004-2008 Fall African Amer. African Amer Semester Internatl Latino/a Internatl Latino/a Amer. Indian Amer Indian 2004 2008 4.8.2 0 0 21.6 1.8 Table 4. Number of Graduates in Secondary Education, by Gender, 2003-2009 Fall 2003 Spring 2009 Male Female Male Female 44 82 12 42 Financial commitments made to graduate students come from a variety of sources, including external grants, a variety university sources and some departmental sources. Over the past six years, the secondary education program has supported on the scale of 50% of its graduate students through agencies external to the department (Table 5). Many of the TA positions are generated by the undergraduate enrollments in the teacher education program. Many of the graduate students are also supported by other departments, mostly in CLAS. Several graduate students in the ESL/Foreign Language Education subarea, for instance, receive their support from their language departments, and many of the students in the English Education are supported by Rhetoric, the Writing Center and the Educational Technology Center. These students were difficult to ferret out because they do not surface in our departmental budget. The coordinators at the subgroup level reported them by examining their rosters for sources of support. But they could only do this for the past two years. There is no archival record of these sources of support, so I projected the same number to the previous three years, understanding that the number is likely a conservative one because our enrollments were significantly larger in the 2004-2007 period. We also know that we have very large numbers of international students who are supported by their governments In the ESL/Foreign Language subarea alone, 10 international students are fully funded by their governments for the current academic year. But again, no archival record is available for these data. Table 5. Assistantship Support in Secondary Education, Halftime Equivalents, 2004-2009 TA Departmental Support Grant Support Other * 2004 05 18.25 2.5 2 15 2005 06 18.75 1 18
3 2006 07 15.75 3 2 15 2007 08 15.5 3.5 2 15 2008 09 15 4 2 18 *This refers to Fulbright Scholars, Graduate Fellows, students supported by the Iowa Testing program and by the International Education Office in the College of Education, as well as students supported by CLAS and the College of Medicine, the Writing Center and the Educational Technology Center. Program Outcomes The completion rate in the secondary education program for doctoral students is comparable to the university rate, but the median time-to-degree rate is lengthier. Part of the issue here has to do with the nature of the graduate student population (Table 6). Many of the PhD students in the program area are working professional school teachers or school administrators. Many start as part-time students before eventually switching to full-time student status to fulfill the residency requirement and/or to work on their dissertations. The high proportions of part-time students could partly explain the relatively low rate of University of Iowa affiliated fellowship winners, although the program area has held its own. Between 2004 and 2008, the secondary education program had two Presidential Graduate Fellows, five Clearly Fellows, one Deans Graduate Fellow and seventeen Graduate Summer Fellows. Table 6. PhD Degree Completion Rate and Time to Degree 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, and 2000-01 Number of PhDs Earned Completion Rate Median TTD Secondary Education 34 56% 6.3 College of Education 303 68% 5.7 University of Iowa 2358 55% 5.8 The placement rates for the doctoral graduates in the program are impressive, especially because there is very good congruence between the training they receive and the kind of work they get. For instance, close to 80% of graduates, between 2003 and 2008, took positions in either university or K-12 school setting. 42% are either tenured or on the tenuretrack; 28 % are on a non-tenure track, likely in the role of clinical professors. These numbers are significantly better than either the COE or UI averages (Table 6). Table 7. Placement of Graduates in University and K-12 School Settings, by Percentages, 2003-2008 Tenure/Tenure Track College Teaching Non Tenure Track K 12 Teaching/Admin. Secondary Education 42% 28% 9% College of Education 27% 10% 8% University of Iowa 32% 10% 2% Program Characteristics Generally speaking, the graduate program in secondary education is quite healthy and can be lauded for its success in attracting strong students with backgrounds in the school-based professions, most of whom (at least at the PhD level) get good jobs in university settings after they graduate. At the Masters level, many of the subareas, such as English education and social studies report 90% professional employment for their graduates, mostly in high school settings. The program, at both and doctoral levels, attracts some diverse cohorts, particularly women and international students, and funds a good share of its doctoral students through departmental monies, grants and other sources external to the college. In fact, it is remarkable how many students in the secondary education degree programs have support from departments outside the college. This is especially the case for students working in the ESL/Foreign Language subarea (who are often supported by language departments) and students working in the English Education subarea (who are supported by Rhetoric, the Writing Center and the Education Technology Center). Despite these strengths, the enrollments patterns in the MAT, MA and PhD programs are all marked by declines. Graduate enrollments have dropped from 159 in 2003 to 102 in 2008 from 81 in the Masters program in 2003 to 51 in 2008 and from 78 in the PhD program in 2003 to 51 in 2008. These are all on the scale of 35% declines. These declines, however, are
4 the function of faculty line losses. The program area has gone from 15 tenure-track faculty in 2003 to 11 in 2008. The downward enrollment movement, in effect, tracks the downward movement in the number of full time tenure-line faculty in the program. The very same declines have also been witnessed in the undergraduate program, which is a source of support for graduate students. The program area, in fact, routinely rejects about thirty percent of undergraduate applicants for admission into teacher education, leaving behind many students with solidly high GPAs and good test scores, mostly because resources on-the-ground do not allow for more admittees. The bottom line is that full-time faculty lines should be restored to at least 2003 levels. The department, in fact, has already taken some steps this past year to build-up faculty lines in the subareas of math education and ESL/ foreign language education. This will allow the program area to serve an undergraduate population eager to be admitted into teacher education (in which job prospects are very bright for its graduates) and a graduate student population that, upon graduation, already takes very good jobs in college/university settings. The principal criteria to be used for the improvement of all subareas in secondary education include: 1) satisfying the potential for community engagement and public school outreach; 2) fulfilling grant-getting capacity to help support graduate students, serve schools and advance scholarship; 3) contributing to the expertise and coursework needed to sustain a vital teacher education program, 4) producing Masters and PhD students who secure jobs congruent with their training; and 5) generating research in the top publication outlets of the field. Elementary Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning The graduate program in elementary education is dedicated to producing school-based researchers and K-college teachers. At the PhD level, the focus is on preparing researchers and educators who will work in higher education settings, mostly in departments that have an association with teacher education. These graduates typically take jobs in colleges of education, but they are also equipped to take any number of administrative and research positions in government offices and in a variety of pre-college school settings. At the Masters level, the graduate program has two vital MA degree programs that serve as continuing education mechanisms for local and regional school teachers. The MA students are almost all working in the subarea of literacy education, which includes language arts and reading education. The MA in Developmental Reading, in fact, leads directly to state licensure as a reading specialist and is a widely pursued by elementary school teachers. At the PhD level, graduate programs are unified by the core research courses required of all graduate students and through their involvement in teacher education. Admissions Processes and Criteria As indicated in Table 1, the Masters program has a selectivity index appropriate to its role in providing continuing education opportunities to professional teachers. The yields at the Masters and are quite high, but the selectivity index is probably too low, given the expressed purpose of the MA program, which is to serve local teachers. This is partly a function of faculty attrition. Resources on-the-ground are not keeping up with demands. At the PhD level, the enrollment numbers are vigorous, but finding high quality students is a struggle. The selectivity rate for the PhD is not as low as the Masters, but the yield is comparable. Table 1. Number of Applications, Admitted, Enrolled Graduate Students for 5-Year Period Fall 2004-Fall 2008 (Elementary Ed) Program Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Elementary Education (2004 2008) 31 18 13 58% 72% 18 12 9 66% 75% The GRE and entering GPA scores for the students in elementary education are comparable to the COE averages but are below the aggregate university averages (see Table 2). This is despite holding to a selectivity index of about 58% for Masters students and 66% for doctoral students, which points to the fact that the elementary education program is drawing from a pool of candidates who have not, historically speaking, had the highest GRE sources. The program area, in fact, uses comprehensive sources of data for admission decisions. At the Masters level, over 90% of graduates, between 2003 and 2009, were females. At the doctoral level, the numbers are similarly tilted in the direction of female enrollments, as over 80% of graduates were female (see Table 4). These numbers reflect the realities of the public school teaching ranks, as close to 80% of the nation s school teachers and over 90% of all
5 elementary school teachers are females. The program area continues to be challenged in attracting nonwhite minorities. This is, in fact, an area of primary concern for recruitment. Table 2. GPA and GRE of Entering Students by Elementary Education, 2004-2007 GPA GRE Scores Verbal Quantitative Verbal + Quantitative Elementary Education 3.37 508 561 1068 College of Education 3.39 501 583 1084 University of Iowa 3.45 515 626 1141 Table 3. Average Graduate Student Enrollment in Elementary Education at the Beginning of Each Academic Year, by Diverse Cohorts, 2004-2008 Fall African Amer. African Amer Semester Internatl Latino/a Internatl Latino/a Amer. Indian Amer Indian 2004 2008 2.2.6 0 0 3 1 0 0 Table 4. Number of Graduates (Masters and PhD) in Elementary Education, by Gender, 2003-2009 Fall 2003 Spring 2009 Male Female Male Female 3 43 3 15 Financial commitments made to graduate students are dependent on enrollments and some departmental support. Because the college deliberately reduced the admissions numbers in teacher education, due to faculty losses and other resource management concerns, a parallel decrease occurred in teaching assistantships. Over the past six years, the elementary education program has not supported any students through grants. Some students are supported by sources external to the department, including support from other departments such as Spanish and Portuguese and Rhetoric, and from centers such as the COE s Education Technology Center. These students are difficult to ferret out because they do not surface in our departmental budget. The coordinators at the subgroup level reported them by examining their rosters for sources of support. But they could only do this for the past two years. There is no archival record of these sources of support, so I projected the same number to the previous three, understanding that the number is likely a conservative one because our enrollments were larger in the 2004-2007 period. Table 5. Assistantship Support in Elementary Education, Halftime Equivalents, 2004-2009 TA Departmental Support Grant Support External to the Department 2004 05 10.5 3 2005 06 7.5 1.5 3 2006 07 4.5 3 2007 08 5.5 3 2008 09 4.5 3* *This refers to students supported by CLAS and the Educational Technology Center. Program Outcomes The completion rate for doctoral students in the elementary program is higher than the university rate, but the median timeto-degree rate is lengthier. Many of the PhD students in the program are fulltime working professional school teachers and administrators. Many start as part-time students before switching to full-time status to fulfill the residency requirement and/or to work on their dissertations. This fact might help explain the lengthier time to degree. Furthermore, many of the
6 PhD students conduct qualitative dissertation studies that often require extended periods of data accumulation. It is not unusual for the post-coursework phase of the program to take several years. The high proportion of part-time and otherwise employed students also explains the low rate of University of Iowa affiliated fellowship winners. Many of the graduate students in the program area do not need or want financial support to complete their studies. Table 6. PhD Degree Completion Rate and Time to Degree 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, and 2000-01 Number of PhDs Earned Completion Rate Median TTD Elementary Education 9 64% 6.3 College of Education 303 68% 5.7 University of Iowa 2358 55% 5.8 The placement rates for the doctoral graduates in the program are impressive, especially because there is very good congruence between the training they receive and the kind of work they secure. For instance, 70% of graduates, between 2003 and 2008, took positions in either university or K-12 school settings. 51% are either tenured or on the tenure-track; 13% are on a non-tenure track, likely in the role of clinical professors. These numbers are significantly better than either COE or UI averages (Table 7). Many of our graduates are recipients of regional and national research and teaching awards for dissertation research and early career successes at major universities. Table 7. Placement of Graduates in University and K-12 School Settings, by Percentages, 2003-2008 College Teaching Tenure/Tenure Track Non Tenure Track K 12 Teaching/Admin. Elementary Education 51% 13% 6% College of Education 27% 10% 8% University of Iowa 32% 10% 2% Program Characteristics Graduate enrollments in elementary education have declined from 46 in 2003 to 23 in 2008, most of which are accounted for in the Masters ranks. Faculty losses have accompanied these declines and partly explain them. Nevertheless, students who have graduated with our advanced degrees have had excellent success securing jobs in higher education. The faculty understands the need to attract more students with diverse backgrounds, despite its obvious success with attracting women and international students. But faculty losses have resulted in increasing overload for teaching responsibilities and administrative tasks, leaving insufficient time and resources for external funding initiatives that could increase funding for graduate student support. And it is clear that an increase of research assistantships from external sources would likely attract stronger students. As noted in Figure 1, the downward enrollment trend is isomorphic with the downward movement in the number of full time tenure-line faculty in the program. Similar declines have also occurred in the competitive undergraduate program, which is a primary source of support for graduate students. The elementary teacher education program area routinely rejects between 15 and 30% of the undergraduate students who apply for admission, leaving behind a superbly qualified student cohort with solidly high GPAs and good test scores. An increase in numbers of graduate students to support this program with teaching assistantships could allow for more admittees. Thus, full-time faculty lines associated with the program area should be restored to at least Y2003 levels and significant resources need to be put into the literacy, language arts and reading education subareas. These areas are rife with grant work possibilities, as well as with community and school outreach efforts. The program area, in fact, should target new faculty, including senior faculty, who will provide leadership in grant getting, community engagement and scholarship production. This is a matter of some urgency, as current faculty are stretched. The program area is also exploring the possibilities of offering an online Masters program as a way to keep the Masters Degree enrollments vital. Inexpensive online Masters programs have proliferated in recent years and have likely cost the program area some students. Elementary education faculty are considering the viability of competing with these online sources, but need the resources to do so effectively.
7 Figure 1. Total Number of Graduate Students Enrolled Against Full Time Faculty, 2003-2008 60 40 20 0 46 41 32 30 25 23 11 9 9 9 6 5 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Graduate Enrollments Total Full Time Faculty The reality is that good jobs are available for elementary education graduates, at both the Masters and doctoral levels. Increased enrollments can be easily rationalized from the perspective of the job market, but only if significant resources are put into the program area. This is fundamentally a matter of restoring the program in the literacy-affiliated disciplines that serve elementary education. The principal criteria used to judge the health of the program area in the future include: 1) satisfying the potential for community engagement and public school outreach; 2) fulfilling grant-getting capacity to help support graduate students, serve schools and advance scholarship; 3) contributing to the expertise and coursework needed to sustain a vital teacher education program, 4) producing Masters and PhD students who secure jobs congruent with their training; and 5) generating research in the top publication outlets of the field. Special Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning Ninety-eight percent of the nation s schools report shortages of qualified special education teachers. In Iowa, special education has been on the state s designated teacher shortage list since the inception of the calculations. At the university level, one-third of faculty openings in special education go unfilled each year, due to a lack of qualified candidates. The special education graduate program is dedicated to producing school-based researchers and K-college teachers who will be able to fill these critical positions nationally and in the state of Iowa. At the PhD level, the focus is on preparing researchers and educators to can work in higher education settings, mostly in departments that have some association with teacher education. These graduates typically take jobs in colleges of education, but they are also equipped to take any number of administrative and research positions in government offices and in a variety of pre-college school settings. At the Masters level, the program has vital degree programs that provide teachers with the education they need to work as special educators in K-12 settings. Admissions Processes and Criteria As indicated in Table 1, the Masters program has a selectivity index appropriate to its role in providing continuing education opportunities to professional teachers. The lower number of admittees at the PhD level was deliberately managed in the face of limited numbers of tenured faculty on staff (e.g., there was only 3 tenured special education faculty in 2006-2007). More faculty have since been hired and recruitment efforts are resuming. The special education program maintains a strong international reputation with most of the recently admitted PhD candidates being international students. Table 1. Number of Applications, Admitted, Enrolled Graduate Students for 5-Year Period Fall 2004-Fall 2008 (Special Ed) Program Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Special Education (2004 2008) 46 32 25 69% 78% 18 6 3 33% 50%
8 The GRE and entering GPA scores for the students in special education are comparable to the COE averages but are below the aggregate university averages (see Table 2). The program also attracts significant numbers of female graduate students. At the Masters level, about 75% of the graduates, between 2003 and 2009, were females. At the doctoral level over 82% of graduates were female (see Table 4). The program area continues to be challenged in attracting nonwhite minorities. This is an area of primary concern for recruitment. Table 2. GPA and GRE of Entering Students by Special Education, College of Education and University of Iowa, 2004-2007 GPA GRE Scores Verbal Quantitative Verbal + Quantitative Special Education 3.38 482 565 1047 College of Education 3.39 501 583 1084 University of Iowa 3.45 515 626 1141 Table 3. Average Graduate Student Enrollment in Special Education at the Beginning of Each Academic Year, by Diverse Cohorts, 2004-2008 Fall African Amer. African Amer Semester Internatl Latino/a Internatl Latino/a Amer. Indian Amer Indian 2004 2008 2.6.2 0 0 3.4 0 0 0 Table 4. Number of Graduates (Masters and PhD) in Special Education, by Gender, 2003-2009 Fall 2003 Spring 2009 Male Female Male Female 15 64 2 11 Financial commitments made to graduate students are dependent on grants, enrollments, and departmental support. Over the past six years, the special education program has provided limited support for Masters and doctoral students. Most of the funding for special education students was provided via TA positions, which are generated by the undergraduate enrollments in the teacher education program. Because the enrollments in teacher education were deliberately scaled down, TA support has dropped. However, a new Institute of Education Sciences grant (4.8 million) was recently obtained, which will support approximately 4-6 special education doctoral students through to Y2012. Table 5. Assistantship Support in Special Education, Halftime Equivalents, 2004-2009 TA Departmental Support Grant Support Iowa Testing Program 2004 05 3 2 2005 06 2.5 2006 07 2.5 1 2007 08 1.75 1 1 2008 09 2 1 Program Outcomes The completion rate for doctoral students in the special education program is significantly higher than the university rate while the median time-to-degree rate is comparable to the university median. Many of the PhD students in the program are working professional school teachers. Many start as part-time students before switching to full-time status to fulfill the residency requirement and/or to work on their dissertations, which might explain why the program has only had a few Iowa-affiliated fellowship winners.
9 Table 6. PhD Degree Completion Rate and Time to Degree 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, and 2000-01 Number of PhDs Earned Completion Rate Median TTD Special Education 9 69% 5.6 College of Education 303 68% 5.7 University of Iowa 2358 55% 5.8 The placement rates for the doctoral graduates in the program are impressive, especially because there is good congruence between the training they receive and the kind of work they obtain. For instance, 70% of graduates, between 2003 and 2008, took positions in either university or K-12 school setting. 51% are either tenured or on the tenure-track; 13% are on a non-tenure track, likely in the role of clinical professors. These numbers are significantly better than either COE or UI averages (Table 7). Table 7. Placement of Graduates in University and K-12 School Settings, by Percentages, 2003-2008 College Teaching Tenure/Tenure Track Non Tenure Track K 12 Teaching/Admin. Special Education 50% 8% 16% College of Education 27% 10% 8% University of Iowa 32% 10% 2% Program Characteristics Graduate enrollments in special education declined - dropping from 60 in 2003 to 24 in 2008. Most of the enrollment declines are associated with the Masters programs. The steep drop from 2003 to 2004 is due to the expiration of state funded support for Masters students. The 2004 school year was the final year of a federally funded Masters degree program which supported the full tuition of 50 students and partial tuition of 2 students who became certified to teach in special education The program area has taken steps to address the decline in enrollment numbers by initiating an online Masters program that it is inaugurating in the fall of 2009. The expectation is that Masters level enrollment will be significantly lifted by this initiative. The lower enrollments in the doctoral program are not a function of limited interest but rather a function of attracting strong students. Two thirds of all applicants were rejected for admission over the past five years, so the issue is to find a way to strengthen the application pool. Again the program area has already begun to address this concern by securing large scale grants that will support graduate students. The program has also developed a strong affiliation with the REACH (Realizing Education and Career Hopes) program. REACH is a two year, post-secondary certificate program located on campus. The program focuses on meeting transitional needs of students with multiple learning or intellectual disabilities in an inclusive university setting. It is anticipated that the program s affiliation with REACH will enhance student recruitment efforts and generate additional grant opportunities. The program has also recently hired a senior faculty member who is a skilled grant writer and a nationally recognized researcher who is expected to help attract a stronger applicant pool. The special education graduate program is preparing professionals to help address a critical shortage of qualified special education professionals in the nation and in the state of Iowa. The program is poised to grow with the hiring of faculty (4 since 2006), with the onset of a new online program, with recent grant procurements in the millions of dollars, and with a maturing articulation arrangement with the COE s REACH program for college students with cognitive disabilities. Furthermore, the job placement data indicate continuing good opportunities for work in college settings for PhD graduates. The fact is that students who have graduated from the program area have had good success in securing jobs in higher education. The program area, it should also be said, does its share in attracting some diverse cohorts, specifically women and international students.
10 The principal criteria used to judge the health of the program area in the future include: 1) satisfying the potential for community engagement and public school outreach; 2) fulfilling grant-getting capacity to help support graduate students, serve schools and advance scholarship; 3) contributing to the expertise and coursework needed to sustain a vital teacher education program, 4) producing Masters and PhD students who secure jobs congruent with their training; and 5) generating research in the top publication outlets of the field. Science Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning The graduate program in science education is dedicated to the purpose of the producing school-based researchers and K- college teachers. At the PhD level, the focus is on preparing researchers and educators who will work in higher education settings, mostly in departments that have some association with teacher education. These graduates typically take jobs in colleges of education, but they are also equipped to take any number of administrative and research positions in government offices and in a variety of pre-college school settings. At the Masters level, the graduate program has a vital MA degree program that serves as a continuing education mechanism for local and regional school teachers and a recently inaugurated MAT program designed to help bring high-achieving latecomers into the teaching profession. Admissions Processes and Criteria As indicated in Table 1, the Masters program has a selectivity index appropriate to its role in providing continuing education opportunities to professional teachers. The selectivity index for doctoral students is similarly high, but the qualifications of the students admitted, using GPA and SAT averages, are better than the university-wide averages. The yields in the Masters and doctoral programs are lower than the average COE yield, but this too might be an effect of better qualified students. Typically, yield is inversely related to selectivity. This could be made more acute when a program area, such as science education, is drawing candidates from a nation-wide shortage of science educators. Table 1. Number of Applications, Admitted, Enrolled Graduate Students for 5-Year Period Fall 2004-Fall 2008 (Special Ed) Program Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Apps Admitted Enrolled Selectivity Yield Science Education (2004 2008) 58 43 27 73% 55% 29 21 9 72% 42% As mentioned, the GRE and entering GPA scores for the students in science education are better than the COE averages and slightly better than the aggregate university averages (see Table 2). The program also attracts significant numbers of female graduate students, as more than half of the students who graduated from the program over the past six years were females. The program area continues to be challenged in attracting nonwhite minorities. This is, in fact, an area of primary concern for recruitment. The program area does, however, have a very strong outreach to international students, enrolling, on the average, close to ten international students per academic year in the doctoral program. Table 2. GPA and GRE of Entering Students by Science Education, College of Education and University of Iowa, 2004-2007 GPA GRE Scores Verbal Quantitative Verbal + Quantitative Science Education 3.29 538 624 1162 College of Education 3.39 501 583 1084 University of Iowa 3.45 515 626 1141 Table 3. Average Graduate Student Enrollment in Special Education at the Beginning of Each Academic Year, by Diverse Cohorts, 2004-2008 Fall African Amer. African Amer Semester Internatl Latino/a Internatl Latino/a Amer. Indian Amer Indian 2004 2008 1.8 0 0 0 8.4 0.4.4
11 Table 4. Number of Graduates (Masters and PhD) in Science Education, by Gender, 2003-2009 Fall 2003 Spring 2009 Male Female Male Female 24 31 13 12 Financial commitments made to graduate students are dependent on enrollments, some departmental support and very strong emerging grant support. Over the past six years, the science education program has always supported some students through agencies external to the department. During the past two years, the extent of this grant support has increased considerably, as over 50% of full time doctoral students are now finding support through faculty grants. Having secured a new Y2009 grant on the scale of five million dollars, the science education program is, in fact, a model for other program areas to follow in bringing external resources to support significant numbers of graduate students. Table 5. Assistantship Support in Science Education, Halftime Equivalents, 2004-2009 TA Departmental Support Grant Support Iowa Testing Program 2004 05 3 1.5 2005 06 2.25.5.5 2006 07 2.5 2.5 1 2007 08 2.75 1.5 1.25 1 2008 09 1.25 1 5.25.5 Program Outcomes The completion rate for doctoral students in the science education program is significantly higher than the university rate while the median time-to-degree rate is significantly shorter. The combination of good support and high student qualifications likely contributes to this positive trend. With less part-time students than is common in the Department of Teaching and Learning, the program area can boast of better time-to-degree numbers. The program has only had a few Iowa-affiliated fellowship winners (two Cleary award winners) but this relatively low number could be explained by the significant amount of external support available in the program area Table 6. PhD Degree Completion Rate and Time to Degree 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, and 2000-01 Number of PhDs Earned Completion Rate Median TTD Science Education 21 84% 4.3 College of Education 303 68% 5.7 University of Iowa 2358 55% 5.8 The placement rates for the doctoral graduates in the program are impressive, especially because there is very good congruence between the training the students receive and the kind of work they get. For instance, about 75% of graduates, between 2003 and 2008, took positions in either university or K-12 school setting. 36% are either tenured or on the tenuretrack; 27% are on a non-tenure track, likely in the role of clinical professors. These numbers are significantly better than either COE or UI averages (Table 7).
12 Table 7. Placement of Graduates in University and K-12 School Settings, by Percentages, 2003-2008 College Teaching Tenure/Tenure Track Non Tenure Track K 12 Teaching/Admin. Science Education 36% 27% 13% College of Education 27% 10% 8% University of Iowa 32% 10% 2% Program Characteristics The science education program receives good grades on virtually every measure of performance. External support for students is strong, enrollment trends are stable, placement rates are very good, the qualifications of the admitted student are above university averages and the overall profile of the program in the state s schools is second to none. And the program also does its share in attracting some diverse cohorts, mostly women and international students. The principal criteria used to judge the future health of the program area include: 1) satisfying the potential for community engagement and public school outreach; 2) fulfilling grant-getting capacity to help support graduate students, serve schools and advance scholarship; 3) contributing to the expertise and coursework needed to sustain a vital teacher education program, 4) producing Masters and PhD students who secure jobs congruent with their training; and 5) generating research in the top publication outlets of the field. With a new multi-million dollar grant in place, the program area has a positive enrollment trajectory.