Content Area Program Review Training
Step 1: Glossary
Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) was established as part of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) to oversee the education profession. The EPSB is the standards and accreditation agency for Kentucky teachers and administrators and for educator preparation programs at Kentucky colleges/universities, school districts, and private agencies.
Accreditation is the process for assessing and enhancing academic quality through peer review.
Advanced Preparation includes the programs at post-baccalaureate levels for (1) the continuing education of teachers who have previously completed initial preparation or (2) the preparation of other professional school personnel. Advanced preparation programs commonly award graduate credit and include master's, specialist, and doctoral degree programs as well as non-degree certification programs offered at the graduate level.
Candidates are individuals admitted to or enrolled in programs for the initial or advanced preparation of teachers or other professional school personnel. Candidates are distinguished from "students" in P-12 schools.
Code of Ethics is the regulation outlining appropriate behaviour and prohibited conduct for Kentucky's certified educators. For additional information see 16 KAR 1:020.
Content is the subject matter or discipline that teachers are being prepared to teach at the elementary, middle, and/or secondary levels. Content also refers to the professional field of study (e.g., special education, early childhood, school psychology, reading, school administration).
Content Area Reviewers are the educators who voluntarily review and evaluate certification programs.
Continuous Assessment Review Committee (CARC) is charged to review the Continuous Assessment Plans submitted with the institutions' program review documents. CARC's comments from the review are incorporated into the feedback institutions receive from the Reading Committee concerning their programs.
Curriculum is the courses, experiences, and assessments necessary to prepare candidates to teach or work with students at a specific age level and/or to teach a specific subject area.
Field Experiences are a variety of early and ongoing "real world" opportunities in which candidates may observe, assist, tutor, instruct, and/or conduct research. Field experiences may occur in off-campus settings such as P-12 schools, community centers, or homeless shelters.
Initial Preparation includes the programs at baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate levels that prepare candidates for the first certificate to teach.
KERA Initiatives
Learner Goals and Academic Expectations identify what P-12 students should know and be able to do as a result of their school experience.
The Program of Studies for Kentucky Schools, Grades Primary-12 helps ensure that all students across the Commonwealth are provided with common content and have opportunities to learn at a high level. The purpose of the Program of Studies is to outline the minimum content required for all students before graduating from Kentucky high schools.
Core Content for Assessment represents the content identified as essential for all students to know and included on the state assessment, CATS (Commonwealth Accountability Testing System).
Standards and Indicators for School Improvement (SISI) define the elements of whole school improvement that schools can put into effect at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in order to produce desired learning results.
Kentucky Performance Standards
New Teacher Standards describe what first-year teachers should know and be able to do in authentic teaching situations, and the academic content, teaching behaviors, and instructional processes that are necessary to promote effective student learning.
Experienced Teacher Standards, built upon the New Teacher Standards, describe what effective veteran teachers should know and be able to do.
New Teacher Standards for Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE) reflect performances expected of educators of students, ages birth to primary grades, within a variety of environments, including classrooms, childcare settings, homes, or hospitals.
Standards for Guidance Counselors acknowledge the importance of a common core of knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as the specific skills and knowledge unique to the practice of professional school counseling. The standards for counselor training and preparation represent the foundation for the profession of guidance counseling in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards for School Leaders (.pdf) present a common core of knowledge, dispositions, and performances that help link leadership more closely to productive schools and enhanced educational outcomes.
Technology Standards for School Administrators (.pdf) outlines what P-12 administrators should know and be able to do to optimize the effective use of technology.
The Learned Society Guidelines are the standards of the national specialized professional organizations that represent teachers, higher education faculty, and other school personnel who teach a specific subject matter (e.g., mathematics or social studies); teach students at a specific developmental level (e.g., early childhood, elementary, middle level, or secondary); teach students with specific needs (e.g., bilingual education or special education); administer schools (e.g., principals or superintendents); or provide services to students (e.g., school counselors or school psychologists). Many of these associations are constituent members of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and have standards (i.e., learned society guidelines) for students and practitioners. These standards describe what professionals in the field should know and be able to do.
NCATE - National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education is a coalition of 33 professional associations of teachers, teacher educators, content specialists, and local and state policymakers. NCATE is the education profession's mechanism to help establish high quality educator preparation through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges, and departments of education. As a partner with NCATE, the EPSB requires all educator preparation programs operating in Kentucky to be accredited using NCATE's standards.
Other Professional School Personnel are educators who provide professional services other than teaching in schools. They include, but are not limited to, principals, reading specialists, instructional supervisors, school library media specialists, school psychologists, school superintendents, and instructional technology specialists.
Pedagogical Knowledge includes the general concepts, theories, and research about effective teaching, regardless of content areas.
Professional Knowledge is the historical, economic, sociological, philosophical, and psychological understanding of school and education. It also includes knowledge about learning, diversity, technology, professional ethics, legal and policy issues, and the roles and responsibilities of the profession of teaching.
Program is a planned sequence of courses and experiences for preparing P-12 teachers and other professional school personnel.
Program Approval is the process by which the EPSB reviews a professional education program to determine if it meets the state's standards for the preparation of school personnel.
Program Review Documents are concise descriptions of the educator preparation programs.
The Reading Committee is charged with conducting a preliminary review of accreditation materials and programs from educator preparation institutions that must conform with the appropriate standards and state guidelines. The committee meets in the fall and spring semesters of each year. The Reading Committee is composed of teachers, teacher educators, district administrators, and other professional education stakeholders who have been trained in state performance standards and national accreditation standards. Its responsibility is to look closely at program content, faculty expertise, guidesheet/curriculum contract accuracy, conceptual framework articulation, and continuous assessment integration throughout the programs. This committee is responsible for making a recommendation for approval or nonapproval to the EPSB.
The Unit is the institution, college, school, department, or other administrative body with responsibility for managing or coordinating all programs offered for the initial and continuing preparation of teachers and other school personnel. The unit may also be known as the "professional education unit."
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