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College of Education

Educator Preparation Provider Unit (EPP) Quality Assurance Committee (QCom)

The Quality Assurance Committee (QCom) is responsible for managing, monitoring, and reviewing assessment data for each program, office, and committee in the Professional Education Unit (PEU). This includes oversight for the development, implementation, and evaluation of program and office assessment plans.

Updated September 2020

QCom is responsible for managing, monitoring, and reviewing assessment data for each program, office, and committee in the Educator Preparation Provider Unit (EPP). This includes oversight for the development, implementation, and evaluation of program and office assessment plans.

QCom operates under the direction of the Director of P-12 Educator Preparation (currently, the Dean of the College of Education). Committee members include:

  • One faculty representative from each College of Education (COE) department
  • One representative from the EPP outside the COE
  • One P-12 representative
  • One representative from the South Carolina Department of Education
  • One representative from USC’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment
  • The COE Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or representative
  • The COE Director of the Office of Assessment & Accreditation
  • The COE Assessment Coordinator

Additional stakeholders, including department chairs, business leaders, and district superintendents are also invited to attend meetings, though their representation varies based on the program under review.

QCom has four primary duties:

  • To assist individual programs and offices with the development of assessment plans that will ensure quality programs
  • Periodically review these plans, aggregated data, related program changes, and provide feedback
  • Oversee the collection and analysis of data that are used to evaluate the EPP as a whole, and to use these data for periodic review of the EPP
  • Evaluate the relevance of each program, based on the program’s impact on candidates and the candidates’ impact on students

During the 2012 – 2013 academic year, new review procedures were tested successfully, and were fully implemented in the 2013 – 2014 academic year. Previously, reviews took place on an approximate six-year cycle. Moving forward, reviews will be on an approximate three-year cycle, and will include two years of academic program reviews and one year of office, committee, and unit-wide reviews.

To evaluate the EPP as a whole, QCom reviews:

  • Overall candidate and program quality
  • The unit-wide assessment system
  • The quality of clinical experiences including diversity, faculty, and unit governance.

Results of these reviews are compiled and shared with the Deans’ Executive Council, program coordinators, department chairs, Institutional Assessment and Compliance, and the chair of either the Basic Programs Committee or Advanced Programs Governance Committee, depending on the program being reviewed.

Reviews are conducted in a manner mirroring that of a CAEP review. Programs are notified of their upcoming review date at the beginning of each academic year. Program-specific assessment materials are distributed to the committee each month for an “off-site” review. The committee submits all questions arising from the assessment materials to the program approximately two weeks prior to the scheduled review. Program representatives return written responses to the committee prior to the meeting. During the “on-site” review portion, program representatives provide the committee with a 10-minute presentation detailing enrollments, trends, perceived strengths, plans for the future, and challenges they face. At the conclusion of the presentation, the committee takes 5-10 minutes to ask follow-up questions. Once all follow-up questions have been answered, the committee meets privately to determine the strength of the program’s assessment activities. A letter, indicating the final rating and detailing the committee’s perceptions of strengths and areas for improvement, as well as items for further consideration is sent to each program representative once the review is concluded. Minutes from each meeting are available on the COE’s website.

The current review schedule through the 2020-21 academic year is included below. The schedule lists each program’s last date of review and the current contact for the program, as of June 2020.    

The 2020-21 committee members are:

  • Michael Grant, EDST representative
  • Panos Doutis, PE representative
  • Lucy Spence, ITE representative
  • Henry Tran, EDLP representative
  • Dawn Hiller, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Christy Friend, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Michael Tucker, Institutional Research and Assessment
  • Lisa Peterson, COE Director of OAA
  • Beverly Flythe, SC Department of Education
  • Mary Gaskins, School District Representative
  • Sandra Brossard, School District Representative
  • Rob Dedmon, Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management and Academic Program Development

 

Review Cycle 2020 – 2021

Program Date of Last Review Date of Next Review Program Contact

Dance Education (BA) - CAEP Programs

October 2016

 September 2020

Stephanie Milling

Theatre Education (MAT) - CAEP Programs

November 2016

 

October 2020

 

Peter Duffy

School Psychology (PhD)

September 2017

October 2020

Scott Decker

Speech Pathology (MSP/MCD)

September 2017

November 2020

Crystal Murphree-Holden/Julianne Miller/Kenn Apel

School Media (MLIS)

November 2017

November 2020

Heather Moorefield-Lang/Gerry Solomon/Karen Gavigan

Music Education (BM, MAT)

December 2017

December 2020

Wendy Valerio

Art Education (BFA, MAT)

December 2017

December 2020

Minuette Floyd

Physical Education (BS/MAT, PhD)

January 2018

January 2021

Lynda Nilges

Foreign Language Education (BA/MAT)

January 2018

January 2021

Lara Ducate, Catherine Wiskes, Paul Malovhr

Office of Program Evaluation / Policy Center / School Improvement Council

January 2017

February 2021

Tammiee Dickenson / Diane Monrad / Tom Hudson

SC Geographic Alliance / SC Middle School Association / Writing Improvement Network

February 2017

March 2021

Jerry Mitchell / Baron Holmes / Hannah Baker

Grants & Contracts

March 2017

April 2021

Rebecca Wessinger

Development  

March 2017

April 2021

Erin Eigenbrot

Gamecock EdQuarters – Clinical Experiences, Teaching Fellows, & Recruitment/Retention

April 2017

May 2021

Chris Burkett

 

Review Cycle 2021-2022

Program Date of Last Review Date of Next Review Program Contact

Office of Assessment & Accreditation

April 2017

    September 2021

Lisa Peterson

Instructional Support & Facilities

May 2017

September 2021

Matthew Joy

Communications

n/a

October 2021

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

n/a

October 2021

Michelle Bryan

Teaching (MEd)

November 2017

November 2021

Janie Goodman

Counselor Education (Career Development Facilitator Cert, EdS [MCFC & School], PhD)

February 2018

November 2021

Jonathan Ohrt

Foundations of Education (PhD) & Qualitative Research Certificate

March 2018

December 2021

Kara Brown

Educational Psychology & Research Programs (MEd & PhD)

February 2018

December 2021

Christine DiStefano

Foundations of Education (PhD) & Qualitative Research Certificate

March 2018

January 2022

Kara Brown

Payal Shah will present while Dr. Brown is away for the semester

Educational Administration (MEd, EdS, PhD)

April 2018

January 2022

Peter Moyi

Higher Education (Cert, MEd HESA, PhD)

April 2018

February 2022

Christina Yao

Special Education (MAT, MEd [including Early Childhood track], PhD)

May 2018

March 2022

Chris Christle/Kathleen Marshall

Teaching and Learning (PhD)

May 2018

March 2022

Gloria Boutte (Program did not have sufficient data to present in Spring 2016)

Early Childhood Education (BA, MEd, PhD) - CAEP Programs

November 2018

April 2022

Susi Long

Elementary Education (BA, MAT) – CAEP Programs

November 2018

April 2022

Michele Myers & Beth White

Language & Literacy (MEd, PhD) – non-CAEP Programs

January 2019

May 2022

Julia Lopez-Robertson & Lucy Spence

Ed. Psych & Research (MEd, PhD) – non-CAEP Programs

January 2019

May 2022

Matt Irvin

 


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