STEP Assessment

Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP)

The Secondary Teacher program is comprised of students declared in the teacher education degree programs linked to MN teacher licensure aligned with grades 5-12 and grades K-12 in the Department of Education at the University of Minnesota Duluth.  

These majors include:

  • Art Education:  K-12 Visual Arts
  • Music Education:  K-12 Instrumental & Classroom Music OR K-12 Vocal & Classroom Music
  • Physical Education:  K-12 Physical Education
  • Public Health-School:  5-12 Health Education
  • Teaching Communication Arts & Literature:  5-12 Communication Arts and Literature
  • Teaching Earth & Space Science:  5-8 General Science & 9-12 Earth & Space Science
  • Teaching Earth & Space Science Post Bac:  9-12 Earth & Space Science (Requires Bachelor's Degree)
  • Teaching French:  K-12 World Languages Cultures:  French
  • Teaching German:  K-12 World Languages Cultures: German
  • Teaching Life Science:  5-8 General Science & 9-12 Life Science
  • Life Science Post Bac:  9-12 Life Science (Requires Bachelor's Degree)
  • Teaching Mathematics:  5-12 Mathematics
  • Teaching Physical Science-Chemistry:  5-8 General Science & 9-12 Chemistry
  • Chemistry Post Bac:  9-12 Chemistry (Requires Bachelor's Degree)
  • Teaching Physical Science-Physics:  5-8 General Science & 9-12 Physics
  • Physics Post Bac:  9-12 Physics (Requires Bachelor's Degree)
  • Teaching Social Studies:  5-12 Social Studies
  • Teaching Spanish:  K-12 World Languages Cultures:  Spanish

This program licenses students in the license field aligned with their above major.  The Secondary Teacher Education program faculty work collaboratively with the content departments across the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.  The Department of Education faculty facilitate a robust curriculum in the required core Teacher Education courses (the "Blocks") and the content curriculum is prepared predominately in the associated content department.  Along with the curriculum for creating effective teachers, the program/major also performs ongoing assessment of student learning to ensure the program/major delivery is preparing highly qualified teachers.  The MN Professional Educator Licensing & Standards Board requires all Teacher Education Programs in the State of Minnesota to complete ongoing program assessment as part of the bi-annual PERCA review process and ongoing unit review process.  Assessment components are required to be completed at both the unit and program/major level.

Systematic Assessment of Secondary Education Candidates Decision Points

Program level data review schedule (Fall and Spring Semester)

Data Review Schedule

Key Assessments

PELSB requires the monitoring and assessing candidates' attainment of standards at a minimum of three identified checkpoints after admission throughout the professional education sequence.  Also, a unit collects, aggregates, analyzes and uses aggregated data from its key assessments to evaluate program effectiveness and to make program improvement changes as part of the PERCA process.


Key Assessment Faculty Expectations:

  • Faculty establish an Assessment Tool (rubric, etc) with the Accreditation Officer who add it to the TK20 Key Assessment library. This must occur during the semester prior to the Assessment Tool's use. Faculty use common unit level rubrics for unit plan and lesson plan.
  • Each semester, faculty ensure the Assessment Tool (rubric, etc) is accurate by conferring with the Accreditation Officer. Any known changes to the existing rubric must be communicated to the Accreditation Officer as soon as possible.
  • Each semester, faculty must meet the deadline to enter required Key Assessment scores into TK20. Deadline is on or before two weeks after the end of the semester.

Secondary Teacher Education Program Key Assessments: 
(Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Rubric (Unit Level Common)

Unit Plan

Unit Plan Rubric (Unit Level Common)

Student Teaching Evaluation 

Student Teaching Evaluation Rubric (Administered Fall and Spring Semester)

Collaborative Exit Interview

(Art Education, Music Education, Public Health, Tch Comm Arts Lit, Tch Earth/Space Science, Tch Life Science, Tch Math, Tch Physical Sci (Physics/Chemistry), Teaching Social Studies, Tch World Lang & Culture (Spanish, French, German)

Collaborative Exit Interview Rubric

Professional Assessment & Dispositions for UMD 

Physical Education Majors Only

PETE 4125 Rubric

PETE 4225 Rubric

edTPA  (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

The edTPA is a teacher performance assessment that all teacher education graduates are required to complete in order to be eligible for licensure.  The MN Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board requires the edTPA to be submitted but there isn't a required cut score for the license applicant to be recommended for licensure.  Instead, the MN Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board has set cut scores that the higher education institution must work towards having their teacher candidates meet as part of the PERCA program renewal process.  The below cut scores have been established, all MN higher education institutions are expected to be at a 70% pass rate.

edTPA Passing scores for all programs except World Lang and Culture:
Task 1:  Planning [students must achieve a cut score of 13 or higher]
Task 2:  Instruction [students must achieve a cut score of a 13 or higher]
Task 3:  Assessment [students must achieve a cut score of a 12 or higher]

edTPA Passing scores for World Lang and Culture:
Task 1:  Planning [students must achieve a cut score of 10 or higher]
Task 2:  Instruction [students must achieve a cut score of a 13 or higher]
Task 3:  Assessment [students must achieve a cut score of a 9 or higher]
 
PELSB requirement is that ALL License programs must have an edTPA pass rate of 70%.

Data Analysis:

  • Unit Level
  • STEP Program Level
  • Handbooks:
    • Art Education:  Visual Arts edTPA Handbook
    • Music Education (Instrumental & Vocal):  K-12 Performing Arts edTPA Handbook
    • Physical Education:  Physical Education edTPA Handbook
    • Public Health School:  Health edTPA Handbook
    • Teaching Communication Arts & Literature:  Middle Child English, Language, Arts edTPA Handbook OR Secondary English, Language, Arts edTPA Handbook
    • Teaching Mathematics [Middle Child Mathematics edTPA Handbook OR Secondary Mathematics edTPA Handbook]
    • Teaching Sciences (Chemistry, Earth & Space Science, Life Science, Physics, General Science) [Middle Child Science edTPA Handbook OR Secondary Science edTPA Handbook]
    • Teaching Social Studies [Middle Child Social Studies edTPA Handbook OR Secondary Social Studies edTPA Handbook]
    • Teaching World Language & Culture (Spanish, French, German) [World Language edTPA Handbook]

MTLE (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

MN Teacher Licensure Exam pass rates for content and pedagogy exams aligned with each licensure area.

All students complete the same pedagogy exam:

Pedagogy: 

  • Secondary:  Subtest 1
  • Secondary:  Subtest 2

Content:  see below by major

Data Analysis:

  • Unit Level
  • By Major
  • Vocal
    • Instrumental & Vocal Classroom Music:  Subtest 1
    • Vocal Classroom Music:  Subtest 2
    • Physical Education
      • Content
        • Physical Education:  Subtest 1
        • Physical Education:  Subtest 2
    • Public Health
      • Content
        • Health:  Subtest 1
        • Health:  Subtest 2
    • Teaching Communication Arts & Literature
      • Content:
        • Communication Arts & Literature:  Subtest 1
        • Communication Arts & Literature:  Subtest 2
    • Teaching Mathematics
      • Content:
        • Mathematics:  Subtest 1
        • Mathematics:  Subtest 2
    • Teaching Sciences (Chemistry, Earth & Space Science, Life Science, Physics, General Science) 
      • Content (5-12 Sciences) All take Middle Level Science: Subtest 1 & 2 and below content exam specific to license area
        • Chemistry:  Chemistry:  Subtest 1 AND Chemistry:  Subtest 2
        • Earth & Space Science:  Earth & Space Science:  Subtest 1 AND Earth & Space Science:  Subtest 2
        • Life Science:  Life Science: Subtest 1 AND Life Science:  Subtest 2
        • Physics:  Physics:  Subtest 1 AND Physics: Subtest 2
      • Content (9-12 Post Bac Sciences)
        • Chemistry:  Chemistry:  Subtest 1 AND Chemistry:  Subtest 2
        • Earth & Space Science:  Earth & Space Science:  Subtest 1 AND Earth & Space Science:  Subtest 2
        • Life Science:  Life Science: Subtest 1 AND Life Science:  Subtest 2
        • Physics:  Physics:  Subtest 1 AND Physics: Subtest 2
    • Teaching Social Studies
      • Content:
        • Social Studies:  Subtest 1
        • Social Studies:  Subtest 2
    • Teaching World Language & Culture (Spanish, French, German)
      • French:  World Language & Culture:  French-Subtest 1 AND World Language & Culture:  French-Subtest 2
      • German:  World Language & Culture:  German-Subtest 1 AND World Language & Culture:  German-Subtest 2
      • Spanish:  World Language & Culture:  Spanish-Subtest 1 AND World Language & Culture:  Spanish-Subtest 2

Dispositions (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

Professional Dispositions Rubric (Common Unit Level) previous version

Professional Dispositions 2020-Present

Data Analysis (Restricted to Program Faculty)

Block Surveys (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

Data Analysis (Restricted to Program Faculty)

Unit Level Additional Data Measures (Access Restricted to Program Faculty):

Data Analysis (Restricted to Program Faculty)

Data Analysis for On-Going Program Review (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)

Data Analysis (Restricted to Program Faculty)

UMD Student Learning Outcomes (SLO's)

Assessment of Student Learning

Each program at UMD is required to have a Program Assessment Liaison (PAL) who is responsible for reviewing data and compiling a report to be entered into the Compliance Assist Assessment Program that aligns with the student learning outcome data reporting cycle.  The Annual Program Assessment Report, completed in the Fall, includes program development recommendations for the program student learning outcome (SLO) assessed. The recommendations are based on the program faculty/staff interpretations of the assessment results.

Student Learning Outcomes crosswalk with Standards of Effective Practice (SEP's) and Review Schedule

SLO Reports (Access Restricted to Program Faculty)