Program Quality

Wagner Graduate Adolescent students preparing to meet their cooperating teachers as part of their year-long internship at Port Richmond High School

  • Program Quality 
  • Program Quality Indicators 
  • Student and Graduate Data 
Our most important task is to provide the best teacher preparation program for our students. In order to do that, we have created a quality assurance system that allows us to make data driven decisions about our curriculum, our policies, and our relationships with P-12 schools. Here, you will find components of that quality assurance system, trends that we are following, and some of the valid data we are tracking to continuously improve. 
In addition to our quality assurance system, we rely on a national, outside accreditor to monitor our progress towards our goals and to make additional recommendations for improvement. We are currently working with the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). Our choice to work with them comes from our shared commitment to (1) continuous improvement, (2) quality assurance, (3) credibility in the field, (4) equity in education, and (5) a strong foundation of research-based, data-driven decision making. 
While our full quality assurance program includes continuous assessment of our curriculum, admissions policies, faculty policies, community and P-12 school relationships, and impact on P-12 learning, this page focuses mostly on the measures by which we could say our graduates are well-prepared and well-positioned to succeed as teachers. The below results and data explore how our students plan, teach, and assess as well as how our graduates perform as teachers. You will also find information about how our graduates and their employers feel about the program in addition to other relevant information. As you will see, while we are always looking to improve, we have a great program in part because we have a great system and ability to make change. 

 

Wagner’s Students’ and Graduates’ Impact on K-12 Student Learning

Impact on K-12 Student Learning: Education Students’ Abilities to Plan

Measure: A Specialized Professional Association (SPA) Assessment, completed by faculty, which assesses candidates’ ability to plan lessons, early in their program, as part of an introductory course.  This assessment differs depending on the student’s program (introductory or advanced), and, for advanced students, on their content area focus (e.g., social studies, mathematics).

Results: Our Grades 1-6 Initial Teaching Certification students are rated consistently highly according to the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) standards, but are rated lower than average when assessed for Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards. Wagner has few students each year in most 7-12 Initial Teaching Certification programs, but ratings based on a variety of SPA standards in all programs across recent years are consistently above average.
Ratings of Students’ Abilities to Plan Lessons

Source: Wagner Education Department’s student information system, FOLIO180.  

Impact on K-12 Student Learning: Education Students’ Abilities to Plan and Teach

Measure: A Specialized Professional Association (SPA) Assessment, completed by faculty, which assesses candidates’ ability to plan and teach lessons, in the middle of their program, as part of their methods classes. This assessment differs depending on the student’s program (introductory or advanced), and, for advanced students, on their content area focus (e.g., social studies, mathematics).

Results: Our Grades 1-6 Initial Teaching Certification students are rated consistently highly according to both Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards. Students in Wagner’s largest 7-12 programs in the past few years  have been rated above average according to National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards. Ratings in our programs with fewer students have also been above average (National Council of Teachers of English or NCTE, National Science Teachers’ Association or NSTA, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics or NCTM, and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages or ACTFL. )

Ratings of Students’ Abilities to Plan and Teach Lessons

Source: Wagner Education Department’s student information system, FOLIO180.

Impact on K-12 Student Learning: Education Students’ Abilities to Plan, Teach, and Assess Student Learning

Measure: edTPA, a performance-based, subject-specific assessment system that measures the skills and knowledge new teachers need.  The edTPA is a New York State certification requirement.

Results: Wagner Elementary Education students scored close to the New York State and national total score edTPA averages in recent years–slightly better in early 2016, and slightly worse in 2016-17.  Although average scores in our other programs are also typically similar to New York State averages, these results should be viewed with caution because of low numbers of students in these programs.

Students’ Abilities to Plan, Teach, and Assess Student Learning

Source: New York State summary reports, generated by Pearson, available online.

Impact on K-12 Student Learning: Education Students’ and Graduates’ Abilities to Impact Student Learning

Measure: Action Research Projects that selected Wagner graduates complete while participating in our New Educators at Wagner (NEW) program.

Results: One sample project by a NEW participant can be seen here.  This project provides evidence of the positive academic and behavioral outcomes on two students after attending a a literacy-based approach to teaching football in an after-school program.

Our Graduates’ Impact on K-12 Student Learning
Example Action Research Project

Source: NEW project archives of participants’ action research project results, captured in Power Point presentations.

Employer Satisfaction with Wagner’s Education Graduates

Measure: Satisfaction Survey, sent in the spring, 2018 to four schools (Port Richmond High School, PS 278, Lavelle Prep, and New World Prep) which have been our partner schools and have hired multiple Wagner graduates.  

Results: 100% of employers rate Wagner students as equal to or better than teachers from other institutions on five key measures of teacher effectiveness; of the five measures, Wagner students are rated best at implementing instruction. Three-quarters of school administrators are extremely satisfied with Wagner’s graduates who are teaching in their schools.

Employer Satisfaction with Wagner Education Graduates

Source: School administrators’ ratings from survey.

Wagner’s Education Department Graduation Rates

Measure: College graduation data

Results: The number of our possible graduation candidates has remained stable over the past three years, from 38-41.  The percentage of on-time graduates has decreased slightly, primarily due to delayed graduation. Wagner counsels out a small number of students, from 1-3 each year.  

Wagner’s Education Department Graduation Rates

Source: CARS, Wagner’s Registrar Database; FOLIO 180; and Title II reports.

Wagner’s Students’ and Graduates’ Ability to Meet New York State (NYS) Licensing and Certification Requirements

Measure: Internal department tracking of certification information

Results:  Over the past three years, 100% of graduates (aside from a few pending) who applied for New York State teaching certification were successful in obtaining certification.

Certification Rates

Source: New York State’s TEACH website

Measure: New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSCTE)

Results: On most New York State required certification exams, Wagner students perform very well, with 75-100% passing.  Their average performance is generally comparable to the performance of students statewide.

Passing Rates on NYS Certification Exams

Source: New York State’s Results Analyzer at www.edreports.nesinc.com

Wagner’s Graduates’ Employment in Education Positions

Measures: Graduates’ reports to New York State’s TEACH website; and Wagner’s Satisfaction Survey,sent in the spring, 2018, to graduates from 2016 and 2017.

Results: Most Wagner graduates who report their employment experience–either to the state or to Wagner via a survey–report teaching in their license area and teaching in public schools.  

Employment in Education Positions 

Source: New York State’s TEACH website data; Satisfaction Survey data

Consumer Information Related to Wagner’s Education Programs

Measure: Wagner costs

Results: The average tuition is $45,380, but net cost per year to attend Wagner is $27,217  (ranges from $23, 396 to $30,856 depending on family income.)

Consumer Financial Information

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator

Measure: Current average starting salaries in New York City, New York State, and New Jersey

Results: Average teacher starting salaries in areas that Wagner students tend to teach in range from $43,839 in New York State to $54,000 at the New York City Department of Education.

Consumer Financial Information

Source New York City Department of Education website, nycdoe.gov; Niche.com;

Measure:US Department of Education (USDOE) FAFSA data

Results: Our student default rates are low, in the 2-4% range over the three-year period 2012-2014.  

Consumer Financial Information

Source USDOE FAFSA table for FY2012, 2013, 2014