External Reporting Requirements for Teacher Licensure

Measure 1. Completer Impact and Effectiveness

Completer Impact and Effectiveness

The EPP continued to conduct focus groups to collect completer feedback on their impact and effectiveness in the classroom. During spring 2025, the EPP emailed 755 completers who graduated between the years 2020 -2023 to complete a survey from Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC). In the initial email, completers were asked if they would like to voluntarily participate in an online focus group, that would take place at three pre-determined, scheduled times and facilitated by an impartial moderator who is also an academic faculty member.

Two focus groups were conducted. The first focus group had three participants and the second focus group had five participants. The discussion was guided by a designed protocol that was created prior to the sessions. Two participants who were not able to join either focus group answered the focus group protocol questions via email.

From these discussions and responses, several themes emerged:

Completers noted that building positive relationships with their students was essential in becoming effective teachers. They shared that the prerequisite of building rapport with students is to understand students’ different backgrounds, disciplines, and learning styles. One graduate shared that, “Being an effective teacher, is cultivating a classroom environment where students feel safe and where they feel like they are okay to take risks and make mistakes.”

Another graduate identified the importance of feedback - “The most important skill I learned is the value of feedback and the ability to provide feedback with student growth in mind to boost their confidence and self-efficacy.”

Some completers did note that their positive impact and effectiveness may have been affected by their struggle with using data to make instructional decisions, and with classroom management. Classroom management, in particular, often impeded them from implementing their lesson plans and building rapport with their students. Completers suggested more content knowledge on special education program (SPED) terminology, IEPs, and 504s to be more effective teachers, as well as more preparation for how to handle the workload of teachers.

Finally, completers noted that having an in-depth, varied, hands-on internship, in coordination with supportive clinical educators, helped them grow into more effective teachers.

To continuously improve the rate of focus group participation, the EPP plans to conduct in-person focus groups at schools where multiple George Mason University EPP completers work for efficiency and effectiveness purposes.

Measure 2. Satisfaction of employers and stakeholder involvement

As noted in previous Annual Reports, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is no clear mechanism for collecting and sharing data across the state education agency, EPPs, and P-12 school divisions. Collection of accurate post-graduation contact information, and therefore post-graduation information is a continuous challenge. The Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) (https://projectveac.org) has been the primary driver of collecting this information across the state for several years.

Initial Licensure Programs

To recap, several members of the 36 Virginia EPPs formed the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) to create a state-wide system for data collection; specifically, to build a common set of assessment measures, tools, and activities that all Virginia EPPs may use in response to the CAEP requirements. In the subsequent years, the growing and strong relationship of the George Mason EPP with other Virginia EPPs was due to the benefits of the VEAC partnership.

One of the first developments of VEAC was the creation and implementation of employer surveys in response to CAEP standard R4.2. VEAC provides the individual EPP raw and prepared response data, and benchmarking results, on employer satisfaction to each EPP. As part of the EPP’s Quality Assurance System (QAS), each initial licensure program reviewed these results, as well as each program’s disaggregated data to evaluate qualitative comments from the employers.

In 2024-2025, 129 EPP employer responses (20% response rate) were collected; a total of 1458 state-wide employer responses were collected through the VEAC survey. Responses were coded from 1 to 5, lower number being more dissatisfied and higher number more satisfied.

The average rated readiness of George Mason completers was 4.39, an increase from the previous year’s 4.29; employers described 58% of the completers as “fully ready” to meet the needs of students in schools, which was also an increase from the previous year’s 52.70%. The EPP's Accreditation Office continues to work with programs to gather information through advisory councils or other feedback opportunities to learn more about program improvement and growth. This data is also evaluated as part of the biennial assessment data review.

Stakeholder Involvement

Our commitment to collaborative partnerships begins with the EPP leadership, including the dean of the College of Education and Human Development, the Director of Teacher Preparation, and other senior academic leaders. All of these leaders participate in high-level partnerships that are mutually beneficial to PreK-12 schools and community agencies, and that focus on preparing candidates to be future leaders. Each program is in continual contact with partners. The programs with formal broad advisory councils meet on a regular basis with representatives from partner school administrators, community leaders, alumni, clinical faculty, and adjunct faculty. These meetings have action-related discussions in which current pressing candidate issues are documented, which were collected and submitted as evidence for the EPP’s recent Self Study Report and Formative Feedback Report.

As noted in the Formative Feedback Report, the EPP’s Educator Preparation Forum – made up of representatives from the EPP’s education preparation initial and advanced programs, led conversations to develop a senior-level advisory group of P-12 school district partners and EPP representatives from each licensure content area. This group will have two primary purposes:

• to collaborate in the ongoing review and development of clinical arrangements and clinical experiences; and
• to be accountable by engaging in discussions and activities that respond to the questions developed in the EPP’s biennial Quality Assurance Process.

This dual EPP-level and programmatic-level approach, supported by prompting documentation and recording documentation, will improve the evidence of these existing stakeholder relationships. The challenge is to engage our partners in these specific conversations while also responding to their needs.

Advanced Programs

Similar to the initial program approach noted above, VEAC provided the individual EPP and benchmarking results on employer satisfaction to each EPP. As part of the EPP’s QAS, each advanced program reviewed these results, as well as each program’s disaggregated data to evaluate qualitative comments from the employers.

For the Education Leadership program, the initial mean for the question "Based on your experience with this completer, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families?" was 3.905 on a scale of 1-5, 5 being "Fully ready." When reviewing the qualitative comments, two completers were scored 1, but the employers noted that they had never worked with the completers. When removing these completers, the mean jumped to 4.21, which more accurately reflects the employer experiences and perceptions of the completers’ readiness.

For the Literacy program, the number of employer responses for AY24-25 was too low to hit a reporting threshold; however, when looking across multiple years of responses, the Literacy employers are continuously satisfied with the completers preparation. Combining results from the last three academic years, the mean for completer readiness was 4.5 out of 5.

The MEL employers were very satisfied. The mean score for the completer readiness was 5, indicating "fully ready." One employer noted, “[The completer] possesses an exceptional ability to convey complex mathematical concepts with clarity and enthusiasm... teaching methods not only engage students but also foster a deep understanding of the subject matter...[the completer] consistently demonstrates patience and dedication, offering individualized support that empowers each student to succeed.”

Stakeholder Participation

The advanced programs have multiple EPP- and program-level formal and informal mechanisms for collecting employer satisfaction. The stakeholder activities outlined in CAEP RA2 of the EPP’s Self Study and Formative Feedback Report represent another method of collection of employer satisfaction information.

EDLE Advisory

The EDLE program has had an active advisory council for many years. The EDLE advisory council focuses on having two-way conversations about actions that matter to the stakeholders; recruitment, retention, issues of equity/burnout/healthy pool and how to address the critical shortages. Participants include Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Directors of Leadership Development, and Central Division Leaders. The council meets twice a year.

MEL Advisory

The MEL program has had an active advisory council of school district math supervisors and alumni that meets twice a year.

Literacy Executive Advisory Board - This group is made up of Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching and Learning, and Literacy leaders throughout the region. The purpose of this board is to provide guidance and feedback to the Literacy Program in regards to its ability to meet the literacy demands of the region through its course offerings, proposed new degree programs, and engagement with local schools.

As noted in the Formative Feedback Report, the EPP’s Educator Preparation Forum – made up of representatives from the EPP’s education preparation initial and advanced programs, led conversations to develop a senior-level advisory group of P-12 school district partners and EPP representatives from each licensure content area. This group will have two primary purposes:

• to collaborate in the ongoing review and development of clinical arrangements and clinical experiences; and
• to be accountable by engaging in discussions and activities that respond to the questions developed in the EPP’s biennial Quality Assurance Process.

This dual EPP-level and programmatic-level approach, supported by prompting documentation and recording documentation will improve the evidence of these existing stakeholder relationships. The challenge is to engage our partners in these specific conversations while also responding to their needs.

The following candidates successfully completed all of the state licensure requirements and were recommended for licensure:

Number of completers in programs leading to initial teacher certification or licensure: 277

Number of completers in advanced programs or programs leading to a degree, endorsement, or some other credential that prepares the holder to serve in P-12 schools (Do not include those completers counted above.): 137

There continues to be a high need for George Mason completers from initial licensure and advanced programs.

The Virginia Department of Education publishes a Staffing and Vacancy Dashboard that provides statistics on Virginia positions in education. The information provided on this website is clear evidence of the need for more educators in a variety of positions in Virginia.

The website provides information starting in AY22-23. In comparison to AY22-23 and AY23-24, the overall teacher vacancy rate has decreased, from 3.9% vacancy rate, to 3.4%. However, when you look at the numerical data, the number of unfilled positions is still high: 3,573 in AY22-23, and 3,207 in AY24-25.

In AY24-25, the rate of unfilled positions in Early Childhood PreK jumped by 64% to 168 positions. Elementary Education grade level positions had a minimum of 161 unfilled positions. Unfilled Special Education positions were significantly higher: 738 unfilled positions in AY24-25.

Although the need for advanced completers is smaller in comparison to initial licensure completers, the need still exists. For example, for Reading Specialists at the Elementary level, there were 41 positions unfilled across the state.

Initial and Advanced Programs: George Mason’s Career Plans Dashboard derives data from three sources: 1) Career Plans Survey, 2) Alumni Pathways data, and 3) National Clearinghouse data. In summary the data below notes that 96% of the EPP’s initial licensure and advanced completers have either secured employment or are continuing their education.