In the last several months, the research team here at IEE worked diligently on our assessment options. I’m happy to announce several new developments.
One of the most exciting is an addition of a full range of developmentally appropriate CEEA surveys. We have worked closely with the staff at Allen Creek ES in Pittsford, NY, to develop and pilot-test Primary and Intermediate versions of the survey. The primary version may be generally recommended for grades 3-5, which makes it a survey of choice for most elementary schools. The intermediate version is most applicable for grades 5-6, but can also be easily extended to grades 7-8. Thus, it can be used as either upper elementary, or as middle school survey. The original survey for middle and high schools is directed toward high schools, but can also be used in middle schools with grades 7-8. With this developmental overlap, we now have options for most schools. We are continuing to work on a version that would be appropriate for early elementary schools, grades 1-2, and hope to have it finalized by fall 2011.
The second development is revision of the conceptual model of CEEA and of the surveys for versions 4.5. This work clarified labels for the scales to make them consistent with the language that schools are familiar with through a range of current educational initiatives. In addition, extensive psychometric analysis of the data collected in 2009-2010 allowed us to shorten the length of the survey without losing its reliability and validity. Version 4.5 of the student survey contains 72 items (versus 110 in the previous version), whereas the faculty/staff survey is down to 100 items from 139. This reduces the time requirements both for survey administration and for review of the results.
Finally, we have developed a range of Excellence & Ethics Inventories. These are short (28 items or fewer) assessment tools compiled from CEEA, that can be administered in under 15 minutes. They allow a school to assess a single focus area or area of concern for internal benchmarking.
We have updated most of the documents on our assessment page, and are continuing to add relevant information. The new surveys are available for review both in paper-and-pencil and online formats. Please check them out and let us know if you have questions of suggestions for further improvement of our assessment services:
http://excellenceandethics.com/assess/ceea.php
