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Alumni Tracking Database Report

Tracking System for Masters of Secondary Education STEM-concentration Graduates: A Survey-based Research Project

Executive Summary

            This report is a summary of the work completed in Summer 2016 by a research assistant to complete Outcome 4 of the Noyce grant. To achieve the work addressed in this outcome, data was collected via an online survey and through the consultation of other university-based databases that were formulated from similar questionnaires to the targeted population. Conclusions show how the tracking system—produced from this work—can be utilized to build networks among alumni and new graduates and suggest the manner in which this database may be maintained and tailored to fulfill all of the requirements of the driving outcome of this work.

Background and Objectives

As part of the Noyce grant, the Curriculum and Pedagogy Department (CPED) was charged with achieving Outcome 4. As indicated in the proposal, this outcome called for the creation of a mentoring program and data collection system for recent math and science teacher graduates. This outcome was based on The George Washington (GW) University’s recent investment in a software system, known as Taskstream, which would allow the school—for the first time—to easily track recruitment, demographic, performance, and career-trajectory information for current students and alumni. Also, as part of this outcome, a research assistant was charged with: assembling and migrating data on math and science teacher graduates from 2002 forward into Taskstream as well as keeping the system up-to-date with current and future students’ information. As indicated in the proposal, the assembly of this vast data set would allow GW—and specifically CPED—to determine how well the department is meeting their goal of recruiting underrepresented minorities into math and science teaching and also help CPED better understand the career trajectories of students following graduation in order to establish rich mentoring networks of new teachers.

Mainly, there were three purposes for conducting the research needed to achieve the proposed outcome of a tracking system. These rationales included to:

  1. Provide induction year support for new graduates,
  2. Identify mentoring roles for grads and interns, and
  3. Engage graduates as a launching point for a community of practice.

Through this work, the department/program would be able to gain visibility into the career trajectories of graduates and/or establish a rich mentoring networks of new teachers.

Methodology

In order to collect the information requested on alumni from 2002 to date, three major actions were taken. First, existing relevant data on the targeted population was pulled from university databases (i.e., Banner and data gleaned from Career Services and Office of Alumni Relations surveys). Secondly, LinkedIn was reviewed in an attempt to obtain the remaining data of interest and to also ensure that the information obtained via other university databases was accurate and up-to-date. Lastly, an online survey was disseminated to the targeted population in an attempt to retrieve the missing data.

For this work, the targeted population included Masters of Secondary Education math and science-concentration graduates from the Fall 2002 to May 2016 semesters. This survey population was chosen based on the parameters of Outcome 4 (see Noyce proposal). In sum, 155 alumni were surveyed for this work.

This survey was distributed via e-mail and was comprised of three different sections. These included:

  • Demographic and contact information
  • Current professional data, and
  • Program preparation.

This questionnaire was created in and distributed using Qualtrics.

Qualtrics, a robust survey platform, was also used to store and analyze data. This web-based application tool can be used for descriptive analyses and is accessible to GW faculty, staff, and students. OPPA holds some of these licenses—of which the research assistant was able to use for this work.

Here, it is important to note why Qualtrics was used instead of Taskstream, even though the latter was identified in the driving outcome to be utilized for storing alumni data. It was recently discovered that Taskstream is, in fact, not an appropriate warehouse for the type of data this work was seeking to obtain. Also, inputting the desired alumni information into Taskstream would require a specific account to be created for each graduate which would require funding from the OPPA, which was not available.

Results

This next section provides an overview of the data gleaned from the survey that was administered for this work in Summer 2016 to STEM-concentration graduates. The resulting data is divided into two sections: employment and program preparation data. First, in this section, the employment data will be shared and discussed.

Prior to doing so, it is important to note that there was a very low response rate to the survey. In fact, only 9% of the targeted population completed the survey in its entirety. Thus, data collected from surveys administered by other George Washington University-based departments to the targeted population were also included in the subsequent results. In addition, LinkedIn was cross-referenced to ensure the accuracy of the information found via the other surveys. As LinkedIn is an online portal, information posted here is considered publicly available data. Those who responded to the survey and provided information via LinkedIn are considered, for the purposes of this work, as the sample. Combining data from LinkedIn, the survey, and the other university databases allowed a holistic picture of the targeted population to be provided and shed light on the employment data of alumni who did not complete the Qualtrics survey.

Employment data. Five questions were included in the survey to collect information on the current occupations and employment experience of the targeted population. Specifically, these inquiries captured whether alumni were teaching and if so, if they were teaching in their area of concentration. In addition, the employment-related questions retrieved information about the alumni’s employers, positions, and years of experience. Next, these inquiries will be discussed in detail.

Career status. This question inquired about the alumni’s current career status, specifically if the graduate was teaching or not. Here, respondents were also encouraged to indicate their employment status and position even if they were not currently teaching. From this inquiry and in the consultation of the other databases and LinkedIn, it was found that 24.5% of graduates are currently teaching. Out of the 24.5%, 60.5% of the graduates are currently teaching in their concentration area.

Employer. A total of 67 alumni from the targeted population responded to at least one of the surveys administered by GW or shared their employee information on LinkedIn. Using these sources, it was found that 77.6% of the sampled alumni work at a school; in fact, public K-12 schools employ most of the graduates. In comparison, academies and private and charter schools hire almost 15% of the sample, and higher-education institutions employ 7% of the graduates.

In addition, 31.3% of the graduates are employed with non-education institutions (e.g., Fit Bit) or hold education-related positions (e.g., instructional designer) at organizations outside the field. Mostly, graduates who do work at companies outside the field of education but hold education-related positions are instructional designers for these organizations. Also, alumni who are employed by organizations outside the field generally are not teaching. It should be noted that 11 graduates indicated more than one employer. The specific findings from this research are detailed in the Tables 1 - 4.

Table 1. Employers by Type

Schools Number of Respondents
Public 37
Academies and private and charter schools (K-12) 10
Higher education (university; college) 5
Other
Education-related institution 4
Financial Institution 3
Federal government department 2
Education-related position at a company not in the field of education 2
Consulting firm 2
IT firm 2
Federal government department 2
Self-employed in a field unrelated to education 2
Media Company 1
Insurance agency 1

 Table 2. School Employers by Type

Academies, Private or Charter Schools (K12) Public Schools Higher-education institutions
Asociacion Escuelas Lincoln Arlington County Public Schools (3)* Bowie State University
Diocese of Cleveland Baltimore City Public Schools* The George Washington University (2)
IDEA Public Charter School* Baltimore County Public Schools* Kansas State University
KIPP (2)* District of Columbia Public Schools (2)* University of Michigan
Loyola Academy Fairfax County Public Schools (8)*
McKinley Technology High School* Henrico County Public Schools
McLean School* Hopewell Valley Regional School District
Peace Academy Johnston County Public Schools
Phoenix Charter Academy Network Loudoun County Public Schools (3)*
Montgomery County Public Schools (11)*
Prince George County Public Schools (2)*
Revere Public Schools
  Stafford County Public Schools  

*Indicates a local institution, located in or in the surrounding Washington, DC metro area

Table 3. Non-school Based Employers of Graduates

Education-related institution Education-related position at a company not in the field of education
College Board Chevron
DreamBox Learning Fitbit
Math Tree Inc.
NCTM

 Table 4. Employers of Graduates Outside the Field of Education

Financial Institution Media Company Federal government department Consulting firm IT firm Self-employed in a field unrelated to education Insurance agency
City National Bank Discovery Communications United States Department of Justice KPMG, LLC NIRASystems Elance.com (2) Stephon Scriber Agency
Trusted Federal Systems United States Institute of Peace OptfinITy LLC
Union Privilege; SharedLearning

 Professional position. A total of 61 graduates provided their professional position on LinkedIn or as a response to the survey. From this research, it was found that 90.1% of graduates that shared their employer information hold education-related or school-based positions with various institutions or organizations. Most of these alumni are teaching in their concentration area. Some of these graduates hold more than one position (e.g., math teacher and department chair). Comparatively, 2.2% of the graduates who shared their information hold positions with institutions or organizations unrelated to the field of education. For more information, see Tables 5 and 6.

Table 5. Education-related or School-based Positions Held by Graduates

Positions Number of Graduate Respondents
Administration
Principal 1
Assistant Principal 2
Teachers
Primary/Elementary general education 2
Secondary education (if specified) 10
In concentration area 21
Teacher (unspecified level or area) 11
Special Education 1
Department Chair in concentration area 3
Coach (in science) 1
Curriculum or Instructional Designer or Developer 3
Total 55

 Table 6. Unrelated Positions to Education Held by Graduates

Position Number of Graduate Respondents
Director/Manager 2
Freelance writer and/or translator 2
CEO 1
Consultant 1
Director of Research and Evaluation 1
Doctoral Intern (Counseling Services) 1
Research Associate 1
Resident Director 1
Senior Director of Policy 1
Senior Litigation Counsel 1
Senior Vice President and Managing Counsel 1
Software Engineer 1
Total 14

Professional experience (in years). In the recently administered survey by the research assistant, respondents were asked to indicate the number of years of their professional experience. In this questionnaire, respondents had the option to choose from the following options:

  • 1 - 3 years of experience,
  • 4 - 6 years of experience,
  • 5 - 7 years of experience,
  • 7 - 10 years of experience, or
  • 10 + years of experience.

The results of this survey in tandem with the information retrieved via LinkedIn will be shared here. A total of 28 alumni responded to this survey question or shared their years of experience via LinkedIn. From this information, it was found that most or what is 35.7% of the graduates have 7 - 10 years of professional experience. For more information, see Table 7.

Table 7. Years of Employment Experience of Survey Respondents

Years of Experience Number of Graduates Percentage of Respondents
1-3 years of experience 5 17.8%
4-6 years of experience 6 21.4%
5-7 years of experience 2 7.1%
7-10 years of experience 10 35.7%
10+ years of experience 5 17.8%

Program-Preparation Data. The subsequent section addresses how well the Masters of Secondary Education program prepared their graduates to teach two forms of standards: the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) standards. It is important to note that NCTM standards date back to the 1980s, whereas the CCSS were only recently introduced and subsequently adopted by educational institutions starting in 2010. Currently, not all public schools use the CCSS; non-adopters include Virginia that employs a large portion (26.8% of the sample) of the program’s graduates. In this survey question, respondents were asked to share whether their employer uses the NCTM and/or the Common Core standards.

To assess how well the graduates felt prepared to teach both the Common Core and NCTM standards, this inquiry utilized a Likert Scale, comprised of the following response choices:

  1. Well prepared,
  2. Somewhat prepared,
  3. Not very prepared,
  4. Not prepared, or
  5. My school/employer does not use these standards.

The program preparation section included two questions that individually addressed these two types of standards – the Common Core and the NCTM. It should be noted that program-preparation information from the targeted population was only retrieved via the survey; this data was not available on LinkedIn or in the other university surveys and databases. Also, only respondents that indicated that they were currently teaching were asked to answer the questions related to program preparation. The results of these inquiries will subsequently be presented.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) preparation. A total of seven respondents from the sampled population answered this inquiry: “How well did your experiences as a graduate student at The George Washington University prepare you to teach the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?” Of these respondents, two graduates indicated that their employer does not use the CCSS.

Out of the graduates who are employed by CCSS adoptees, their responses ranged from well to not prepared. This data gleaned interesting insight into how prepared the alumni of various graduation years felt to teach the CCSS. For instance, alumni from the same graduation year felt both well and not prepared to use the Common Core. Also, it was found that one graduate from 2005 felt somewhat prepared to teach the CCSS even though these standards did not exist at this time. Most recently, a 2015 graduate indicated that she/he did not feel very prepared to teach the Common Core.

Table 8. Common Core State Standards Level of Preparation Pursuant to Graduates

Answer Choice Number of Respondents
Well prepared 2 (2009 graduates)
Somewhat prepared 1 (2005 graduate)
Not very prepared 1 (2015 graduate)
Not prepared 1 (2009 graduate)
My school/employer does not use these standards. 2

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ standards preparation. A total of seven respondents from the sampled population answered the inquiry: “How well did your experiences as a graduate student at The George Washington University prepare you to teach the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards?” Graduates’ responses to this question ranged from well to not prepared. In fact, from this inquiry, it was found that most of the employers of the sampled graduates do not use the NCTM standards. For more information on the data collected from this survey question, see Table 9.

Table 9. NCTM Standards Level of Preparation Pursuant to Graduates

Answer Choice Number of Respondents
Well prepared 1 (2012 graduate)
Somewhat prepared 1 (2005 graduate)
Not very prepared
Not prepared 2 (2015 and 2009 graduate)
My school/employer does not use these standards. 3

Discussion

In addition to providing a vision of the employment and professional statuses and preparation levels of Master of Secondary Education STEM-concentration graduates, this work essentially created a tracking system of alumni data. With this insight, the department now has a vision of their graduates professionally. Also, with this information and the remaining tracking system, the department is/will be able to gauge, based on alumni feedback, how well they have prepared their graduates to teach both the NCTM and Common Core standards.

Usability recommendations. This tracking system could be used to support the three objectives set forth for this work. To reiterate, these objectives were to:

  1. Provide induction year support for new graduates,
  2. Identify mentoring roles for graduates and interns, and
  3. Engage graduates as a launching point for a community of practice.

Just how this database could be used to help the Curriculum and Pedagogy Department achieve each of these goals will be discussed here. Also, how this system could be used for purposes that reach beyond these objectives and the manner in which this database could be maintained will be shared.

Tracking system to help provide induction year support for new graduates. From the sample population, 53.5% of the graduates have five or more years of experience in teaching. These tenured alumni are employed in both public and private institutions in leadership (e.g., department chairs) or teaching positions. The large number of graduates with experience in teaching or leadership positions provides the opportunity for new graduates to seek and receive guidance from tenured alumni during their first year of teaching. This partnership of alumni with more recent graduates in schools would be an ideal relationship for creating a strong mentorship network as the tenured teachers would understand the starting point (background knowledge and experience) of the novice educators. Following similar graduate program-to-career paths, the alumni would be able to more easily help facilitate the transition of the more recent alumni into the classroom and/or new school.

Tracking system to facilitate the identification of mentorships. In addition, this research found that there was a high number of graduates teaching in local institutions. In fact, schools within or in the surrounding Washington, DC metro area employ 47.7% of the sample. For more information, see Table 10.

The alumni who are tenured teachers in these schools would serve as ideal mentors for recent graduates, especially those that are new to the classroom. As evidenced in Table 10 below, all sampled graduates who are teaching in local-area schools have, on average, at least three years of experience. This research found that of the DC-area schools, KIPP, Loudoun County Public Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, and Prince George County Public Schools have the most tenured educators who are graduates of the targeted program. Also, this work discovered that of these schools, Arlington County and the District of Columbia Public Schools employ most of the more recent graduates from the program.

As you can see, with this tracking system, the department now has visibility over where some of the graduates from the Masters of Secondary Education program are employed. This insight will help establish more effective matches for mentorships if the goal is to partner experienced alumni with recent graduates. Pairing alumni with newer graduates would make for an effective relationship, as the mentor would be able to understand the background knowledge of the novice educator and help provide a seamless transition into the classroom. Personnel responsible for matching graduates to alumni in mentorships can use the tracking system to make these connections. Creating these correlations could also help new graduates secure jobs by providing them with the opportunity to work and network with alumni from their same graduate program.

Table 10. Years of Experience of Graduates per School System

School Average Years of Experience of Sampled Graduates
Arlington County Public Schools (3)* 3 years
Baltimore City Public Schools* No respondents
Baltimore County Public Schools*
District of Columbia Public Schools (2)* 5 years
Fairfax County Public Schools (8)* ~7 years
IDEA Public Charter School* No respondents
KIPP (2)* 9 years
Loudoun County Public Schools (3)* ~9 years
McKinley Technology High School* No respondents
McLean School* No respondents
Montgomery County Public Schools (11)* 10+ years
Prince George County Public Schools (2)* 14 years

Tracking system to boost alumni engagement. In addition to researching alumni’s employment information, this work also verified the contact information of graduates. Specifically, this work confirmed the first and last names of alumni (as female’s last names sometimes change with marriage) and their preferred e-mail address for contact purposes. In essence, the tracking system serves as a hub or a one-stop resource for university staff and faculty who are interested in contacting alumni of the Masters of Secondary Education program.

Other recommendations for use. The tracking system created from this research could also be used for purposes that expand beyond the predefined objectives of this work. This database could be utilized to:

  • Recruit previous graduates for GW doctorate programs,
  • Inform current or potential students of the career paths of alumni,
  • Improve preparedness for teaching math and science standards (as previously discussed; i.e., CCSS and NCTM standards), and
  • Contact alumni to write testimonials to add to the program’s website for marketing purposes.

Maintenance recommendations. As shared previously, part of the objective of this work was to “keep the system up to date with our current and future students.” This database could be easily maintained in Qualtrics—where it currently is stored. As mentioned, Qualtrics is a tool that can be used for survey creation and distribution and database maintenance. In terms of who should be responsible for the maintenance of this tracking system, a Graduate Assistant (GA) that works directly with the Masters of Secondary Education program would be an ideal candidate to update this work. The next step would be to determine how this GA could receive access to the tracking system (that is currently under Tyler Dickinson’s account) in Qualtrics. OPPA (specifically Leslie Ward) would be the best office to assist with this process.

Recommendations for future work. To fully achieve the overarching objective of this work, there are two additional recommendations. These include to:

  1. Add survey inquires that retrieve the race and ethnicity of the respondents. This information is necessary in order to complete this portion of the objective—which was “to determine how well we are meeting our goal of recruiting underrepresented minorities into math and science teaching.”
  1. Given the low response rate of the online survey, it is suggested to consider an alternative means to collect data or to use an incentive for participation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this work produced the desired outcome to create a tracking system for math and science-teacher graduates. Using Qualtrics and through this work, an online survey was created and disseminated to Master of Secondary Education STEM-concentration graduates from 2002 to date. Data was also retrieved via other university-wide surveys and LinkedIn. Using this information, a database was created using Qualtrics where it can also be maintained as a tracking system.

This database will allow the demographic, performance, and career-trajectory information of graduates to be easily tracked. In addition, in Qualtrics, this system can be easily updated. With more fine-tuning, this database could help the program gain insight into how well the department is recruiting underrepresented minorities into STEM fields. As it is, this tracking system can be used to inform the program of the careers of its graduates and help create a rich mentoring network for new teachers.