Key Assignments-Overview

The teacher education program at Buena Vista University is a performance-based preparation program designed to facilitate the personal and professional growth of aspiring teachers and to prepare pre-service teachers to enter the teaching profession. As a part of the performance-based model, students will complete Key Assignments that demonstrate their understanding of essential teaching competencies derived from nationally recognized standards - Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards, state standards and program/institutional frameworks. 

Getting Started

Students will be introduced to the TEP conceptual framework early in their program. Each learning goal is taught and evidenced considering multiple learning objectives. These objectives are assessed through Key Assignments. The Key Assignments will be a continual and ongoing process throughout the student’s practitioner preparation program. Key Assignments are pieces of evidence that illustrate the knowledge, performance and dispositions that have been acquired throughout the course of the student’s preparation program. Each School of Education core course, methods course and field experience is designed to address one or more of the competency areas, though not all courses include a Key Assignment. All Key Assignments will be uploaded to Student Learning and Licensure (SLL), a learning assessment system.

Key Assignment Assessment

All Key Assignments are demonstrative of a student’s grasp of the competencies within the InTASC principles and Reflective Practitioner skills. Instruction and assistance with uploading assignments to Canvas will be provided. Students are required to upload Key Assignments for these courses to their SLL account. Rubrics will serve as the guide for Key Assignment completion. As the student moves through the program, the professor of the course or an appointed committee will evaluate the Key Assignment within SLL.