Alumni Spotlights 2011

Dr. Peter Jones is currently the Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator for the UCI Department of Education where his duties include the design, implementation, and administration of the information systems in support of admissions, student services, and teacher candidate programs within the Department. He earned a B.A in Economics from UCI with an emphasis on statistics. Over the last fifteen years in the Department he has taught courses including: Cognition and Learning in Educational Settings, Learning Theories and Practices, Multicultural Perspectives in Education, and Technology for Administrators. He completed his Ed.D through the joint UCI/UCLA Ed.D program in the Spring of 2008. His dissertation was titled: The Validity of the No Child Left Behind Teacher Effectiveness Assumptions. His current academic work focuses on teacher quality and effectiveness and teacher assessment and evaluation.

After joining the UCI Department of Education Dr. Jones was introduced to the field of education research when he was recruited to work with a group of researchers studying the influence of the innovative science curriculum of the National Geographic Society Kids Network in local elementary schools. The experience working directly with children in our public schools laid the foundation for his passion for education research.

Following his work with the National Geographic Society, Dr. Jones was recruited by the Foundation Consortium in conjunction with the California Department of Education (CDE) to work with the After School Clearinghouse Project. He was responsible for managing the collection and dissemination of statewide after school data related to federal, state and private funding of after school programs. As part of his work with this project Dr. Jones built an innovative system to systematically collect and analyze statewide afterschool data. This system was used to analyze these data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. His work was used by the CDE to evaluate their appropriations to these programs.

As a result of his after school research he was recognized as an expert in the field and asked to testify multiple times before the California Senate Education Committee, Senate Select Committee on Higher Education, and the California Assembly Committee on Education. During this time he concurrently worked with the Collaborative After School Project (CASP) managing over 100 after school program evaluations for the California Department of Education (CDE). His work with the CASP project included consulting with the University of California, Office of the President (UCOP), Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), and public and private agencies engaged in supporting their communities. He specialized in the design and implementation of data structures to support schools and after school program activities, collection and dissemination of these data, and research and evaluation related to them. During this time he co-authored many evaluation studies on the academic efficacy of after school programs including: After School Learning and Safe Neighborhoods Partnerships Statewide Evaluation, the Los Angeles Unified School District, After School Learning and Safe Neighborhoods Partnerships Four Agency Evaluation, and the Orange County Boys and Girls Clubs Evaluation.

Currently Dr. Jones has turned his attention toward teacher preparation program accreditation activities. Accrediting institutions across the country are beginning to require teacher preparation programs to systematically implement comprehensive data collection systems that support the documentation of “candidate qualifications, proficiencies, competence, and program effectiveness” (Common Standard 2: Unit and Program Evaluation System, CCTC). The combination of the movement toward the systemization of data collection to support both administrative and accreditation activities within teacher preparation programs and the commonalities among programs implies that common data structures should be explored for their potential.

In recent years Dr. Jones has been deeply involved in developing the Teacher Education Integrated Information System (TEIIS). This integrated information system implemented at two University of California campuses consists of several modules with specific, yet overlapping functions. These functions are common across teacher preparation programs; the unique nature of this data management system is not in its elements per se but in the ways in which the data are organized and can be accessed to provide evidence capable of showing whether standards are being met. The system includes modules for admissions information, including State required tests, which help to document that the program is meeting established admissions standards. There are modules for student and intern teaching placement records that include detailed information on public schools, mentor teachers, and university based supervisors, providing evidence that candidates are placed in appropriate settings with qualified supervision. Finally, there are assessment and evaluation modules that provide evidence that both the program standards and the Teaching Performance Expectations (TPE) – which are the California professional standards that describe what pre-service teachers must know and be able to do – are met (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2010c). The program evaluation module was designed as a system to collect and organize formative and summative candidate assessment data, program evaluation data and to use these data to inform program improvement goals and achievements. Dr. Jones has been instrumental in thoughtfully conceptualizing and implementing the TEIIS which accrues many benefits to the institution, its constituents, and its stakeholders.