It is a priority for the teacher education unit to place all candidates in at least one diverse setting during the course of their program. The Office of Clinical Experiences developed a comprehensive database to track candidate placements in order to ensure diversity in field experiences. As part of that work a committee was convened in 2009 to establish a means by which to track the type of sites our candidates were experiencing. Diversity criteria were developed to help monitor placements. The diversity criteria are updated every three years and currently are as follows: Free or Reduced Lunch ≥ 40%; Students of Color ≥ 26%; Limited English Proficiency ≥ 8%; Special Education ≥ 15%. Each site is evaluated against these criteria and given a diversity rating. Ratings are as follows. 1=Low diversity: The population of students in this site is below the state average in all diversity domains; 2=Diverse: The site is above or equal to the state average in one defined domain; 3=Highly diverse: The site is above or equal to the state average in two or more diversity domains (Exhibit 4.4.f.1).
During the 2012-2013 academic year, 76% of the students placed were in a setting with a rating of 2 or 3. In 2014, that number went up to 80%, with the majority of those in the low diversity category being parent and family educators (Exhibit 4.4.f.2; 4.4.f.3). As we transition to full implementation of Tk20, placement and diversity data will be easily accessible to key stakeholders.