Satisfaction of employers and stakeholder involvement
(R4.2| R5.3| RA4.1) Data provided should be collected on employers' satisfaction with program completers.
Measure 2 (Initial and Advanced)
Initial Programs
To understand the satisfaction of employers with W&M initial teacher preparation program graduates, we have partnered with the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) to administer a survey to the employers of our graduates in our initial teacher preparation program. These surveys were administered in the Spring of 2025. A partnership between 33 EPPs, VEAC provides a centralized assessment process for Virginia EPPs to obtain information about their graduates and the graduates’ perception of the adequacy of their preparation program. As a collaborative effort, VEAC also allows individual EPPs to benchmark their results against statewide averages across Virginia institutions.
Through VEAC, W&M administered the survey to 88 employers and received 33 responses, resulting in a 40% response rate.
The last item in the VEAC initial teacher preparation employer survey asks, “Based on your experience with this teacher, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to meet the needs of your students in your school?” Respondent employers could respond “Fully ready (able to have an immediate impact on student learning)”(5), Mostly ready (able to successfully meet the needs of most students)”(4), “Moderately ready (in order to be successful, needed additional training, support, and coaching beyond what is typically provided to beginning teachers)”(3), “Minimally ready (limited success meeting the needs of students and improving outcomes even with additional supports)” (2), or “Not ready (unable to meet the needs of students even with additional supports)” (1). Higher values indicate increased readiness to teach and lower values indicate less readiness to teach. Employers of W&M initial teacher preparation program graduates indicated that, in general, completers from W&M were rated between fully to mostly ready to meet the needs of most students.
Table 3. Satisfaction of Employers of William & Mary’s Initial Licensure Completers as Compared to all VEAC Survey Participating EPPs in the Commonwealth of Virginia
| VEAC Item (2025) | VEAC N | VEAC Mean (SD) | W&M N | W&M Mean (SD) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Based on your experience with this teacher, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to meet the needs of your students in your school?** |
1,379 | 4.45, (0.80) | 33 | 4.70, (0.53) | 0.01 |
** Items Range from 1-5
These results demonstrate that W&M employer’s perception of W&M completer performance is acceptable, and statistically higher than the rest of the VEAC participants.
Advanced Programs
To understand the satisfaction of employers with W&M advanced program graduates in the K12 Administrative, School Psychology, School Counseling, and Reading Specialist programs, we have partnered with VEAC to administer a survey to the employers of our advanced program. These surveys were administered in the Spring of 2025.
W&M supplied names of a total of 39 employers of graduates and received 32 responses for a response rate of 82%. In addition to questions about overall satisfaction with program graduates, this survey asked about employer perceptions of competencies specific to the individual specialties of advanced program graduates.
To determine employer satisfaction with W&M advanced program completers, the VEAC survey asked the question “Based on your experience, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families in your school, division, or organization?”
Tables 4 – 7 show the 3-year average of employer survey results for the respective advanced programs. Three years of data were used as the response rates at the program level were too small for VEAC to report annual data.
Table 4. Satisfaction of Employers of William & Mary’s Advanced Licensure Completers in School Psychology as compared to all advanced VEAC Participating EPPs.
| VEAC Item (2025) | VEAC N | VEAC Mean (SD) | W&M N |
W&M Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Based on your experience, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families in your school, division, or organization? ** | 63 | 4.49, (0.86) | 9 | 4.56, (0.73) |
** Items Range from 1-5
Table 5. Satisfaction of Employers of William & Mary’s Advanced Licensure Completers in School Counselor PreK-12 as compared to all advanced VEAC Participating EPPs.
| VEAC Item (2025) | VEAC N | VEAC Mean (SD) | W&M N | W&M Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Based on your experience, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families in your school, division, or organization? ** | 217 | 4.49, (0.90) | 27 | 4.74, (0.45) |
** Items Range from 1-5
Table 6. Satisfaction of Employers of William & Mary’s Advanced Licensure Completers in Reading Specialist as compared to all advanced VEAC Participating EPPs.
| VEAC Item (2025) | VEAC N | VEAC Mean (SD) | W&M N | W&M Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Based on your experience, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families in your school, division, or organization? ** | 279 | 4.57, (0.90) | 20 | 4.1, (1.25) |
** Items Range from 1-5
Table 7. Satisfaction of Employers of William & Mary’s Advanced Licensure Completers in Admin and Supervision as compared to all advanced VEAC Participating EPPs.
| VEAC Item (2025) | VEAC N | VEAC Mean (SD) | W&M N | W&M Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Based on your experience, what best describes the extent to which they were ready to effectively work with diverse P-12 students and their families in your school, division, or organization? ** | 734 | 4.56, (0.94) | 15 | 4.67, (0.62) |
** Items Range from 1-5
Across advanced programs, William & Mary completers earned average ratings over 4 on a 5‑point scale. Their three-year mean scores were higher than those of all VEAC respondents, with the exception of the Reading Specialist program (see Table 6). Due to the small number of Reading Specialist completers who were evaluated over the previous three years, the program’s average rating was highly sensitive to two outlier responses in 2025. This is reflected in its large standard deviation—nearly double that of every other advanced program.
Initial and Advanced Stakeholder Groups
In addition to employer surveys, W&M engages multiple stakeholder groups for both initial and advanced programs that meet regularly to review program updates and provide feedback. For initial teacher preparation programs, stakeholders include the Teacher Education Advisory Collaborative (TEAC) and W&M Lead Clinical Faculty (Lead Cooperating Teachers). Advanced programs—including School Counseling, School Psychology, Reading Specialist, and K–12 Administration—also meet regularly with stakeholders to inform program improvement.
Recent feedback from TEAC and Lead Clinical Faculty led to the addition of a “Teacher Presence” competency (teacher voice and delivery) to the professional dispositions assessment. Stakeholders for the K–12 Administration program confirmed that candidates had limited experience with data and analysis, prompting revisions to introductory coursework to increase opportunities for data-based analysis and decision-making. The Reading Specialist program revised its curricular sequencing based on stakeholder review of key assessments. Stakeholder feedback in the School Psychology program indicated that candidates were less confident in culturally responsive practices, leading to the addition of targeted programming to strengthen these skills. Similarly, stakeholders in the School Counseling program identified a gap in trauma-informed care competencies. In response, faculty developed professional development workshops and a virtual resource hub focused on trauma-informed practices in K–12 educational settings.