Consider transcript review to verify coursework

The advice. “You could review transcripts to verify that candidate actually took classes in the specific area.”

Why. The cheapest of the four alternatives. If the endorsement signifies content knowledge in a discipline, evidence that the candidate completed coursework in that discipline is direct evidence, already documented, requiring no new instrument.

The weakness the committee named. “There is an issue that higher education has the ability to create their educator preparation program in whatever way they want; they are not aligned across programs.” A transcript line means different things at different institutions, so transcript review substitutes an unstandardised measure for a standardised one.

That non-alignment is also, note, part of why the endorsement test exists at all — so this alternative trades a known problem for the problem the test was built to solve.

Status. Open.