Master¡¯s Degree (M. Ed.)
Policy for Graduate
Comprehensive Exam
I.
There shall be a
II.
Departmental
Committees
There shall be a departmental Graduate Faculty Committee
within each department consisting of faculty members who have been approved as
members of the Graduate Faculty by the
III.
Development
of the Graduate Comprehensive Exam
Out of 18 total questions, the candidate will answer a total of six. There are six question sets; two question sets in the specialty subject area and four question sets in the core curriculum area. Each question set has three questions from which candidates must select one to answer.
Every candidate in the
All questions submitted by graduate faculty to be considered as a potential question for the comprehensive examination should be formatted to elicit an essay answer, wherein the answer would span at least four pages but not more than six pages. Each graduate faculty member who submits questions for the comprehensive exam will prepare an appropriate answer to the question(s) they submitted, to serve as a guide (or key) when grading the exam. The answer key is used to only suggest what an answer may resemble when grading the examination. Each question submitted for the examination must also include the course title of the course from which the information was taught to answer the question and, consequently, from which the question was extracted. Along with these two items, the objective from the syllabus, as stated on the syllabus, for the course from which the information was taught and, consequently, from which the question was extracted must be provided.
The Dean of the
IV.
Administration
of the Graduate Comprehensive Exam
Candidates may take the comprehensive examination without
being enrolled during that semester.
However, candidates must make application to the
The
The exam will be for a period of six (6) consecutive hours.
Check-in will begin at
Dictionaries are available within the computer software system, Microsoft WORD, used to type the examination. Cell phones or other personal electronic devices are not allowed in the examination room. Coats, purses, bags, and the like must be placed at the front of the room. Snacks and refreshments are allowed, but must be contained in clear bottles and sandwich bags.
For each candidate, two blue books; an unlabeled, blank disk;
and an examination packet, to include the questions and written directions,
will be provided in an envelope.
Candidates are not allowed to open the envelope or view its contents
until the examination has officially started, at
Candidates may abort the examination during the first thirty (30) minutes. If a candidate chooses to abort the comprehensive examination, the candidate will not be penalized in any way for initially attempting to complete the examination.
Restroom breaks are permitted throughout the course of the examination. Only one candidate may exit the examination room at a time. When leaving and entering, candidates are not permitted to take anything from the examination room, such as the examination, pencil, paper, purses, book bags, coats, etc.
At the end of the exam period or as a candidate completes the examination, whichever is first, all exams will be collected by proctors and secured. The exams will then be given to the chairperson of the departmental Graduate Faculty Committee.
V.
Evaluation
of the Graduate Comprehensive Exam
Rubrics for scoring the exams have been developed by the
A minimum of two readers per exam is required for each department.
Core curriculum area questions will be evaluated by the departmental Graduate Faculty Committee, using the answer guide, provided by the graduate faculty member who submitted the question, as a guide. The departmental Graduate Faculty Committee will grade specialty area questions. If there is a discrepancy in scoring between the two readers, the chairperson of the departmental Graduate Faculty Committee will give the examination(s) in dispute to another designated third reader within the department.
Once the exams have been scored, the departmental Graduate
Faculty Committee chair will submit the scores to the department
chairperson. The department
chairperson will submit the exams to the Dean. The Dean will submit the exams to the
VI.
Alternatives to the Written Graduate
Comprehensive Exam
See
VII. Policy for Retaking the Exam
See
VIII.
Security
All test materials must be secured in the department with only limited access by authorized personnel.
IX. Exceptions to the Above Policies
There are four programs which will not test candidates in the above described format: M.S. for Speech Language Pathology, M.Ed. for School Counseling, M.S. for Counseling, and M.S. for Psychology.
In addition, the M.Ed. for Psychometry
and the M.Ed. for Physical Education will have a similar format as the one
described above, with the following exceptions. The core curriculum area will not
include Research and Statistics, resulting in only three question set areas ¨C
Foundations, Technology, and Diversity.
Research and Statistics, along with the curriculum and assessment
methodologies for their major area, will be included in the specialty
area. This exception is made based
on the program checklist, where candidates in these two program areas are not
required to take research classes similar to other