Professional Expectation Review (PER)

*Starting in fall 2025, ISU will transition to the Professional Expectation Review (PER) to replace the disposition process.

Professional Expectation Review PER-replaces disposition concerns starting in fall 2025

Starting in fall 2025, the Council for Teacher Education has approved the Professional Expectation Review (PER) to replace the disposition concern assessment for ISU teacher education students. Using the Pillars of Professional Excellence, the PER process will emphasize communication between faculty/staff and students concerning areas of strength and opportunities for growth.

Pillars of Professional Excellence

The Pillars of Professional Excellence address the attitudes, commitments, and beliefs demonstrated by professional educators. To support successful teaching, life-long learning, and professional collaboration, these characteristics are important for educators in their relationships with students, families, colleagues, and communities. Assessment of the pillars is intended to be used as a proactive evaluation tool to communicate (to candidates and programs) the areas of strengths and opportunities for growth.

The Pillars of Professional Excellence are to be used in conjunction with the Professional Expectation Review (PER) process. For each indicator, there are corresponding descriptors that provide concrete examples of what might be observed to evaluate a teacher candidate’s position on the continuum. These are not meant to serve as inclusive lists; rather, they are intended to help guide the user in providing quality feedback to teacher candidates regarding their professional growth.

Professional Expectation Review Process (formerly Disposition Concerns Assessment)

Suggested Initial Observation of Professionalism Concerns
When a teacher candidate demonstrates a lack of professionalism based on the expectations outlined in the Pillars of Professional Excellence, the faculty/staff member has discretion to implement the following steps:

The faculty/staff member or partner school personnel will schedule a meeting with the teacher candidate to discuss the professionalism concerns.
The faculty/staff member or partner school personnel will connect the teacher candidate to support services if applicable to the situation.
The faculty/staff member or partner school personnel will notify the teacher candidate that if the identified professional expectations are not met, a Professional Expectation Review (PER) will be initiated.
The faculty/staff member or partner school personnel will send a follow-up email to the teacher candidate to ensure written documentation of the conversation.

The preceding steps may not be applicable to all scenarios and may not be a prerequisite for initiating the PER process.

PER Initiation
If the teacher candidate does not address the professionalism concerns after the initial meeting, the Professional Expectation Review process should be initiated:

The faculty/staff member or partner school personnel will meet with the student to discuss the PER and a plan for resolution.
- Students who are non-responsive or fail to meet with the faculty/staff member or partner school personnel after attempts at notification will have a resolvable PER converted to unresolved.
The faculty/staff member will submit the Professional Expectation Review form through the Kuali online app or PDF form (while available). Partner school personnel must work with the clinical course instructor or university supervisor to have a form submitted.
The PER will be routed to the program coordinator(s) and the Associate Director of the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center for processing.
Email notification of the submission will be sent to the student and submitter.

PER Resolution

Once the form is submitted, the following steps should be taken to successfully resolve the PER:

The student will work with the faculty/staff member or partner school personnel who submitted the PER to demonstrate growth in the area(s) of concern.
The submitter may fill out The Efaw Center for Educator Excellence connection form to connect the student with additional support if applicable to the situation.
The submitter will review the PER with the teacher candidate by the specified resolution date to determine whether the concerns have been resolved.
The submitter will update the status of the PER in the Kuali system as either resolved or unresolved.
Email notification of the updated status will be sent to the submitter, the student, the Associate Director of the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center, and the program coordinator(s).
A PER may also be resolved by the major department/program.
An unresolved PER is indicated on the teacher candidate gateways.

If the initial professionalism concern is not resolvable through the PER process, regular departmental policies and governances will apply. Severe concerns that are not resolvable through the PER process may result in immediate removal from the teacher education program. What qualifies a PER as "severe" is determined by the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center or the program/department on a case-by-case basis. There may be some overlap of concerns considered "severe" with the type of behavior that could stop a student from receiving a teacher license and/or working in a school setting. Because these cases are unusual, an exhaustive list of behaviors that qualify as raising "serious concern" cannot be created.

Three unresolved PERs (or combination of a total of three PERs and former Disposition Concerns Assessments) will result in the stoppage of the teacher candidate’s progress in the Teacher Education program. A student who receives three unresolved PER/Disposition concerns may appeal by following the steps outlined in the official notification from the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center.

Any time a student’s progress in a Teacher Education program has been stopped, the student may appeal the decision to the Teacher Education Review Board (TERB). Instructions and guidelines for submitting student appeals may be found on the Cecilia J. Lauby Center’s Appeal Process web page. The student may also appeal the TERB decision to the full Council for Teacher Education.