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Meeting Minutes: Committee on Educator Preparation

Minutes of the University System of Georgia
Educator Preparation Academic Advisory Committee Meeting
December 3, 2004, Macon State College, Jones Building

Members attending: John W. Culbreath, Jane McHaney, Thomas Deering, Larnell Flannagan, Thomas E. Harrison, Mary Edwards, John Hutcheson, Andrew Lee, Linda Irwin-Devitis, Lucindia Chance, Mary Gendernalik Cooper, Ron Colarusso, Yiping Wan, Bob Michael, Kent Layton, Kathleen Demarrais, Phil Gunter, Surendra Pandey, Martha Saunders, George Stanton, Beth Rushing, Anny Morrobel-Sosa, MaryAnn Romski, Linda Noble, Tom Fox, Garnett Stokes, Linda T. Calendrillo, Sue Wilson, Caroline Helms, Rob Gingras, Douglas Tuech, Joan Darden, Timothy Goodman, Virginia M. Carson, Michael Stoy, Virginia Michelich, Barbara Frizzell, Mary Ellen Wilson, Randy Braswell, Derek Mpinga, Jan Kettlewell, Sara Connor, Patricia Paterson.

Visitors Attending: Jeanette Arrington, Macon State College; Charles Karcher, Gainesville College; Vickie Geststev, State University of West Georgia; Ellen Roberts, Columbus State University; Robin Gower, Department of Education; Eloise Barron, Department of Education; Tonya Strickland, Mark Pevey, BOR; Neil Rigole, BOR; Dorothy Zinsmeister, BOR.

Welcome, introductions: The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Ron Colarusso, Chair. Packets containing the agenda and related documents were distributed. The Chair welcomed all those attending, and introductions followed. R. Colarusso gave a brief history of the purposes and history of the committee.

Preparing Teachers to Teach the New GPS: Jan Kettlewell introduced two guests from the Georgia Department of Education – Eloise Barron, Director of the Division of Curriculum and Instructional Services, and Robin Gower, Program Manager of Professional Learning and Curriculum. They presented an overview of the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) for K-12 which are replacing the Quality Core Curriculum standards. An extensive GPS training program (using a train-the-trainer model) has already begun in school districts across the state.

Two training sessions on GPS are also planned for college and university faculty responsible for teacher preparation. They are scheduled at (1) the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta on February 3-4, 2005, and (2) the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center on March 31 – April 1, 2005. Registration forms were given to members to identify teams of faculty to attend; registration deadline is December 15, 2004.

Request for Waiver of 120-hour Rule: J. Kettlewell gave reasons supporting the Request for Waiver of the 120-hour Rule for B.S. Ed.s in Early Childhood, Middle Grades, Health and Physical Education, and Special Education. She then made a motion to approve the draft proposal (pages 1 and 2) to Dr. Dan Papp and Dr. Frank Butler. Thomas Harrison seconded the motion. Comments followed, including:

  • Concern over impact of the proposed change in Area F to include 6 hours of science; J. Kettlewell stated that the impetus for the change was for the sake of our students' students; they are not learning science, therefore content knowledge in science should be strengthened.
  • Questions about whether or not the proposal now addresses its original purpose, which was to allow more time for field experiences and related supervisory duties
  • Concern that limiting electives could result in losing students to the major
  • Questions about the timeline for implementing appropriate coursework

Friendly amendments were proposed:

  • Mike Stoy offered a friendly amendment stating that the course hours could be shifted in program areas.
  • Dorothy Zinsmeister added that the last sentence in item a) of page 2 needed a correction. The sentence should read ...in addition to the 7 hours of science required in the core, at least six additional semester hours in science will be required, effective Fall 2005.
  • Mary Gendernalik Cooper proposed an amendment to item a) of page 2 to read that the six hours of science would be upper division courses to be determined collaboratively by Education and Arts & Sciences. This amendment did not pass.
  • It was noted that the six additional semester-hour science requirement should be included in the title of the proposal.

The question was called. A vote was taken on the motion as amended – "To approve the draft proposal consisting of pages 1 and 2, amended to read that course hours can be shifted in areas and item a) on page 2 corrected to read that ...in addition to the 7 hours of science required in the core, at least six additional semester hours in science will be required." It was understood that the title of the proposal was to be expanded to include the addition of the new science requirements. The motion was approved, with 25 members in favor, 5 opposed, and 10 abstentions.

Recommendations for a New Area F for Teacher Preparation were presented by Linda Irwin-Devitis, Area F Committee Chair, and committee members Rob Gingras and Virginia Michelich. L. Irwin-Devitis stated that content and compliance issues caused the need for Area F changes. The committee's work was based on research about successful programs in other states, and attention to key principles, especially the need for seamless transfer and achieving greater diversity in teaching majors. The need to require students to at least attempt the Praxis I exam prior to transferring to a four-year school was stressed. While a proposal and accompanying principles were sent by e-mail to EPAAC members last week, the December 2 meeting resulted in several changes.

R. Gingras outlined possible new structures for Area F, based on the following recommendations: For Early Childhood Education, The Area F Committee initially suggested 6 hours of science, 6 of math, and 6 of pre-education courses. Arts and Sciences Deans recommended 12 hours of math and science, with at least one course in math, and one science with a lab, and 6 hours of pre-education courses. The two-year college representatives proposed 6 hours of science, 3 hours of math, and 9 hours of pre-education courses. R. Gingras stated that the two-year college proposal is an effort to establish systemwide consistency for 9 hours of re-designed pre-education courses, and that science classes would need some sort of modification as most are offered with labs. The suggestion was also made to use the same course numbers and course titles systemwide for these education courses, for seamless transfer.

Comments followed. Bob Michael noted that all of these proposals would require major curriculum revision, would not allow a place for foreign language in the program, and students would have fewer elective choices. M. Gendernalik-Cooper stated that Area F is designed to support the major, and if more science courses are added, few campuses have such major-specific courses. D. Mpinga stated that two-year schools need to know what students are required to do for Area F at four-year schools, and then two- year schools could do the same. When questioned if a re-designed pre-service education course block would meet the Professional Standards Commission's special education course requirement, J. Kettlewell responded that it would not.

T. Harrison moved to accept the two-year college proposal for restructuring Area F, with 6 hours of science, 3 hours of math, and 9 hours of pre-education courses. The motion was seconded by Lucindia Chance. M. Gendernalik-Cooper offered an amendment to add that content of this configuration would be determined by a systemwide committee for all 18 Area F hours. The motion and amendment passed according to a show-of-hands vote.

R. Colarusso stated that the EPAAC Executive Board will appoint the committee to develop recommendations for systemwide configuration of all 18 hours of Area F. That committee will report back to the EPAAC group for review and approval. When consensus is reached, EPAAC will send the recommendations forward to the Regents Administrative Council on Academic Affairs.

T. Harrison moved to approve a change in Area F for middle grades, with 9 hours devoted to content areas, 0 hours to math, and 9 hours to pre-education courses. He stated that content hours should be determined by a panel involved in each of the disciplines. L. Chance seconded the motion. It passed according to a show of hands.

For secondary education majors, L. Irwin-Devitis reminded the group that Area F courses must all be in the appropriate content area. This brought up the concern that two-year institutions have no way to offer pre-education courses to secondary education majors, yet those courses are required for admission into most four-year teacher education programs. V. Michelich said that there is great value in attracting students to education as a major if they have an opportunity to have field experiences early. To remedy this, Linda Noble moved that EPAAC recommend approval for two-year institutions to offer up to 69 hours in an Associate Degree program for Secondary Education majors, and that the nine added hours of pre-education courses be identical to Area F courses in the system. The motion was seconded by Michael Stoy, and passed according to a show-of-hands vote.

Policy Recommendation on GPA Requirements: Larnell Flannagan made a motion recommending that colleges of education may use a Grade Point Average that calculates only the grade received in the last attempt. Colleges of education may consider grades from all college courses required for the degree program last attempted for calculating the admission grade point average. The motion was seconded by Thomas Deering. L. Flannagan pointed out that this GPA admission policy would help in recruitment of non-traditional students who made poor grades in early college years, but have since re-taken courses with better grades. The motion passed. The recommendation will be forwarded to the chief academic officers, in hopes that the change could be implemented by Fall 2005.

Proposed Continuous Improvement and Accountability System: J. Kettlewell said that this plan will be presented to the Board of Regents in January 2005 as part of the USG Plan to Become Primary Provider of Teachers for Georgia's Public Schools. She referred to tables that had been compiled from information provided by colleges and universities. She stressed that any information to be added must be sent to her by the end of next week. Beginning in FY06, $10 million per year for five years will be budgeted to accomplish the goals of the plan. Distribution of funds will depend on development of aggressive strategies specifically designed to increase the number of quality teachers in Georgia. In response to J. Kettlewell's request for action, L. Chance moved to approve and support the USG Plan to Become Primary Provider of Teachers for Georgia's Public Schools, working toward doubling the numbers and doubling the diversity of teachers prepared. T. Deering seconded the motion, and it passed.

USG/PRISM Mathematics Consortium: Dorothy Zinsmeister presented recommendations about math endorsements which were approved by the USG/PRISM Mathematics Consortium. Courses were sent to EPAAC and PSC for approval in January 2004. These courses are aligned with the new Georgia Performance Standards. After review of the information presented, Linda Irwin-Devitis moved that EPAAC approve Recommendation 2 of the Consortium stating that each institution that prepares early childhood teachers complete an Approval of Endorsement Preparation Program Application for P-5 Mathematics for in-service teachers and submit it to the PSC for review and approval. Phil Gunter seconded the motion, and it passed.

T. Harrison then moved to accept Recommendation 1 which states that each institution that prepares early childhood teachers may complete an Approval of Endorsement Preparation Program Application for P-5 Mathematics for pre-service teachers and submit it to the PSC. L. Noble seconded the motion. This will have the advantage of providing graduates with an added credential, and the equivalent of the endorsement is already required by the Principles for the Preparation of Educators. The motion passed. L. Chance expressed the need for the PSC to reconsider how endorsements are handled for site visits, and that this be considered as part of, as opposed to separate from, the ECE program. D. Zinsmeister said that she would pass along this request to the PSC. D. Zinsmeister moved that each institution that prepares middle grade teachers select one of four options listed as items A-D of Consortium Recommendation 3, to offer as a means of providing the endorsement for in-service teachers. T. Harrison seconded the motion, and it passed.

Requests for Individual Level Student Data: R. Colarusso moved that the group approve a proposal regarding the handling of requests for individual-level student data from agencies. This was formulated by a committee of deans of Colleges and members of the Chancellor's staff. The proposal offers guidelines that state when individual student level data is requested by an agency, the institution will send the request to the BOR legal office. That office will develop a Memorandum of Understanding, if appropriate, and then data can be legally shared between agencies. L. Chance seconded the motion. A short discussion followed, then the motion passed.

Roles and Responsibilities of Two-year Colleges: Rob Gingras gave this report, based on suggestions from the December 2, 2004, meeting of two-year college academic deans:

  1. Prepare students to take the Praxis I exam through existing courses or workshops and use results to improve preparation.
  2. Increase recruitment of students by becoming more active in high schools and communities as well as encouraging undeclared majors to consider teaching.
  3. Dialog with 4-year institutions for 2+2 programs and/or use two-year campuses as university centers at the 2-year locations.
  4. Design the curriculum/coursework to fit the newly adjusted Area F.
  5. Offer flexible scheduling options to teacher education students
  6. Investigate the role of 2-year schools in providing alternative certification for those with baccalaureate degrees.
  7. Expand the secondary education major program to 69 hours to include 9 hours of pre-education coursework.
  8. Continue to share the responsibility of providing field experiences, and make the number of hours of field experiences uniform systemwide.

Educator Preparation Data Marts: Mark Pevey, Director of P-16 Data Management for the BOR, acquainted members with the capabilities of the Educator Preparation Data Marts -- integrated sets of relevant information which are put together with the user's reporting needs in mind. The new program will allow colleges to follow graduates into the workplace and analyze test score results, for example. He gave several examples of possible reports that will be available or could be generated.

Report/Recommendations from December 2 Meeting of Arts and Sciences Deans: No report at this time

Report/Recommendations from December 2 Meeting of Education Deans: R. Colarusso reported for the group, saying that at a retreat in August 2004 and at the December 2 meeting, issues discussed included performance based educator preparation, multiple pathways, partner schools, quality assessment, and optimizing the Career Center.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Dr. John Culbreath, retiring Dean of Education at Albany State University, was honored with a standing ovation for the leadership he has provided. In his many roles, he has consistently been a strong supporter of teacher education and all students in Georgia.

The meeting was then adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Respectfully,

Susan M. Wilson
suewilson@abac.edu