Accreditation, Accountability and Assessment in Arts and Sciences: Working Together to Prepare Quality Educators

1. Accreditation, Accountability and Assessment in Arts and Sciences: Working Together to Prepare Quality Educators AACTE 2008Hilda Rosselli, Dean College of Education Western Oregon University

2. Context • Small public liberal arts comprehensive university (5000 students) • Originated as a Normal School • Home of Teacher Work Sample Methodology • Forty-eight percent of the undergraduate candidates take all of their LACC and content courses through LAS College. • LAS is a source for many MAT candidates who have a degree in a content area.

3. Areas of Added Value • Conceptual Foundations and Driving Values • Advising • Admissions • Content Knowledge (Initial and Advanced) • Curriculum and Program Design • Data and Program Improvement • K-20 Retention Efforts • Professional Development and Scholarship

4. Teaching in and of itself does not ensure student learning.

5. Founded on Common Foundational Values • Democratic Ideals • Educational Equity • Cultural Sensitivity • Intellectual Vitality • Professionalism

6. Typical Diversity Courses within LACC • ANTH 370D Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective • BA 392D Management of Diversity • CJ 436D Minorities, Crime, Social Policy & Social Control • D170D World Dance • EC 417D Problems of Economic Development of Nations • ENG 389D Minority Literature • GEOG 107D Introduction to Cultural Geography • HE 465D International Health • HST 467D Chicana/o History • MUS 205D Music of the Black Heritage • SOC 360D Sociology of Gender

7. Advising Process • LAS faculty share education advising responsibilities for these students during their early years. • Codetermine the best courses for pre education to take in both LACC and content areas. • Share in the refinement of advising materials and process. • Discuss implications from state updates related to standards for K-12 education.

8. Admission Process • LAS faculty complete a recommendation form for each candidate entering the education program. • Each candidate is personally interviewed by a team of LAS and COE faculty. • Shared discussions help reinforce application of program standards, reinforcement of dispositions and CF values.

9. Content Knowledge • Courses are offered in LAS that emphasize strong pedagogy component as well as content knowledge. • LAS faculty assist COE with transcript analysis on post baccalaureate candidates. • Results from PRAXIS II exams (required of all middle and high school candidates by the end of their first term in the Ed program) are analyzed and shared with LAS faculty as well COE faculty.

10. Advanced Programs • In the MS in Ed, content knowledge is assessed by a written comprehensive examination with questions evaluated by LAS and COE faculty in both the professional core and respective content areas. • Collaborative Reading Endorsement Program is taught by both LAS Linguistics and COE Literacy faculty.

11. Curriculum and Program Design • MAT design committee was comprised of COE faculty, LAS faculty, a student, a district personnel coordinator, a teacher, and school administrator. • Signed Faculty agreements for Endorsement Areas • All curriculum changes are approved by both COE and LAS faculty through first a Curriculum Committee and then by Faculty Senate. • LAS Dean is a member of COE Consortium and reviews data from the unit’s assessment activities.

12. Data and Program Improvement • Institutional Student Aspirations, Program Outcomes and Assessment Plans for each Program • Rubrics and scoring guides • Changes in curriculum-Linguistics • EDSMART and data aggregation-PRAXIS II, exit, content specific TWS, and follow ups • DARE and Assessment Coordinator

13. K-20 Retention Efforts • Bilingual Teacher Initiative • Courses to be offered in Spanish • International student support • Psychology students working with local middle school students • LAS/COE involvement with state High School Diploma changes • Essential Skills • Increased focus on Math and Science

14. Shared Professional Development • Intergenerational Poverty • Global Migration Conference • Ecojustice series • Alignment between Oregon’s P-12 standards and teacher preparation efforts • Boyer’s Scholarship of Teaching

15. Statewide Writing Assessment Scoring • An 8 hour day in which candidates learn how and practice scoring 4th, 7th, or 10th grade writing samples • Required for all elementary and secondary teacher candidates • Hosted by LAS and COE faculty with Oregon Department of Education

16. Sample LAS faculty Scholarship and Service • Dr. Lonnie Guralnick, Chair of Math and Science has twice been elected to the local school board. • Dr Laurie Burton, coauthor of "Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: An Activity Approach”, used her sabbatical to work with local math teachers. • Dr. Cornelia Paraskevas provides workshops on fluency and punctuation for local school district.

17. Sample LAS faculty Scholarship and Service • Drs. Bryan Dutton, Steve Taylor and Pete Poston sponsor Environmental Science Institutes for classroom teachers and help host the annual state Science Fair with a COE faculty member. • Dr. Elaina Jamieson helps host annual Summer Art Institutes for classroom teachers. • LAS and COE faculty grants-- • Oregon Collaborative for Excellence in Preparation of Teachers (OCEPT) from National Science Foundation. • PT3, FIPSE, and Teacher Quality grants.

18. Sample Undergraduate Student Research Focus • Using Computers to Enhance Mathematics Learning at the Middle School Level by Gretchen Baumgartner • Music, Movement, and Learning Basic Multiplication Facts: A Phenomenological Study by Daniel Gilmore