News and Tasks
Mid-Monthly Update from the Chair | 2016 June
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New Faculty and Some Changes
Welcome to Dr. Rachel Star and Dr. Renae Ekstrand, who in August will be joining our department and the Teacher Education Program! Rachel will serve as a secondary education faculty member and the Assessment and Accreditation Coordinator. And Renae will begin with us (well, will return to us!) as an elementary education faculty member and will be the Candidate Advancement Coordinator. Ms. Dorothy Renner is moving from an annual contract to an adjunct instructor position, continuing to teach psychology courses for us but no longer teaching German courses for the Department of Language and Literature. Ms. Pam Krueger is moving from an adjunct instructor position to an annual contract, teaching education courses and serving as the Bismarck Education Program Coordinator. We're looking forward to a great year with these new and returning people joining the rest of our terrific faculty, adjunct instructors, and staff! Letter Grading for Field Experiences Starting in the Fall
In the fall of 2015, the Teacher Education Council voted to change the grading of education courses from "Satisfactory" or Unsatisfactory" to letter grading. During the 2015-16 academic year, that was approved at all necessary levels and will take effect in the fall of 2016. If you will teach one of the courses below, then your assessment system for the course should account for this change from "S/U" to letter grading. What evidence of student learning will you collect to arrive at a determination of what work merits an A, a B, etc.? Note that this pertains, too, to pre-service teaching. The Council felt that the assessment system is already in place for a university supervisor to determine a grade for the work that a pre-service teacher does during the semester.
Discussion Starter
Check out this article: "Six Ways to Improve Your Department's Teaching Climate." Are there any ideas from that article that you'd like to see us implement in the Department of Teacher Education? Interview with Our Chancellor
Education Dive recently published an online article featuring interviews with three leaders in higher education. One of those is Dr. Mark Hagerott, Chancellor of the ND University System. Check it out: "Higher Ed Leaders Share Advice for Transformative Approaches to the Job." Photo Highlights
Check out some pics taken at the Teacher Education Program's pinning ceremony on May 12 and at the university commencement ceremony on May 14. |
Revised Teacher Education Program Assessment Plan
In the 2013-14 academic year, the Teacher Education Council revised the Teacher Education Program's curriculum, field experiences, and program outcomes to meet the expectations of our new accreditor, CAEP. In the 2014-15 academic year, the Council developed and adopted a new system for assessing our teacher candidates' achievement of those new program outcomes. We submitted our assessments to CAEP in February 2015 for their feedback, due to us by September 15, 2015 (which we have not yet received). In the 2015-16 academic year, the Council implemented the new assessment system and collected data on our candidates' achievement of the program outcomes. At the end of the year, the Council revised the assessment plan in response to insights that arose from having implemented it for a year. Here is the assessment plan that was adopted for implementation in 2015-16. And here is the revised assessment plan to be implemented in 2016-17. (It also is posted on this Web site at the "Resources" tab.) All the revisions pertain to the Level 1 signature assessments. Specifically, on April 6 we changed many of the courses in which the signature assessments are embedded. We wished to place the assessments in courses that would be good matches for them; and we wanted to make sure the assessments were "spread out" among many education courses instead of just a few, which teacher candidates and professors alike found a bit overwhelming in 2015-16. Please review the current Teacher Education Program assessment plan and look in the "Collection" column for any courses that you teach. If you teach a course with an embedded signature assessment, then also review that assessment and plan for how to make it an integrated component of your students' learning when you teach the course next year. To access the various signature assessments, click on the "Resources" tab above. You will find the signature assessments posted along with the Teacher Education Program's assessment plan. New Tool to Locate Education Research
Check this out: "Digital Promise Launches Web Tool to Find Ed Research" Cognitive Psychologist Jerome Bruner Has Passed Away
Jerome Bruner has died at the age of 100. He is very likely a part of many of our courses in some way due to his influence not only in the field of psychology but also in the profession of teaching (and thus in the field of teacher preparation). Check out this article that remembers Jerome Bruner while speculating why his work hasn't transformed teaching in American schools the way that Dr. Bruner intended: "An Unfinished Quest in Education." In the News
May 10: Check out the ranking (here) for DSU's Teacher Education Program among all teacher preparation programs in the state! May 11: "DSU Alumna Makes a Difference at Edgeley Public School" May 12: "Student Education Association Elects Officers, Celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week" May 13: "Department of Teacher Education Recognizes Students at Pinning Ceremony May 12" May 13: "Perdue and Patterson Named DSU's 2016 Outstanding Graduates" Professional Development Opportunities for Area PreK-12 Teachers and Administrators
Nearly all PreK-12 schools across ND are members of one of eight regional educational associations (REAs) set up to provide programs, services, and professional development to teachers and administrators. DSU collaborates with two REAs in their endeavors: the Missouri River Educational Cooperative (MREC), serving our partner schools in southcentral ND; and the Roughrider Education Services Program (RESP), serving southwest ND. RESP recently contacted me to share two resources that you may wish to know about--and perhaps to promote to area educators:
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