The College of Education Executive Committee met on Friday, August 17, 2001, at 8:30 a.m. in the Conference Room in the Education Center with Dr. T. Reed presiding. Members present were: Drs. McGahee, Gunter, Atterbom, Bauer, Ducharme, Swank, Corbin, M. Reed, Gibbs, Mr. Pearce, and Ms. Roberts. Guests: Drs. Griffin, Cunningham, Myers-Jennings, Bruner, J. Bass, Hertzog, and Ms. Minor.
Dr. T. Reed distributed a listing of educator preparation programs in the COE; he asked department heads to complete the required information and return the sheet to him.
Dr. T. Reed distributed a memo detailing "centralized notification to schools regarding pre-student teaching field experiences." This approach is a way of providing school principals with a better record of the VSU students who will be in their schools and the expectations of the VSU students. Dr. T. Reed wants to field test this approach this semester in some departments. Ms. Brignati will coordinate this effort. Department heads should send Dr. T. Reed a list of the faculty members who will be communicating with Ms. Brignati about this project. Ms. Brignati will need the answers to four questions: what is expected of the VSU student during the field experience, what is expected of the mentor teacher during the field experience, the number of hours and type of schedule of the field experience, and will the VSU faculty member be at the cooperating school any during the field experience.
Dr. Swank distributed certification guidelines for certification-only students which had been prepared for the business education and secondary math education programs. Dr. Swank suggested that each department develop similar guidelines for their certification-only programs. Dr. Swank announced that a summary for the student teacher data for the last three semesters will be sent to department heads in the near future.
Drs. Ducharme and Hertzog distributed a handout on "elements for field experiences." Additionally, they strongly recommended that the COE develop a Field Experiences Handbook. Ms. Roberts suggested that it would be much easier to keep such a handbook updated if it were prepared on a CD-Rom.
Dr. M. Reed reported on her six days of NCATE Board of Examiners's training. This training has major implications for our NCATE visit scheduled for November. Some specific items noted by Dr. M. Reed follow:
- NCATE will no longer grant full accreditation to any institution that has any unmet standards. Any unmet standard in the 12 decision-making points will result in the institution receiving "accreditation with conditions." Such an accreditation status would result in the institution either receiving a written documentation review or a focused visit.
- All weaknesses from our last NCATE visit are considered to be corrected, based on our third-year review.
- The following documentation is needed from departments: faculty vitae, course syllabi, program assessment plans, one-page descriptions for each program.
- Dr. M. Reed distributed a handout entitled "Assessment Systems: An Explanation of the NCATE Transition Plan."
- In the area of diversity, NCATE will not be as concerned with "numbers" as it will be with what we do to give our teacher candidates opportunities to work with diverse students, diverse faculty, and diverse peers.
- Faculty dispositions are important role models for students.
- Dr. M. Reed needs samples of student portfolios and work samples.
- Please provide feedback either to Dr. T. Reed or to Mark Swift about the new COE web page.
- Dr. M. Reed distributed the first six pages of the NCATE Institutional Report; the reports from the self-study committees will be included in the institutional report.
Dr. M. Reed distributed the course/instructor evaluation data for Spring Semester, 2001.
Dr. T. Reed asked to meet with department heads and the chairs of the departmental Personnel Committees on August 30 at 10:00 a.m.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donnie J. McGahee