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NCATE ANNUAL REPORT, 1999 University of Georgia Category I - Design of Professional Education (Standards I.A through I.I) Conceptual Framework(s), General Studies for Initial Teacher Preparation, Content Studies for Initial Teacher
Preparation, Professional and Pedagogical Studies for Initial
Teacher Preparation, Integrative Studies for Initial Teacher
Preparation, Advanced Professional Studies, Quality of Instruction,
Quality of Field Experiences, Professional Community. Evaluations, changes, and improvements under
Category I standards during this year: Category I - Design of Professional
Education (Standards I. A through I. I) Five new initiatives with implications for
professional education programs were begun in the 1998-1999
academic year. A 1998 Regent's Initiative for Teacher Education
adopted a set of principles for teacher education in all University
System of Georgia institutions and developed an implementation plan
that must be met by 2004. Among these principles is a guarantee
that graduates can teach effectively and can bring their students
to high levels of achievement. Another principle deals with the
qualifications of students; education students must at least meet
the average of qualifications of all students entering the
University. Students will also be required to have an equivalent of
at least a minor in any field for which they are certified to
teacher; our College already meets this requirement. One principle
deals with the "strengthening"of teacher preparation students in
the area of early childhood education in reading and mathematics.
Another principle calls for a partnership with Arts & Sciences
and professional education faculty in teacher education programs.
The College is in the process of implementing this principle, but
is also including a proportional representation of K-12 educators.
The College has obtained a supplemental grant from the Board of
Regents under this initiative for bolstering the mathematics
preparation for teachers in early childhood and middle school
education programs. A special task force has been established to
advise the College on this principle; the task force's work has
already resulted in one additional new math course, with a second
to be offered soon, and a third in the planning stage. These are
all new mathematics courses (not courses in mathematics education)
developed in consultation with faculty in the College's Department
of Mathematics Education. The STEP project is funded, but not mandated by
the Board of Regents, with supplemental funding from the Council
for Basic Education and AACTE. The Standards Teacher Education
Project began with the review of national standards in the content
areas of math, science, English, and social studies. The project
will select content standards from what has been developed in these
subject areas and then look for opportunities for teacher education
students to have experience and exposure with content and teaching
strategies relevant to those standards. It will also see whether
these opportunities have been manifested in our students'
achievement. The project's long-term objective is to determine the
extent to which our products/students demonstrate the teaching that
reflects those standards in their classrooms. The Contextual Teaching and Learning Project, a
three year $1.8 million project funded by the U.S. Department of
Education, is designing a new teacher education program to make
future public school teachers more able to make teaching and
learning relevant to work and other real-life contexts. The project
involves twenty-eight faculty members from a number of departments
in the College; it will also build on other teacher education
initiatives and on collaborations with Arts & Sciences faculty
to integrate academic and occupational education. This year the College also completed a year of
planning with two sister institutions in the state, Albany State
University (a historically black institution) and Valdosta State
University, which resulted in the submission of a partnership grant
to the U.S. Office of Education. The grant was for a teacher
education initiative to look at the preparation of teachers for
employment in small towns and rural areas. It was an attempt to
address teacher shortages and preparation to teach students in high
need areas of the state of Georgia. The proposal was not funded,
but is being broadened and resubmitted in the 1999-2000 academic
year. The College (and University) formally approved
and began operation of a new department in this academic year. The
Department of Social Foundations of Education serves and supports
all teacher education programs through the offering of a greatly
expanded array of courses in several subareas of social
foundations. This new department's Ph.D. degree program was
approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in
September, 1999. (Initial) It is not clear that all programs
have a model for curriculum design. (Initial) There are no policies to assure
that student teachers have opportunities to work with culturally
diverse populations. Category I - Weaknesses Cited During Previous Visit Two weaknesses in this category of the standards
were cited in the previous visit. Both were for initial programs
only. The first was that "it is not clear that all programs
have a model for curriculum design." According
to the Third Year Review of Annual Report Data it appears that this
weakness has been adequately addressed. The second weakness, "there
are no policies to assure that student teachers have opportunities
to work with culturally diverse populations" continues to need
emphasis according to the third year review. Many new projects in
the College address this category of the standards. The recent semester conversion of all
institutions in the University System of Georgia has resulted in a
unified core curriculum for all students in a four-year program.
This core requires 60 semester hours and is composed of Areas A-F,
which are relatively independent of major, and Area F, specific to
the student's major. Included are courses in the sciences, social
sciences, English, mathematics, fine arts/humanities. Departmental
conceptual designs were reviewed during the semester conversion
process. As part of semester conversion, some departments
added additional field experiences for teacher education students.
These added experiences will provide more opportunities for work
with students of diverse populations. Among its many activities,
the College's Task Force on Multicultural Education continues to
host its annual conference to heighten faculty/staff awareness of
cultural diversity and promote the inclusion of the study of
cultural diversity in the instructional programs of every
department. Every department is expected to have multicultural
field experiences; for example, the Department of Elementary
Education requires multiple experiences during
students' time in the
field with different school settings and different grade levels.
Departments continue to experiment with the student teaching
experience, leading to several models in practice; the innovative
student-teaching program of the Language Education department won a
top honor given by the Georgia Association of Educators during this
academic year. This program requires students to spend a full
academic year working alongside a mentor teacher in a local
school. Two projects, the Deans' Forum and
the P-16 Council, continue to shape professional education at the
University of Georgia. The Deans' Forum, a
partnership of the deans of the Colleges of Education and Arts
& Sciences, meets three times annually and is composed of 30
faculty opinion leaders from both colleges. With financial support
from the University's Vice President for Academic Affairs, several
projects to study and change teacher education programs have been
initiated each year; each study a joint project with professors of
both colleges. The College's P-16 Council continues to serve as an
advisory board to the College and its programs. It is composed of
University educators, K-12 educators, and members of the business
community. Category II - Candidates in Professional
Education (Standards II. A through II.
D) Candidate Qualifications, Candidate Composition,
Monitoring and Assessing Progress, Ensuring Competence. Evaluations, changes, and improvements under
Category II standards during this year: Category II - Candidates in Professional
Education (Standards II. A through II.
D) The College continues to attract and retain
top-flight students to its programs of study. This is evidenced by
three important honors attained by past College graduates this past
year. Both Georgia Teacher of the Year (Amy Monroe Denty) and
National Teacher of the Year (Andy Baumgartner) are College of
Education graduates. In addition, of the 20 teachers named to the
USA Today All-USA Teacher First Team, four were University
of Georgia alumni. The Student Services Center, operated under the
auspices of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, also hired an
African-American advisor for unspecified undergraduate
students. The 1998 Board of Regents principles for teacher
education adopted in 1998, and to be fully implemented by 2004,
includes a principle which also addresses the quality of students
who will be in teacher education programs. One of the Board's
principles requires that education students must meet the average
of qualifications of all students entering the University of
Georgia. Category II - Weaknesses Cited During Previous
Visit: None. Category II - Weaknesses Cited During
Previous Visit The College has no cited weaknesses in this
category of the standards. Category III - Professional Education
Faculty (Standards III.A through
III.D) Faculty Qualifications, Faculty Composition,
Professional Assignments, Professional Development. Evaluations, Changes, and improvements under
Category III standards during this year: Category III - Professional Education
Faculty As stated in earlier annual reports, pre-student
teaching assignments are made either by individual departments or
the Office of Educational Field Experiences. Almost all student
teaching assignments are made by the Office of Educational Field
Experiences. Departments are responsible for identifying and
assigning the University supervisors. If a department needs to
assign a faculty member or advanced graduate student to supervise
student teachers who does not have appropriate prior experience for
that assignment, the department is required to provide appropriate
preparation through such methods as direct instruction or faculty
mentoring. The College of Education made fourteen new
faculty hires for the 1998-1999 academic year. Of the positions, seven were filled by females
and two were filled by African-Americans. To further insure faculty qualifications in all
fields, the University System of Georgia has initiated a
post-tenure review process for all faculty in the system. Every
tenured faculty member of the College will be reviewed within the
five year time period from 1997 to 2002. The College is presently
in the third year of this continuing five year review process. In
2002, the post-tenure review process will be repeated. Category III - Weaknesses Cited During
Previous Visit: There is a lace of training in supervision for
field supervisors. Category III - Weaknesses Cited During
Previous Visit The Third Year Review of Annual Report Data
states that the weakness of "a lack of training in supervision for field supervisors" appears to be adequately addressed.
Nevertheless, a major project was initiated to also correct this
earlier stated weakness. The College has obtained a $50,000 grant
from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia for a
special teacher preparation program aimed at working with 25
practicing teachers who have previously worked with our students in
field experiences of some capacity. These teachers are presently
taking course work that leads to a special teacher licensure
endorsement called Teacher Support Specialist. The program includes
two courses, taken through in-service, which include a supervised
internship working with other teachers who have a demonstrated need
in some area or with beginning teachers. Category IV - The Unit for Professional
Education(Standards IV.A through IV.C) Governance and Accountability, Resources for
Teaching and Scholarship, Resources for Operation. Evaluations, changes, and improvements under
Category IV standards during this year: Category IV - The Unit for Professional
Education The report of "The Millennium Commission" cited
in the 1997-1998 annual report has been developed. This first phase
of the Commission's task, the development of a framework
and action plan for the future of the College of Education, has
been completed. The second phase of the report, containing specific
plans of implementation, is expected to be completed in January,
2000. In addition, with the hiring of a new University
president, a new strategic planning process has been initiated at
the University level. The College of Education Strategic Plan for
2000-2010 has been completed during this academic year. Given the continuing strong economy of the state
of Georgia, resources for higher education in the state have again
increased. In 1998, resources for the College of Education were
$21,283,841; in 1999, $22,422,144 was available. This increase of
$1,138,303 is a year over year increase of about 5.34%. Faculty and
staff received raises averaging approximately 6%. The College continues to be recognized as one of
the top graduate education programs in the nation. In its 1999
report, US News & World Report ranked the University of
Georgia College of Education 18th of the 188 institutions
rated. Category IV - Weaknesses Cited During Previous
Visit: None. Category IV - Weaknesses Cited During
Previous Visit No weaknesses were cited in this category of
standards as a result of the 1995 on-site review. Additional Changes in the Unit: Additional Changes in the
Unit: In the fall semester of 1999 several major
administrative changes took place in the College of Education. Dr.
Louis Castenell, Jr., formerly dean of the College of Education at
the University of Cincinnati, began his tenure in the deanship
position at the University of Georgia. Later in the semester he
named Dr. Jeri Benson, Professor of Educational Psychology, as
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College. Dr. Benson had
previously served as Faculty Administrator for Faculty Affairs for
the College from 1996 to1998. At the present time, a search is
being conducted for the new position of Associate Dean for
Research, Development and Outreach. Departmental leadership changes for the academic
year included Dr. Clifton Smith in the Department of Occupational
Studies (replacing Dr. Helen Hall); Dr. Roy Martin in the
Department of Educational Psychology (replacing Dr. Carl Huberty);
Dr. Judith Reiff in the Department of Elementary Education
(replacing Dr. Brenda Manning); Dr. Joel Taxel in the Department of
Language Education (replacing Dr. JoBeth Allen); Dr. John Napier in
the Department of Social Science Education (replacing Dr. Ronald
VanSickle); Dr. Thomas Koballa in the Department of Science
Education (replacing Dr. Michael Padilla, who was appointed interim
director of the School of Teacher Education); and Dr. Judith
Preissle of the Department of Social Foundations (a newly formed
department). Enter the Name of the Person Filling Out the Report: Dr.Elmer Williams |