Meeting of the Board of Regents | June 2010
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THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 |
To: Higher Education Committee
From: Joseph P. Frey
Subject: Continuation of Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs at Elmira College
Date: June 3, 2010
Authorizations:
SUMMARY
Issue for Decision
Should the Board of Regents continue the accreditation of teacher education programs at Elmira College?
Reason(s) for Consideration
Required by State regulation.
Proposed Handling
The question will come before the Higher Education Committee at its June 2010 meeting, where it will be voted on and action taken. It will then come before the full Board at its June 2010 meeting for final action.
Procedural History
In 1998, the Board of Regents adopted a new teaching policy, “Teaching to Higher Standards: New York’s Commitment.” As a result of that policy, in 1999, the Board adopted Section 52.21(b)(2)(iv)(c) of the Commissioner’s Regulations, which requires New York State teacher education programs to become accredited by an acceptable accrediting organization.
Background Information
Elmira College is an independent, co-educational, residential, liberal arts college in Elmira, New York. Founded in 1855, Elmira College is the first institution of higher learning in America to offer women degrees with requirements equal to those at men’s colleges. The College received a Phi Beta Kappa Chapter in 1940. Established in 1983, the Center for Mark Twain Studies supports scholars from around the world to research and write about the life, works, and times of Mark Twain. The College calendar is composed of fall and winter terms, 12 weeks each, followed by a spring term of 6 weeks duration. The institution had 1,468 students (1,265 undergraduate and 203 graduate) and 206 faculty (83 full-time and 123 part-time) in fall 2009.
Adopted in June 2003, the College’s revised Mission Statement requires that Elmira College offer its students, in a supportive and collaborative environment, both liberal and professional education of sufficient breadth and depth to enable them to become more responsible and productive in society.
The College offers teacher education programs leading to certification in the following areas: Adolescence Education, Childhood Education, Visual Arts, Literacy, and Speech and Language Disabilities. In fall 2009, 320 candidates (275 at the undergraduate level and 45 at the graduate level) were enrolled in the teacher education programs and 18 faculty (10 full-time and 8 part-time) taught in these programs.
Elmira College’s Teacher Education Department oversees all teacher education certification programs with the exception of the Speech and Language Disabilities Program, which resides in the Speech and Hearing Department. The two departments are linked in several ways. First, they belong to the same Division-The Division of Professional Programs (Education, Nursing, Speech and Hearing, and Human Services). All faculty members within the Division review all courses in the teacher education programs including the Speech and Language Disabilities program. Secondly, students in the Speech and Language Disabilities program take courses and workshops offered by the Teacher Education Department. Thirdly, faculty members of the two departments share ideas ranging from student assessment to supervision of student teachers. The Executive Director of Teacher Education and the Coordinator for the Speech and Language Disabilities program meet several times a year to exchange ideas and share concerns.
Findings of the focused site visit team:
At its meeting in 2006, the Board of Regents voted to accredit the teacher education programs offered by Elmira College with conditions. A focused site visit team visited the campus from November 30 through December 1, 2009. The peer review team conducted an on-site review of evidence, including documents in the exhibit room and interviews with College and school-based faculty and administrators, and candidates.
The focused site visit team found that 17 out of the 21 Areas for Improvement have been satisfied; however, the following issues remained:
- Data of graduate effectiveness and evidence of using candidate achievement data for program improvement is not available for the Speech and Language Disabilities programs.
- The College’s promotion materials include two options offered to individuals seeking Adolescence and Visual Arts certification through individual transcript evaluation. While pedagogical courses in the undergraduate option are taught by teacher education faculty, educational courses in the graduate option are taught by adjuncts. There appears to be no oversight to assure that adjuncts are qualified to teach those courses.
- Although the average class size for the literacy courses has been reduced to an average of 26, graduate students indicated during on-site interviews that the current size was still too large to allow for in-depth discussions and to do presentations in a professional and thorough fashion.
- It is not clear whether the Speech and Language Disabilities programs include special study preparing candidates to work with general education teachers in terms of the impact of speech, language, and hearing disabilities on learning in the general curriculum areas of the State Learning Standards for all students.
In the College’s April 8, 2010 response to the Draft Focused Site Visit Report, the College provided the following information:
- The Speech and Language Disabilities programs conducted Employers Survey and Alumni Content Area Survey in March 2010.
- The College provided information on the evaluation process of the Speech and Language Disabilities programs starting from admission through program completion. Candidate achievement data and evidence of using data for program improvement were also presented.
- The College requires that all students pursuing the individual evaluation option sign a form stating that they understand they are not completing a registered teacher education program. Adjunct faculty who teach in the graduate level option have been reviewed and approved through the Elmira College Graduate and Advanced Studies Committee and the Teacher Education Department.
In the additional information submitted by the College on April 29, 2010, it indicates that literacy course instructors with enrollments of greater than 20 candidates will be provided with a qualified assistant instructor to ensure effective instruction; and syllabi have been revised to ensure that candidates in the Speech and Hearing Disabilities programs understand how the State Learning Standards are used by general education teachers.
Professional Standards and Practices Board Recommendation:
Following a review and discussion of the focused site visit review report on the teacher education programs offered by Elmira College and additional materials submitted by the College, at its meetings on May 6, 2010, the Higher Education Subcommittee of the State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching met to consider the continuation of Elmira College’s RATE accreditation. Representatives of the College attended the meeting to make a presentation and respond to the Subcommittee’s questions regarding their teacher education programs. The Subcommittee recommended continuation of accreditation of the College’s teacher education programs listed on the enclosure until June 19, 2013 with the following condition: Annual reports shall provide evidence of on-going assessment of graduate effectiveness of the Speech and Language Disabilities programs, including evidence of using data for program improvement.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the Board of Regents adopt the Subcommittee’s recommendation of continuation of accreditation of Elmira College’s teacher education programs until June 19, 2013 with condition. The College has made great progress in addressing the areas for improvement identified in the initial comprehensive compliance review report. However, the Subcommittee is concerned about the on-going assessment of graduate effectiveness of the Speech and Language Disabilities program.
Attachment A:
Elmira College’s Teacher Education Programs under the RATE Review
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Program Title |
Degree Award |
Certificate Title* |
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Adolescence Education: Biology |
B.A./B.S. |
Biology 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Adolescence Education: Chemistry |
B.A./B.S. |
Chemistry 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Adolescence Education: English |
B.A./B.S. |
English 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Adolescence Education: French |
B.A./B.S. |
French 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Adolescence Education: Mathematics |
B.A./B.S. |
Mathematics 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Adolescence Education: Spanish |
B.A./B.S. |
Spanish 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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American Studies History International Studies Political Science Social Studies Sociology and Anthropology |
B.A./B.S. |
Social Studies 7-12 5-6 Extension |
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Childhood Education |
B.A./B.S. |
Childhood 1-6 Biology 7-9 Extension Chemistry 7-9 Extension English 7-9 Extension French 7-9 Extension Mathematics 7-9 Extension Social Studies 7-9 Extension Spanish 7-9 Extension |
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Liberal Arts and Science: Education |
B.A./B.S. |
Childhood 1-6 |
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Visual Arts |
B.A. |
Visual Arts |
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Literacy: Birth to Grade 12 |
M.S.ED. |
Literacy Birth-6 Literacy 5-12 |
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Speech and Language Disabilities |
B.A./B.S. |
Speech and Language Disabilities |
Note*: Unless specified, B.A./B.S. leads to initial certification and M.S. leads to initial/professional certification.
Attachment B:
Summary of Team’s findings and the College’s Response
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Areas For Improvement |
Team’s Conclusion |
College’s April 8, 2010 Response |
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Standard 3: Standards for program registration Standard 3a. Administration |
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1. Although the College expects faculty to serve on standing committees, Education faculty’s involvement in the committees is limited. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Standard 3b: collaboration |
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2. There is little evidence of collaboration between faculty of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences as required by 52.21(b)(2)(i)(b) of Commissioner’s Regulation. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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3. Elmira College has forged a number of informal collaborative arrangements with local schools. However, there is little evidence (e.g., meeting minutes, agenda, written agreement, Advisory Committee) to demonstrate that the College maintains “formal” relationships with local schools as required by 52.21(b)(2)(i)(f) of Commissioner’s Regulation. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Standard 3c: faculty |
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4. While no faculty member is teaching an overload, the policies for determining the workload are not clear. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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5. 52.2(b)(6) of Commissioner’s Regulations requires that “the teaching of each inexperienced faculty member shall receive special supervision during the initial period of appointment.” Not only is there no evidence of supervision, adjunct faculty members receive no orientation or adequate support. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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6. Candidates in the two graduate programs attend classes in which the ratio of faculty to students is not sufficient to assure effective instruction. |
Progress being made. |
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7. The Visual Arts program is not in compliance with 52.21(b)(2)(h) of Commissioner’s Regulations, which requires that a majority of courses should be taught by full-time faculty. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Areas For Improvement |
Team’s Conclusion |
College’s April 2010 Response |
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8. None of the faculty members in the Speech and Language Disabilities program holds a doctoral degree. This violates 52.2(b)(4) of Commissioner’s Regulations, which requires that at least one faculty member teaching in each curriculum culminating in a bachelor’s degree shall hold an earned doctorate in an appropriate field. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Standard 3d: curriculum |
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9. There is an isolation of content and pedagogy in the curricula of Adolescent Education programs due to lack of collaboration between faculty of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences. |
Satisfied |
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10. 52.2(c)(1) of Commissioner’s Regulation requires that the objectives of each curriculum and its courses shall be well defined in writing. Not all course syllabi in the Teacher Education programs contain course objectives. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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11. During student teaching, not every candidate is placed in a setting that is appropriate to the certification area and level that he or she is seeking. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Standard 4: teaching effectiveness of graduates |
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12. The Survey of Principals contains flaws that prevent data from being used to assess graduate effectiveness of a specific program. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Areas For Improvement |
Team’s Conclusion |
College’s April 2010 Response |
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13. Data has not been collected for all the Teacher Education programs; when data is available, there is no evidence that data is aggregated and used for the purpose of program improvement. |
Not satisfied for the Speech and Language Disabilities programs. Satisfied for the remaining programs. |
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Standard 5: assessment of candidate achievement |
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14. There are no rubrics in place to ensure that grading is consistent among course instructors. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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15. While College-wide data is available, there is no graduation/placement rate data for Teacher Education programs. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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16. There is no system in place to allow each program to use the assessment data for the purpose of program improvement. |
Not satisfied for the Speech and Language Disabilities programs. Satisfied for the remaining programs. |
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Standard 7: support services |
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17. While support services are provided to meet students’ needs, there is no data available to document the effectiveness of these services. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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Areas For Improvement |
Team’s Conclusion |
College’s April 2010 Response |
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Standard 8: advertising |
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18. There is false information in the promotion materials. The Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Option and the Graduate Teacher Certification Application Program are not registered programs. |
Not satisfied. |
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19. While college-wide job placement data is provided in the promotion materials, no data is available regarding employment placements of Teacher Education graduates as required by 52.21(b)(2)(i)(e) of Commissioner’s Regulation. |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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20. Programs are described as “approved” rather than “registered" as required in Regents Rules § 13.11(a) and (5)(b). |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |
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21. Certification titles in the Graduate Study catalog do not reflect the New York State Education Department’s recent change in terminology (i.e., “initial” vs. “provisional”; “professional” vs. “permanent”). |
Satisfied |
NOT APPLICABLE |