THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234
TO:		Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee
FROM:		Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:		Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education Recommendation of Accreditation Action: Boricua College
DATE:		January 23, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:		Goals 1, 2, and 3
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Boricua College has applied for Regents accreditation of its teacher education programs.  Should the Board of Regents accredit these programs?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

Required by State regulation.
           

Proposed Handling

 

The question will come before the Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee at its February 2007 meeting, where it will be voted on and action taken.  It will then come before the full Board at its February 2007 meeting for final action.

 

Procedural History

 

The Board of Regents adopted a new teaching policy, "Teaching to Higher Standards:  New York's Commitment," in 1998.  As a result of that policy, in 1999 the Board adopted section 52.21(b)(2)(iv)(c)(1) of the Commissioner’s Regulations, which requires New York State teacher education programs to become accredited by an acceptable accrediting organization.

 

Background Information 

 

Boricua College offers a single Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program in Childhood Education leading to childhood 1-6 certification, with bilingual extension certification as an option. The College has applied for accreditation of its teacher education program by Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education (RATE). 

 

Boricua College is an independent institution offering teacher education programs at the Manhattan Campus and the Brooklyn location. The College was chartered in 1975 and its charter was made absolute in 1981. The College is authorized to confer the degrees of Associate in Arts (A.A.), Associate in Science (A.S.), Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.), and Associate in Occupational Studies (A.O.S.). In 1979 the College was authorized to confer the degree of Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Human Services, Business Administration, and Elementary Education. In 1981 the college offered its first B.A. programs in Inter-American Studies and general Liberal Arts and Sciences, and in 1996 it was authorized to award the Master of Arts (M.A.) in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Master of Science (M.S.) in the field of Human Services. 

 

            Given Boricua College’s mission and goals to positively impact the higher education preparation of Latinos, the delivery of instruction is structured and designed to meet the academic and cultural needs of its students through “the five ways of learning,” which include individualized instruction that consists of one-on-one faculty/student academic activities and intellectual discourse similar to the British tutorial system. 

 

The Boricua College student body is predominantly Latino, 79.7 percent in 2004.  At the time of the visit, the College had 62 full-time faculty members, 90 percent Hispanic with bilingual competency, and a faculty-student ratio of 1:15. 

 

The preparation of elementary teachers at Boricua College is the responsibility of the Education Program, in close conjunction with the various liberal arts departments that constitute the primary curriculum of the student body. The Education Program had 123 candidates matriculated in the Childhood Education Program in 2003-2004. Full-time faculty at Boricua College are referred to as Faculty Facilitators. In 2003-2004 the education faculty consisted of six full-time Faculty Facilitators, including two full-time liberal arts and sciences faculty who also taught in the Education Program. 

 

Accreditation Review Process

 

The RATE review process at Boricua consisted of the following steps:

 

• College prepared its Self Study;

 

• RATE team conducted the site visit;

 

• College responded to the site visit team's report;

 

• The Higher Education Subcommittee of the State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching (PSPB) reviewed the site visit team report, the College's response, the Department's preliminary recommendation, and additional materials submitted before the subcommittee’s meeting and recommended accreditation for three years with conditions; and

 

• The Deputy Commissioner reviewed all materials and concurred with the PSPB's recommendation.

 

The RATE team visited the College from November 13-16, 2005, as part of the accreditation review process. The team reviewed documents; visited classrooms; inspected facilities and resources; and interviewed administrators, department chairs and faculty, candidates and graduates, principals, and cooperating teachers. In the draft Compliance Review Report, the team identified a number of strengths:

 

• Boricua’s academic programs are developed within the framework of a humanistic, holistic philosophy that views students as total persons whose perceptions, motivations, dreams and culture are the forces that shape their behavior. The curriculum is focused on understanding and finding solutions to problems facing Latinos and other Americans seeking to prepare for effective leadership in their communities.
• The majority of Childhood Education coursework is taught by full-time faculty who exemplify commitment and caring for the academic and personal development of teacher candidates. School principals speak highly of these candidates.
• The College achieved a 100 percent pass rate on both the ATS-W and LAST in 2003-2004.

 

The team identified 28 areas for improvement across the nine RATE standards. The team rated Standard 3c, Faculty; Standard 3d, Curriculum; and Standard 4, Teaching Effectiveness of Graduates as Not Met.  Key Areas for Improvement include:

 

• Although formal student teaching placement agreements exist between the Education Program and local schools/school districts, the agreements lack specific goals and objectives to be achieved, including timelines, processes, and procedures for each student teacher assessment data set.

 

• The College is providing a service for an underserved population of nontraditional minority students, and the faculty is dedicated and committed to the mission and purpose of the institution. However, the lack of formal process, which is ubiquitous throughout the institution, is hindering the documentation of the success of its graduates, the achievement of institutional goals, and the institution as a whole.

 

• The institution does not have a formal process for evaluating teaching effectiveness of its graduates, including collecting work of students taught by graduates of the Childhood Education Program.

 

• Faculty, including the co-chairs, are highly committed to candidates and teaching, but they are over extended and have limited time and resources for scholarly activity.

 

• Curriculum issues include the lack of currency of bilingual extension syllabi bibliographies; credit hour related to instruction time; field placements in non-high-need schools; and limited library collections to support the Education Program.

             

At the November 16, 2006 meeting of the Higher Education Subcommittee of the PSPB, the Subcommittee considered Boricua College’s application for Regents accreditation of its teacher education program. The Subcommittee noted the substantive progress made based on the review of documentation submitted in the College’s November 9, 2006 response.  The Subcommittee's primary concern was the need to verify, through a compliance work plan and a focused visit, that the actions/plans addressing areas for improvement identified by the RATE team are evident. The Subcommittee voted to accredit the program offered at Boricua College for three years under the conditions that the institution undergo a focused site visit in 2007 and that the College submit a compliance work plan within 60 days of Regents action to accredit the institution.  The actions described in the work plan must produce full compliance within the three-year term of accreditation and address each area for improvement.

 

Recommendation: 

 

It is recommended that the Regents accredit for three years the Childhood Education Program offered by Boricua College with the following conditions:

 

• Submission of a compliance work plan within 60 days of the Regents action to link to the actions/plans addressing all areas for improvement identified by the RATE team, which was presented in the College’s September 19, 2006 and November 9, 2006 responses.   
• A focused site-visit to be conducted in 2007 to verify the evidence presented in the College’s responses.         

 

Accreditation will be effective February 13, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on February 12, 2010.