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January 24 Meeting Minutes
 

State College Regional Meeting
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Pennsylvania State University

Present at Meeting

Sarah DeHaas Juniata College
Dan Fisher Bald Eagle Area School District
Dave McNaughton The Pennsylvania State University
Jim Nolan The Pennsylvania State University
Kyle Peck The Pennsylvania State University
Nick Perry Neshannock Township School District
Dave Smith Greater Altoona Career And Technology Center
Dan Grow The Pennsylvania State University
Horst van Dorpowski The Pennsylvania State University
John Augustine II Commissioner
Terry Blue Commissioner
Robert Feir Executive Chair
Mark Holman Commissioner
Clythera S. Hornung Commissioner
David Monk Commissioner
Michelle Tarlecki Administrative Assistant

The State College regional meeting was held at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus on January 24, 2006. There were 16 people in attendance. A variety of pertinent issues was raised with the Commission, as follows:

  • Instead of taking classes that do not pertain to the core curriculum or a teacher education program, such as gym classes, students should be taking more classes or have field experiences that pertain to teacher preparation.
  • Teacher preparation programs are not adequately preparing teachers for middle level education.
    • The pedagogy needed for middle level education is different than that of the elementary and high school level.
    • Prospective teachers need to be exposed to middle schools before entering the work force. They might decide they like middle level education if they knew more about it.
  • People who are going into the teaching profession need to realize that they now are competing globally.
  • Teacher advocacy needs to be incorporated into the workplace. It is a way to change teacher psyche and a way to get highly qualified teachers.
  • A balance between pedagogy and content needs to be found in every teacher so each teacher can teach to all types of learners.
  • Teachers need to be able to handle the social problems students may bring into the classrooms.
  • Changes should not be made without looking at research.
  • Prospective teachers need to get into the classroom earlier and more frequently.
  • Technology can help in supervising prospective teachers in the classrooms.
  • Special education and general education teachers should work together. This will help both to learn more and to teach more effectively.
  • There is a shortage of special education teachers, and the standards are low. The minimum passing score for the special education test of the PRAXIS is very low.
    • If the percentile for the special education test were to be increased, the attrition rate for special education would drop.
    • The people who score lower and are less trained are more likely to leave, but if the score was higher, better teachers would be coming into the classrooms.
  • General education teachers should be trained in special education. This may help increase the number of people with special education certificates later.
  • Pennsylvania’s standards for teaching should mirror the NCATE standards. If Pennsylvania wants to recruit students from out of state to attend colleges and universities in the state, saying that the universities follow the national standards may help.
  • The concept of partnerships is good, but the money and time investments are difficult.
  • There is a sense of urgency in regard to mathematic certificates. The number of mathematics certificates has decreased from last year.
  • “Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics” by Liping Ma provides a fundamental look at teaching mathematics.
  • Teachers who are teaching math need to be excited about it. If they are excited about teaching it, the possibility exists that the students will be excited about it too. The same is true for other subjects. Students pick up on how their teachers feel about their subjects.
  • If the professor or clinical experience teacher is excited about the subject, it may help to excite the prospective teacher.
  • Potential teachers of some content areas have more attractive career options open to them than teaching. What is it going to take to keep great teachers in the classrooms? Bonuses?
  • Teacher shortages need to be addressed at the state level.
  • Induction is hard for small schools with limited staff.
  • Some people have never seen induction programs.
  • A school district expects to “tweak” what a new teacher knows. They do not expect to have to teach new teachers things they believe should have been learned in college.
  • One problem with a program that might be put in place for new teachers is the teachers may not want it. In the past, Penn State tried to put a program together for new teachers and it failed. The reason was because new teachers are under a lot of stress the first year and do not want to add more stress with optional work.
  • By tying in topics that were more appealing to new teachers, such as classroom management, Penn State has been able to reach out to more new teachers. They use technology to make this new program interactive.
  • New teachers should not be responsible for extracurricular activities in the first two years.
  • Great schools should be identified for prospective teachers to go into.
  • Prospective teachers need a variety of cultural experiences by going into different types of schools: elementary, middle and high schools, in different areas: suburban, urban, and rural.
  • Great teachers in schools should lead inservice professional development. This will create master teachers.
  • Continuing education needs to be focuses towards a goal.
  • The universities may say that students are getting early experiences, but are those experiences the right ones?
  • There is sometimes a gap between what is being learned in university classrooms and what is being learned in clinical experiences. Some faculty believe that what matters is what they teach in a classroom. Some cooperating teachers believe that if you did not learn it while completing a clinical practice with them, it is not necessary. Who does the student teacher believe?
  • A proposal was made to separate undergraduate degrees from certificates.
  • Both universities and school districts should have to sign off on a certificate. This would help make partnerships necessary.
  • School districts, no matter the size, need to understand that they need university partnerships. The same is true for universities.
  • Another proposal was made for extending induction from 1 year to 3 years.
  • Should a teacher use the 24 credits of professional development to become certified in another area?
  • For professional development, should a school district partner with a university to get its teachers reduced tuition?
  • Should the state mandate the credits in teacher preparation programs? One problem with that is that universities have their own core curriculum courses or specialty courses that may differ from one university to another.
  • Teachers need to be fluent in technology.
  • Technology allows for teachers to be competitive with what is going on in the students lives.
  • The challenge with using technology in the classroom is that it is ever changing and difficult to keep everyone up-to-date with the most current technology.
  • Should there be a requirement that all teachers in the workforce or students in teacher education programs have a notebook computer or be supplied with one?
  • Through the use of mentoring, new teachers are not only learning from more experienced teachers, but the more experienced teachers are learning new technology from the new teachers.
  • Technology allows supervisors and students, who are geographically separated, real-time connections.
  • Through the use of technology in schools with low socio-economic status, test scores have risen. An example is a technology partnership between Penn State and Isaac Sheppard Elementary School in Philadelphia.
  • Technology is innovating how teachers are teaching. An example of a technological innovation was teachers making podcasts. Podcasts are movies that can be played on computers and other devices. Teachers can makes podcasts about science or math and then make them available to anyone with a computer.
  • The potential exists for technology to save money. Although technology is expensive when a school first invests in it, other resources may become obsolete and the money spent on these resources can be saved.
  • The discussion topic then switched to national standards and accreditation.
  • When a school district hires a teacher from out of state, it is hard to get that person certified. An experienced educator may not have taken the right classes or taken the PRAXIS. That teacher may have been working for years, but since they want to teach in Pennsylvania they have to go back to university or take the PRAXIS. Should experience count?
  • There is no reason that a university in Pennsylvania should prepare for both a PDE and NCATE or TEAC review. The national reviews are much harder than the PDE review.
  • If Pennsylvania were to switch to national standards, how would those national standards be monitored and how could we change them to suit our state?
  • Small schools do not have the resources for a national review.
  • If Pennsylvania were to follow the national standards, the quality of teacher education programs and the teachers who graduate from them may increase.
  • By having only one national review, the universities that are accredited by both PDE and NCATE or TEAC will save money.
  • A good thing about PDE reviews is that it allows for faculty from the universities to see what is happening at other universities.
  • How often do people serve on PDE reviews? Do they really shut down the programs that need to be closed?
  • When Chapter 49 increased the minimum G.P.A. to 3.0 for teacher education programs, did it help? Is there research done to suggest that it did help? Such research needs to be done.
  • There was a concern about what the impact of the Commission’s report will be. Who will hear it?
  • A proposal was made to send a draft of the report to the participants of the regional meetings. This can help increase the validity of the report.
 
 

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