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Meeting of the Commission
Friday, April 20, 2006
10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Recital Room, Richards Hall
Dixon University Center, Harrisburg
Present at Meeting
Caroline Allen |
Peter Garland |
Ivory Nelson |
Mark Wescott for C. Dumaresq |
John Augustine |
James Gearity |
Robert Palestini |
Stacey Connors for P. Browne |
Cynthia Azari |
Tomás Hanna |
Donna Piekarski |
Ralph Maltese for
C. Trombetta
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Terry Blue |
Mark Holman |
Harris Sokoloff |
Rhoda Tillman for M. Speziale |
Jane Bray |
Richard Kneedler |
Elizabeth Useem |
Robert Feir |
Ronald Cowell |
Alan Lesgold |
Gerald Zahorchak |
Stephen Pavlak |
Heather D’Angelo |
David Monk |
Clythera Hornung for D. Surra |
Sarah Coon |
Colleen Dorsey |
Kent McGuire |
Elaine Frombach for M. Fabrizi |
Michelle Tarlecki |
Dr. Kneedler called the meeting to order at 10:10 am.
Dr. Garland moved that the Minutes of the March 10 meeting be approved.
It was seconded by Mr. Holman, and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Dr. Kneedler then introduced Ms. Brooke Haycock, an actorvist from
the Education Trust. She performed a docudrama entitled “Six
Degrees of Preparation.”
After the docudrama ended, Dr. Kneedler introduced the representatives
who were participating in today’s meeting. He also congratulated
Dr. Heather D’Angelo on received her doctorate from the University
of Pennsylvania.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss what should be in the
Commission’s recommendations and how they should be worded
to maximize the impact they will have on the educational system in
Pennsylvania. A draft Recommendations Framework was distributed to
the Commissioners before the meeting as a basis for the discussion;
it is attached to these Minutes.
Overall Comments on Recommendations Framework
- Our report should begin with the notion that every student
can learn.
- Every teacher must have a feeling of responsibility to
teach every student and believe that every student can learn.
- Professors
of education must have the same belief that all children can learn.
- The
framework is written as if nothing is wrong. The report needs to
be stated in a way that people know things are wrong, but the report
cannot convey negativity.
- There needs to be a statement about cultural
proficiency. Teachers need to understand the children and community;
even those teachers with the same ethnicity may not be as proficient
as needed.
- Is there a larger purpose to advance in the beginning?
Currently, we are just floating around the edges. What broader argument
should be setup?
- It needs to be understood that good teacher preparation
continues throughout a teacher’s career.
- The concept of a
teacher not having the whole package right out of college needs to
be understood by all.
- Four years of college is not enough for teachers.
Induction plays an important role in teachers’ first years
in the workforce. These years need to be carefully monitored, almost
protected.
- The Commission should not “waffle” on induction
recommendations. The commission should recommend one or two models
that should be adopted.
- There are some outstanding induction programs
in Pennsylvania. We should not limit districts to one or two models.
- Question: If the report cannot say “must,” should
it say “should?”
- The system should be designed so students
are not hurt in the process and teachers learn by doing. The analogy
was used to describe the proper education system was, “If
a hospital is run well, a patient will not get hurt.”
- Within
a well functioning education system, experimentation should be
encouraged. Two possible ways of experimentation are to have novice
teachers working full-time with master teachers to provide assistance
or have the master teachers teaching full-time and the novice teachers
observing and helping.
- The Commission does not want to overstate
what is known about teacher education, given the state of the research
available.
- No one disagrees that this is not a world-class system,
but what does that model look like? What do the teachers look like
who participate in that model?
- By looking at PDE Forms 426, 427, 428, and 430,
we can see what an excellent teacher should look like.
GOAL 1
- If the system in which teachers are training is changed,
is the system that the teachers will be going into in sync?
- Students
should experience teaching every type of student before becoming
certified.
- Other professions such as nursing include frequent assessment
tests that help the nurses stay on top of things and handle
any patients they may have to treat.
- Best practices in how to work with parents
need to be taught at the universities. Many teachers are not ready
to deal with parents.
- Page 2, Letter G – How will that be funded?
- Page 3, 2nd
paragraph – Keep the word “should.” In
regard to “half million dollars,” how is that
going to be funded?
- Page 3, 1st paragraph is confusing.
- Page 4, before goal 2 – “We
generally support….” – need
to be more concrete there. The report should not use the
word “generally” unless
necessary.
- It is often hard to find the best match for
a cooperating teacher and a student teacher. The placement offices are often
understaffed at universities. In order to properly match teachers, adequate
staff is required.
- Page 2, Letter B – Educational coursework v. differentiated
instruction. Differentiated instruction has a different
meaning.
- Goal 1, Letter E – We should get as far away from using
test data and as close to a portfolio of a student’s
skills to assess a teacher’s ability to teach.
The problem is that school districts are judged on whether
or not students do well on state tests. If the school
district is being judged on that, so must the teachers.
- There should be language about the school districts being
partners in field placements in hopes to align placements
better.
- Page 2, Letters A and B – The language
needs to be strengthened. Things can be reviewed forever.
We want to build.
- Page 2, Letter C – Demonstrate
effectiveness
- Page 2, Letters A and B – These items
cannot be measured. If they cannot be measured, they
should not be listed.
- University faculty who are preparing
teachers must have experience in the PK-12 classrooms or they need
to be certified.
- Courses can be reviewed as much as you want, what
will it take to align them?
- It is going to take political courage
on PDE’s part for
changes to happen.
- Page 2 – There is no great correlation
between the PDE minimal passing rates and success in
the classroom.
- There are a lot of people kept out of
teaching because of the PRAXIS test. Some of those people could be
excellent teachers.
- Page 2, Letter B – All teachers need to
be able to teach students with disabilities.
- Page 2, Letter D – “Equal
weight” is not possible
for research universities.
GOAL 2
- A recommendation was made for novice teachers to keep a portfolio
of forms.
- The language throughout the report needs to be
consistent.
- There should be a mini career ladder within induction.
Some people may achieve the competencies faster than others.
- Is it
realistic to have teachers teaching on weekdays, going to school
at night, and doing professional development or other activities
on Saturdays?
- Teachers do not need passion as long as they get the
job done and get better at teaching.
- Goal 2, Last Sentence – That
sentence needs to be strengthened.
- Page 5, Last Paragraph – The
Governor has proposed funding for 500 National Board Certified teachers.
The Commission should straightforwardly endorse that and ask for
continued funding. Pennsylvania should lead the country in the number
of National Board Certified teachers, but it is closer to the bottom
of the list.
- The state is working on beefing up Act 48. Districts
can limit what a teacher may take for Act 48, but they usually do
not do so.
- Would it be possible to specify certain courses be taken
for the four years of an undergraduate degree and if they are
not completed within four years, a teacher take those credits in the 24 credits
of Act 48? That way the body of knowledge is over five or six years.
- The Commission
should not hint at state funding. It should be very clear about funding.
- There needs to be capacity building at PDE to be of assistance
to schools districts, teachers, and universities.
- The suggestion
of reasonable placement and reduced teacher load is difficult for
the “have-not” schools. It is
unlikely to happen without some type of funding.
- Should we
have a single model that goes step-by-step or a variety of models
that have the same end result? What is the best solution for different
schools?
- Act 48 needs to be relevant and rigorous.
- There is a desire by
retired teachers to mentor novice teachers and teach them what they
need to know.
- What can the system teach disciplinary content teachers
about special education?
- School districts spend millions of dollars
on professional development. What if some of the money was spent
on a more rigorous induction?
- Individual Induction Plan (IIP) should
be considered.
- School districts should be held accountable for an
individual diagnosis for induction.
- The problem with reduced course
load for novice teachers is that the novice teachers who are entering
the classrooms are there because someone left. How can there be reduced
course loads when those teachers need to teach those classes that
are without a teacher?
- Until funding becomes readily available, have
several districts pilot a project with reduced course loads to see
how effective it is.
- The Commission should think about examples that
would make sense in a number of different situations.
GOAL 3
- The problems of teacher retention lie largely outside the
teacher education system.
- Page 7 – These are reasons why teachers
do not stay in the same school or in education, but it does not
talk about how to address those problems. We are trying to bribe
teachers to stay. We need to fix the problems and not punish the
teachers for finding a better system that works for them. The system
as a whole must change.
- Financial inducements are aimed at trying
to get teachers to fill certain positions in the short term, not
to retain them in the long term.
- Working conditions need to be addressed,
but it will take time, money, and leadership. The Commission cannot
address this problem in a short amount of time.
- The Commission needs
to discuss the attitudes and dispositions in teacher preparation
programs.
- The outcomes of teacher preparation programs need to be
defined, so it does not matter which route a teacher took to obtain
certification. If a teacher meets the standards, the state and school districts
should welcome that person.
- Preservice teachers need experiences in all types
of settings. Within those experiences, the preservice and cooperating
teachers must fit together. If they are not compatible, the preservice teachers
may get a negative connotation about a particular school setting and will
be less likely to work in that setting.
- Maybe the state
can choose to focus on scholarships to support minorities entering
the education field. One Commissioner asked if this was legal.
- The
paragraph about the Intern Certification Program should be left in.
It is a stop gap measure for school districts that need help.
- Page
6, Paragraph 2 – The Commission should be more specific
about credit transfers for general education and education
foundations courses.
- Page 6, Paragraph 5 – Community colleges can play
a role here.
- The Commissioners were split about the Intern Certification
Program.
- One Commissioner asked, “How many schools
offer a full-time night program to let career people
become teachers?” A
barrier to career people becoming teachers is the fact
that they must give up their jobs and incomes to go
back to schools. Most have families to support and
bills to pay and cannot go back to school full-time.
- Hard-to-staff areas, such as mathematics, benefit from
the Intern Certification Program because they need
to get teachers from any avenue possible.
- In order
to hire more teachers of color, some Pennsylvania school districts
have to recruit out-of-state teachers.
- There was an urban and rural
loan forgiveness program that was in place until 1996. Should it
be reinstated?
- The reason for the 60-day notice is to hold adults
accountable. They need to be there for the children.
- Can the 60-day
rule be enforced if a teacher is teaching in an area they are not
certified in or did not want to teach in?
- A person cannot be forced
to stay in a position that they do not want to be in. Is 60 days
too long a period of time? Would it be better to only hold the person
until the position is filled?
- Is there any other profession in Pennsylvania
where a person leaves his or her job and loses certification?
- The
language of the Intern Certification Program needs to be clarified.
GOAL 4
- How is education considered economic development for the
state? It is true that students are coming from out of state
to attend college in Pennsylvania, but some of the universities
in Pennsylvania are taxpayer-supported.
- Are there any measurements
to say which areas are distinctive about Pennsylvania universities?
- Teachers are recruited heavily from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio,
Minnesota and New York. Are there any similar qualities about these
states other than teacher recruitment?
- How do we attract people to
the hard-to-staff subjects such as math?
- Would a temporary reduction
in the minimum grade point average improve the hard-to-staff areas?
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION
After all four goals had been discussed, Dr.
Feir asked the Commission several specific questions on issues that
were raised during the meeting.
- Should the state require a gradual
escalation of the minimum passing PRAXIS rate? This had been an
area of confusion throughout the meeting. Most Commissioners believed
that this question meant an escalation of the passing rate for
an individual, but Dr. Feir meant for it to be an escalation for
the teacher preparing institution percentage passing rate. One Commissioner
pointed out that compared with other states, Pennsylvania’s
minimum rates of passage are lower. How would the state decide
was a reasonable passage rate is for a school’s preservice
teachers? How would it be defined? Currently, Chapter 354 states
that the minimum passage rate has to be at least 70 percent for
three years.
- Should faculty members be allowed to teach in teacher
education programs without having experience in a PK-12
classroom? The recommendation of having all faculty members
who teach education students gain experience in the classroom
has some problems. Many faculty members have one or a few
education students in their classrooms or they are not
members of the education department at a university. Would
those faculty members be required to have PK-12 experience?
Which faculty members would need to have the experiences?
Methods faculty?
- Should institutions that are accredited by NCATE
or TEAC be reviewed by the national accreditation organization only?
Do the state and national accreditation review teams really look
at different items at a university? By the national accreditation
organization accrediting the universities, there would be less work
on PDE’s
part. Can the national accreditation organizations handle the 95
institutions from Pennsylvania? Commissioners had differing opinions
about streamlining the intern certificate. Would it be better for
the state to define the process of obtaining an intern certificate,
or would it be better for each university to define it?
Public Comments
There were no public comments.
Housekeeping
The Executive Director’s report was included in Commissioners’ meeting
folders.
A draft of the Commission report should be sent to the Steering
Committee by the end of next week. A draft, based on Steering Committee
recommendations, should be sent to the Commission around May 5. Any
editorial comments should be sent before the next meeting to help
expedite changes after the May meeting.
A question was asked about how public the documents and drafts are.
Dr. Feir answered that any documents that have been generated thus
far, have only become public after the Commission has voted on them.
Because each Commissioner is representing an interest, Dr. Feir
imagines more people will be reading the draft than just the Commissioners.
Please let those people know to advise the individual Commissioner
of any suggestions. If the Commissioner finds them important and
worth noting, he or she should contact Dr. Feir.
The Commission reiterated to Dr. Feir that funding needs to be properly
addressed in the draft.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 pm.
April 12, 2006 Draft Report available here. (.doc)
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