Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Program
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Curriculum & Instruction
ACADEMIC PLAN III
2009-2014
Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Program
Academic Plan: 2009-2014
Mission and Aspirations
Three Education departments share the graduate program of Curriculum and
Instruction: Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Secondary Education and
Educational Studies. All three departments work together to create and deliver graduate endorsement areas, masters, Ed.D., and Ph.D. specializations in Curriculum and Instruction. These programs provide graduate degree programs for credentialed teachers involved ina variety of content areas for K-12 education including mathematics, science, literacy, social studies, art, agriculture, modern languages, English, English language learners, technical education as well as those involved with special age group learners such as Early Childhood Education. The graduate pursuits of these three departments are described in this plan. For undergraduate plans, please refer to each department’s plan.
Our college-wide Ph.D. program was revised two years ago and was designed to target students who will go on to research work in higher education in colleges of education or school settings. We work with our students in furthering their understanding of research about teaching and learning. We will be analyzing and strengthening our Curriculum and Instruction doctoral programs as a part of this Academic Plan for the next five years to provide Curriculum and Instruction specializations in core areas of literacy, mathematics and science education. Four non-degree endorsement programs are also included in our graduate work—an Interdisciplinary Early Childhood program, a Literacy program leading to a Wyoming Reading Endorsement, English as a Second Language, and an Interdisciplinary Program in Early Childhood Special Education. These programs are designed to provide practitioners with the required work to earn additional Wyoming state endorsements in these areas. We also collaborate with the SMTC to provide faculty to deliver coursework for the middle-level mathematics and science endorsement programs.
Previous Planning Accomplishments
Goal / CompletionRestructure Curriculum Courses / Spring 2006
Address Highly Qualified requirements of NCLB / Summer 2007
Develop Qualitative Research Course sequence / Fall 2005
Align C&I Ph.D. strand under CoEd Ph.D. common requirements / Spring 2007
Clarification of Plan B expectations and requirements / Fall 2006
Assure high quality Masters and Ph.D programs / Spring 2008
Develop effective Graduate Faculty orientation / In-Progress
Develop MA option for post-baccalaureate students / Summer 2006
Develop MA option for National Board Certification candidates / Fall 2007
Develop PhD option in Earth System Science Education - Tabled pending hire of Science Education Endowed Chair (Hired Fall 2008) / In-Progress
Expand program delivery using distance delivery options – Accomplished with heavy use of compressed video networks (OVN, WEN, state CV system) / Fall 2006
Relevant Institutional Issues
Many issues from the Creation of the Future planning document impact C&I graduate programs. The most notable are from the Section VI Leadership motif that describes professions critical to the region’s future where every bulleted item fits within this plan. The enhanced focus areas in mathematics and science as well as a Center for Literacy are all programs that reside in C&I. We will work to strengthen our doctoral programs in thesefocus areas with guidance and support from our new endowed chairs as well asCI faculty with expertise in these areas. This will result in teaching and research foci in these Curriculum and Instruction doctoral areas. Having graduate assistantships in our department and graduate program work in these areas of excellence will open up both teaching and research to our graduate students. This is in line with the Graduate Education section under the Excellence motif. Our faculty’s expertise in multicultural and culturally sensitive education as well with ESL/ELL will serve as a potential focus area for graduate students.
Action Items
- Increase number of EDCI courses delivered via distance technologies.
In the past academic planning cycle, we aimed to deliver the entire Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction to Wyoming graduate students statewide using primarily the compressed video technology. We accomplished this objective. In the current academic plan, our goal is to increasingly deliver courses via online, videoconferencing, and other emerging technologies in an effort to serve students both in and outside Wyoming. Online and other technologies eliminate the state boundary that constrains the WEN and other statewide compressed video networks. This increase in delivery options will be sought for master’s and then doctoral level courses, especially courses required in the Ed.D. and/or Ph.D. programs with C&I Specialization. The demand for courses delivered via distance technology continues to increase. In a region that covers large geographic distances and often experiences severe weather, it makes sense on many levels to capitalize on these opportunities.
Steps to Accomplish Goal / TimelineForm C&I Distance Delivery Coordination Committee / Fall 2009
Work with Outreach to explore and define distance delivery technologies to be used to deliver C&I courses / Fall 2009 – Spring 2010
Determine sequence of courses to move to distance delivery / Spring 2010
Provide professional development for C&I faculty on designing and delivering courses using distance technologies / Spring 2010 – Spring 2011
Implement distance delivery in all identified courses / Spring 2010 – Fall 2011
Gather data from graduate students to evaluate student learning and effectiveness of distance delivery technologies / Spring 2011 – Fall 2011
Adapt courses/course delivery as needed using graduate student and instructor feedback data / Spring 2012 – Spring 2014
- Implement EDCI common assessment system for core Master’s and Ed.D. coursework to document student progress toward meeting program outcomes.
As part of the 2008 NCATE review the Curriculum and Instruction program was identified for several Areas for Improvement, all of which related to the assessment system for determining student progress and learning. A comprehensive set of learning goals and objectives, along with a structure for formative and summative assessment, were formalized in Fall 2007. Part of the formative assessment came in the form of a mid-program evaluation course, EDCI 5400 Portfolio Reflection. To better meet NCATE accreditation requirements preliminary common assessments were identified in each of the MA core courses in February 2008. Due to the requirements of addressing the NCATE Areas for Improvement, this process will begin in the 2008-09 academic year, but will continue into the APIII planning period.
Steps to Accomplish Goal / TimelineClarify the purpose and form of each of the common assessments in EDCI 5000, 5500, 5350, 5790, and EDRE 5550 / Begin Fall 2008, complete by Spring 2010
Implement the common assessments (gather student data, enter the data into the College of Education Integrated Database) / Fall 2009-Summer 2011
Use the data to make programmatic improvements / 2011-2014
- Establish and/or enhance centers of excellence in the Endowed Chair focus areas of literacy, mathematics, and science.
In the Creation of the Future document, the establishment of a Center for Literacy is proposed to help solidify the college’s scholarship in this area. We propose that we establish this Center as well as strengthen centers of excellence in mathematics and science education. We propose doing this by completing the endowed chair hires and having endowed chairs in the department take a leadership role to establish and strengthen these enhanced focus areas through scholarship, external grants, and expanded outreach programs.
Steps to Accomplish Goals / TimelineComplete hires for all Endowed Chairs / Summer 2009
Endowed Chairs take leadership to establish and strengthen centers. Submit focus area timeline and goals to department chairs for approval. / Fall 2009
Endowed chairs work with C & I faculty to obtain external funding to continue to build graduate and outreach programs in the focus area. / Fall 2009-2014