4A. Design, Implementation & Evaluation of Curriculum & Experiences s1

Standard 4: Diversity

4a. Design, Implementation & Evaluation of Curriculum & Experiences Wittenberg’s teacher education programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels include extensive coursework and field experiences focused on working with students of diverse backgrounds. Across all courses required for our undergraduate and graduate students, the unit has a strong commitment to addressing individuals with different ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender, exceptionalities, language, religion, sexual orientation, and/or geographic area as it intersects with course content.

At the undergraduate level, four of our nine program-wide performance outcomes, presented in EXHIBIT S4_1_PerfOutcCourseAlign, evaluate proficiencies directly related to diversity in various ways. Our developmental approach to understanding the importance of diversity in teaching and learning begins with our foundational courses that require 10-15 hours of field work in an urban or high needs school. During the field experience, university students will interview school personnel and work individually or with small groups of K-8 students in a specific teacher's classroom. All candidates take two courses addressing students with special learning needs and have related field experiences that allow candidates to work in classrooms with students with exceptionalities. For the above-mentioned field placements, candidates work in school buildings with high minority student enrollments and/or free or reduced lunch waivers. The unit ensures that all students have at least one field experience in an innercity environment during a 300-level course, in efforts to provide experiences in a diverse range of student populations and teaching environments, furthering their understanding and adding flexibility to their skill level.

At the graduate level, all degree-seeking students are required to take EDUC 570 Approaches to Working with Diverse Communities (EXHIBIT S4_2_EDUC_570). This course contributes to the mission of the Education Dept. by examining diversity from individual practice, to policy development at the local, state, and federal level. Course participants have the opportunity to analyze how diversity is reflected in curriculum and instruction; and their role in creating just and equitable learning opportunities. Its signature assignment is an action research project aimed at developing more effective policies and practices for working with diversity in these teachers’ schools and districts (EXHIBIT S4_3_CaseStudy).

Assessments The unit has worked to improve the evaluation of candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions in working with diversity by requiring students to complete the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), which includes extensive requirements relating to candidate knowledge of and success in teaching to diversity in their student teaching placements (EXHIBT S4_4_edTPA-Diversity). Also, all of the field experiences that involve classroom teaching use evaluation forms that include ratings on program outcomes related to diversity (outcomes 5, 6, 7 & 9; EXHIBIT S3_5_FieldEvalForm). Data from these forms provide guidance to the faculty in discussions and reflections during and after candidates’ field experiences. Prior to the edTPA, our Dept. used the “Evidence of Effective Teaching” project (EXHIBIT S4_5_EET_Data-Diversity), which was the measure to determine student teachers’ effectiveness in promoting student learning. Analysis of the diversity outcomes from final student teacher evaluations submitted by both supervisors and teachers (EXHIBIT S4_6_STEvals-Diversity) for a 2-year period indicate that less than 1% of our students were evaluated as Unsatisfactory with this regard. We use both of those indicators in summarizing our students’ abilities in working with diverse populations.

4b. Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty While the majority of faculty and staff members have years of teaching experience in highly diverse schools, none belongs to minority racial or ethnic groups. A statement affirming Wittenberg’s commitment to hiring for a diverse faculty and staff is included in all recruiting advertisements and materials. Out of 9 full-time faculty and professional staff members in the Education Dept., 6 are women, 3 are men. Similarly, the numbers of minority Supervising Teacher adjuncts are low—currently 1 of 13 Supervisors belongs to a minority racial/ethnic group. Education Dept. faculty have been involved in either supervising or developing study-abroad experience. In the graduate program, one minority adjunct faculty member is currently teaching classes; but the program also employs adjuncts who are teachers with diverse professional, life-experience, and training backgrounds. In the university as a whole (EXHIBIT S4_7_Faculty DiversityTable), the Faculty includes 4 Hispanic/Latino, 7 Asian, and 9 Black/African-American full-time faculty members among the 194 total.

In 2013-14 the unit searched for three different positions in Early Childhood Education, Middle and/or Secondary Education, and a Coordinator of Assessment and Program Improvement (CAPI). EXHIBIT S4_8_FacultySearchData shows a summary of the ethnicity, gender, and race of all applicants for each position. Although three applicants of Black or African American racial backgrounds were interviewed for the Middle-Secondary position, none were as viable as a candidate for the position given their experience teaching in grades 6-12 settings. A male middle/secondary applicant in science education and female applicant early childhood with K-12 experience in social studies and/or special education were offered and accepted positions. The CAPI search ended without being filled and the unit subsequently realigned staff positions to meet our assessment and program improvement needs.

4c. Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates Our students interact, through campus organizations and activities, with other Wittenberg students representing a broad range of backgrounds, both within the unit and across the university. At the university level, admissions show an increase in applications from diverse populations (EXHIBIT S4_9_AdmissionData). The university offers a scholarship, the Broadwell Chinn Award of $16,000, that recognizes diversity among students who exhibit a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher. Within the unit (EXHIBIT S4_10_CandidateDiversity) during the PEDS fall semester count in 2013, there were 1 Asian, 3 black/African American, and 1 mixed race candidate. In the graduate program that year, we had 17 white students. University-wide, our students interact with 53 Hispanic/Latino, 4 Native Americans, 19 Asian, 126 Black/African-American, 76 mixed-race, and 24 nonresident alien students. This total of 312, out of 1853 total students, represents about 17% of the university’s student population. Additionally, as a matter of University policy, students are encouraged to seek out study abroad experiences, and eight education Dept. students participated in study abroad programs during the 2013-2014 academic year.

4d. Experiences Working with Diverse Students in P-12 Schools An obvious anomaly in the Education program’s efforts to prepare students to work effectively with diverse populations appears in comparing the diverse nature of our service area with the level of diversity among our candidates, Dept. faculty/staff, and clinical/cooperating faculty. While the minority student population is 6% in Springfield and surrounding county schools (EXHIBIT S4_11_ClinicalPracticeSiteDiversity), the number of minority teachers in area schools, and for clinical teachers belonging to minority racial and ethnic groups is lower. Of the clinical instructors for student teaching during the 2013-14 academic year, 4 belonged to racial/ethnic minorities (EXHIBIT S4_12_STClinicalFac). Faculty maintain a close relationship with several agencies that work with diverse populations. Upward Bound, which is currently housed in the same building as the Dept. of Education, works with K-12 students growing up in low socio-economic areas, a majority of whom belong to racial or ethnic minorities. This program guides students toward college entrance and success, and operates popular residency programs during summers at Wittenberg. Education faculty are regularly invited to speak to or work with students in the Upward Bound program, and in the past 2 academic years 6 Upward Bound students have applied to and been accepted by Wittenberg, and 2 are majoring in Education. The Promise Neighborhood, a unique and comprehensive program in Springfield, is modeled after The Harlem Children’s Zone project in New York City. Based in a 110 block area centering on Lincoln Elem. School in Springfield, in the county’s poorest economic area, this program works to develop responsive schools, youth development in many areas, school readiness, and community and family partnerships. Started and led by retired Wittenberg Educ. faculty member Robert Welker, this program is funded almost entirely through local sources and grants. Wittenberg students and faculty members, many of them from the Education Dept., work regularly with Promise as tutors, group leaders, after-school project leaders, community garden workers, and more. This growing partnership enables Education majors and minors to observe and to work with students in a school setting and residential neighborhoods. The Promise Neighborhood project reports that Wittenberg students donated over $45,000 worth of volunteer hours to Lincoln during the 2013-2014 school year, and helped to raise over $15,000 for Promise.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

The unit designs, implements, and evaluates curriculum and provides experiences for candidates to acquire and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to help all students learn. Assessments indicate that candidates can demonstrate and apply proficiencies related to diversity. Experiences provided for candidates include working with diverse populations, including higher education and P-12 school faculty; candidates; and students in P-12 schools.

The unit continues to collect demographic information on cooperating teachers and area schools in order to provide diverse appropriate placements for our candidates in diverse setting. For the 2015-2016 academic year, partnership arrangements have been made with Lincoln Elementary School and Fulton Elementary school as sites for a newly created practicum associated with the Integrated Math and Science Methods Block in our revised program. We anticipate this partnership to span across several years, providing placements for our students in two of the areas lowest socioeconomic populations, as well as providing professional development for school faculty in mathematics and science.

Wittenberg University has developed an early alert system, whereby faculty who notices a student that may need extra support academically, socially, or economically may send a referral to the Center for Student Success and Engagement. The services provided by this center seek to increase our student retention rate by providing services such as skill support, registering for disability services and accommodations, study groups, and counseling referrals.

The unit continues to ensure the alignment of our Performance Outcomes with course assignments and field evalutions by collecting data specific to these areas and analyzing the data. The unit then uses the analysis of data to make informed decisions regarding ways that we can bring more awareness and understanding of the many facets of diversity to our courses, clinical practice experiences, and program as a whole. One area we have identified as a possible venue for providing a new experience is our colloquia that we sponsor every semester. Although our faculty, interns, and graduate students often present their research at colloquia, we also recognize this as an opportunity to invite persons from varied backgrounds and with varied exceptionalites to give presentations. Since we cannot change the population of the university or the surrounding communities, we strive to continually improve upon the ideas we design in our coursework, the authors we introduce to our students to through course readings, the explorations we assign to our students in coursework, and the people we invite to speak in our colloquia and share their knowledge and experiences with our students.

EXHIBITS

S4_1_PerfOutcCourseAlign S4_2_EDUC570 S4_3_CaseStudy S4_4_edTPADiversity S4_5_EETDataDiversity S4_6_STEvalsDiversity S4_7_FacultyDiversityTable S4_8_FacultySearchData S4_9_AdmissonData S4_10_CandidateDiversityTable S4_11_ClinicalPracticeSiteDiversity S4_12_STClinicalFac