UHWO Education Division Meeting

UHWO Education Division Meeting Friday, March 2, 2012

Meeting began: 9:07 a.m.

Present: Susan Matoba Adler, Mary Heller, Jeanne Iorio, Rick Jones, Paula Mathis, Julia Myers, Jonathan Schwartz, Kristen Urata

I. Approval of Minutes From 02/03/12 Meeting a. Rick motioned to approve the minutes as written; Jonathan seconded. Passed.

II. ADP Update- Rick a. Rick announced that the ADP committee met two weeks ago. Out of 124 requested FTE positions, the committee was instructed to distribute 53 positions among the divisions. The Education Division requested 14 positions but will get five. This is in addition to the searches already active for the Field Placement Coordinator and Educational Foundations positions. Rick posted the spreadsheet of FTE allocations on Laulima. The ADP will meet again to discuss any appeals from divisions. Rick has opted not to ask for more positions for the division nor will allow any more positions from the division to be sacrificed. If university enrollment numbers exceed the ADP committee’s projections, FTE numbers will be adjustment and divisions can lobby for more positions.

III. Coordinator Search Update- Rick a. Rick thanked the faculty who met with one or more of the three candidates invited to campus for interviews. VCAA Mobley asked for a list of strengths and weaknesses for each finalist in order to decide who would receive an offer. While the search committee was not allowed to rank the candidates, the VCAA indicated that the committee’s first choice could be evident by placing emphasis on that individual’s strengths list. Therefore, Rick sent the VCAA the list with comments from faculty and the search committee members. Paula asked if the list of strengths and weaknesses would be made available to the faculty; Rick would check with the Human Resources office but believes the answer is “no” due to confidentiality policies.

IV. Educational Foundations Search Status- Jeanne a. Jeanne announced the following: Position advertisement was recently sent out to division faculty, is on the UH jobs website, 30 people have applied for the position to date, and the committee will start reviewing applications on March 15. Julia questioned the long list of research areas in the position description; Jeanne responded that the nature of educational foundations is based on pedagogical theory and the list in the ad were pulled from other educational foundations position ads nationally. Also, the educational foundations classes should include any of the listed research backgrounds.

V. TECC Update- Mary a. Mary announced that the second annual Teacher Job Fair sponsored by TECC will be on Saturday, March 31, 2012 in the Waipahu High School gymnasium. The next TECC meeting is on March 13 and she expects that there will be a call for volunteers from participating universities to help at the event. She will share details with the faculty when they become available. b. Kathryn Matayoshi, DOE Superintendent, will start attending TECC meetings. Past superintendents have not attended TECC meetings but with matters including Race to the Top, the superintendent will become involved in meeting discussions.

VI. UHWO Critical Thinking ILO Assessment Update- Mary a. Mary uploaded the critical thinking ILO report on the division page in Laulima and encourages the division faculty to read it on their own time. The division’s raw score of 7.27 falls into the range of “exceeds standard”. The division reviewers indicated that there were varying scores for ethical analysis based on the Fall 2011 student teachers’ e-focus paper. The committee’s recommendation was to introduce ethics at the beginning of the program (in EDEE 200/201) and continue discussions with the students throughout the program.

VII. HTSB Presentation- Paula & Jonathan a. Paula and Jonathan reported that they attended the ETS presentation by Pete Yeager at HTSB yesterday. The biggest news were 1) all PRAXIS tests to be via computer by 2015 and 2) PRAXIS data manager available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. i. Currently, teacher candidates can take PRAXIS I and PRAXIS II Elementary Content Knowledge with paper and pencil or via computer (LCC is a paper/pencil test site and Prometric Testing Center is a computerized test site). ETS will transition its PRAXIS tests to computer only in phases by 2015. Jonathan mentioned that UHWO is being considered as a replacement test site in West O’ahu when LCC as a test center discontinues. ii. The PRAXIS data manager allows institutions to view statistics on their students’ test scores and compared it to other institutions. UHWO does not currently have access to this information, but Paula will give Mary (as UHWO Title II contact person) the information to get this feature initiated.

VIII. Clinical Fee- Susan a. Susan announced that during a recent Chair’s meeting the idea of implementing a clinical fee to bring in more money to the university was brought up. The field experience courses could have mandatory clinical fees attached; the money could be used to pay for higher mentor teacher honorariums, Taskstream account fees, and/or PRAXIS testing. Mary said any proposed fees would have to be approved by the UH system Board of Regents who would likely question what the tuition dollars from 12 credits of student teaching currently pay for.

IX. Advisory Council Member Term Length- Susan a. Although there are several council members who attend every meeting, there are also a few who have not attended any nor respond to e-mails sent by the division. Additionally, one council member requested to quit the council due to family matters and another council member serving from the mentor teacher perspective has not mentored for UHWO in a couple of years. Therefore, Susan asked the faculty for feedback regarding term lengths for the advisory council members. Should they have a one year term? Two year term? Jonathan suggested that the question be posed to the council members at the next meeting. As a non-paid position, council members currently get nothing more than snacks when attending meetings, a “thank you” for their service, and the opportunity to share their opinion on education topics discussed during the meetings.

X. 15-week Academic Semester a. Effective Fall 2012, the UHWO semester will be 15 weeks long (14 teaching weeks with one finals week). Since the semester will be one week shorter, class times will be increased by five minutes and break time between classes will be ten minutes (currently 15 minutes). This schedule is being tested at UHWO so no other UH system campus will be following the same schedule next year. Susan expressed concern that a shortened semester does not support the student teachers’ need to clock the 450 classroom hours mandated by the HTSB and would have problems logging enough hours in the event of illness during any part of the semester. Mary indicated that this new academic schedule will therefore require the student teachers to continue to log hours until the end of final week.

XI. EDEE Block Courses Discussion a. The 200/201 courses for the middle level and secondary programs are listed as a total of three credits; the elementary education program’s 200/201 courses are currently six credits total. The faculty unanimously support reducing EDEE 200/201 to a total of three credits. The additional three credits would be reassigned to the “unrestricted electives” category of the degree. b. The elementary faculty have decided to switch Block 2 (Math and Science Methods) and Block 3 (Social Studies and Diversity Methods). Paula believes teaching social studies earlier in the professional program will better prepare the teacher candidates for PRAXIS II Elementary Content Knowledge. Additionally, Julia and Rick believe their courses should be taught later in the professional program since the teacher candidates need a stronger foundation before they do their lesson study in math and science methods. Discussions to change the EDEE program will have to wait until NCATE accreditation matters have been settled (late 2012). XII. Other a. Update to alum/employer survey: Mary announced that she sent out an updated list of survey respondents this morning. She asked that the faculty look at the list of graduates and employers who have not yet responded and make contact with those that they know to encourage higher response rates.

Meeting adjourned: 10:27 a.m.