DARTEP Directors and Representatives of Teacher Education Programs University of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, Michigan Fairlane Center North Quad E
Friday, April 9, 2010 9:00 a.m. Minutes
Meeting was called to order at 9:00 am
Welcome and Introductions
Reuben Rubio and Paul Follsom offered a welcome and thank yous to the folks in the School of Education, U of M Dearborn for hosting the meeting.
Chancellor Daniel Little also offered welcome and spoke briefly about U of M Dearborn’s vision and mission as a metropolitan university and the positive role all schools and colleges of education play in their communities and regions. He described U of M’s partnership with New Detroit to further their goals for social justice.
DARTEP Business
Approval of February Minutes – Motion to approve, second – passed
Nominations and Vote Regarding President-Elect/Secretary and Treasurer Kevin Williams (Wayne State) was nominated and approved by acclimation for the position of treasurer
Two individuals who were not present were nominated. The vote was tabled until these individuals can be contacted.
The individuals were contacted and Chris Sequin was elected by acclimation to serve as Secretary in 2010-2011 and President in 2011-2012.
Setting of Dues for 2010-11 Recommendation that the annual dues remain the same as last year.
Motion (Kevin Williams) to provide an honorarium of $250 per year for 2008-009 and 2009-2010 to Margaret Hord secretary at Wayne State, for her services supporting the Treasurer’s position. Seconded. Passed. Motion (Mark Seals) to provide a gift to Hal Dittenber acknowledging his long term service as treasurer. Tabled to allow for gathering more information. Details will be provided online with an online vote to follow.
Archive of Surveys on Website Reuben suggested that surveys of DARTEP members be archived on the DARTEP website. Anyone who surveys DARTEP members are asked to send results to Reuben ([email protected]) for posting.
Subcommittee Reports
Political Action
Scott Behrens reported that he received responses from 10 people, and 2 people attended this morning’s political action subcommittee meeting. He explained that they are still trying to flesh out what they are all about, and are feeling that being located in MACTE is appropriate, since it allows private and public institutions to be represented. He noted that recent Michigan legislation of interest includes Senate Bill 636-638 (dealing with charter schools) and Senate Bill 1227 (dealing with teacher retirement and budget issues).
Organization Reports
Michigan Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (MACTE) - March 11th meeting – updated web site and call for additional participation from both public and private institutions to further MACTE’s work Will be discussing the question of hiring a public relations specialists to represent the interests of all teacher education n institutions in the state. MACTE extends condolences to everyone at Eastern Michigan University for the passing of Dean Vernon Polite also acknowledging MACTE developed a number of committees that will allow for greater participation from the membership in the important work of MACTE. The committees are: Legislative Public Information and Outreach Conference planning Analysis and Policy Individuals interested in serving on these committees can submit information on the MACTE Website.
Michigan Association Teacher Educators (MATE) No Report
Professional Standards – Susan English There is an opening on PSCT due to the expiration of Larry Corbett’s term. Bonnie Rockafellow announced that the request for nominations will go out soon and emphasized how important it is for higher education to be represented on this advisory committee to the State Board.
Dean’s Council Met on March 12th – reports from MACTE and PSCT. Discussion of Race to the Top application. Awaiting the reviewer comments There is support among the public deans to support a legislative liaison Michelle Johnston (Ferris State) was elected as incoming Dean’s Council president.
Private Institutions – Donna Fiebelkorn Continuing efforts to form a Dean’s Council equivalent for the private institutions. Forms were distributed to collect information about appropriate representation from all independent institutions. Representatives from each private institution will be invited to meeting in Lansing on May 14th to further the plans for this group.
Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology (COATT) – Reuben Rubio - No update.
10:00 a.m. Michigan Department of Education Update
Both Reuben Rubio and Steve Stegink recognized the return of Catherine Smith from medical leave and warmly welcomed her back to DARTEP and the MDE.
Tom Bell – page 1 & 2 - thanked those who participated in February’s elementary program review conference, and noted that he will also be in charge of the 2011 round of reviews. The number of reviewers required from each institution will be increased from 5 to 7.
When an Alma College representative noted that this absolute number will be difficult for smaller institutions to provide, Bonnie Rockafellow explained that even ISDs and graduate students associated with institutions are welcome to participate, and that institutions will only be penalized when they choose not to participate, rather than being unable to provide sufficient numbers of reviewers. .
Page 4 & 5 – Social Studies Update – Virtual Reviewer training in September followed by a phone conference for Q & A and follow-up Applications due Nov. 1. Invoice paid by Dec. 1. Reviewers will have until Feb. 1 to complete their reviews and will confer with their team members through phone and internet to submit a completed review by March 1, 2011
Donna Hamilton - pointed out the extended deadline of April 16, 2010 for the Teacher Quality Grant applications. Considering a follow-up conference at which previous grant coordinators will present information about their experiences.
Steve Stegink - Page 2 – information regarding the process to follow should and institution be considering discontinuing or suspending a program.
Page 9 – Computer based MTTC testing. Details are in the update. Please contact Steve if there are any questions.
Page 11 – Institutional performance scores should be distributed by April 16th for review. Appeals are to the PSCT at the May 20, 2010 meeting. Beatrice Harrison – Page 6 – School Counselor Standards are open for comments. The field review comments will be analyzed on May 3rd.
Steve Stegink – Discussed three additional items. (Copies of these documents are attached)
1) Oct 13, 2009 Board Document – Memorandum from Superintendent Flanagan regarding the policy for Corrective Action, Self-Improvement, and Plan of Improvement. This policy is based on the Teacher Preparation Institution performance score.
Institutions that require corrective action must complete the self-assessment report (p. 7 of the Memorandum) and create a plan of action (page 3 of the Memorandum).
Page 5 of the Memorandum identifies the Levels of Corrective Action.
Steve described the intention of the self-assessment report that begins on page 7 of the memorandum and suggested ways institutions can expand on the information and clarify the particular circumstances that exist at the institution and answered a number of questions.
2) MTTC Eligibility Criteria
There has been an issue over students sending their test scores to some other institution and providing that information to their home school only if they passed. Steve described the eligibility roster process and reminded everyone of the importance of identifying the contact person in your institution and completing the eligibility roster. He also reminded the group of the first time test taker and the three-year cumulative report that is actually used for the TPI Performance Score.
In response to a question, Steve reminded us that the Basic Skills tests have no expiration date. The content tests are only valid for five years for purposes of certification but have no expiration date for purposes of highly qualified status.
Reuben asked Steve about a rumor that with highly-qualified guidelines and the push toward greater inclusion, regular-ed teachers will become more and more responsible for teaching with special needs (perhaps even replacing special-ed teachers?). Steve and Bonnie Rockafellow indicated that that is simply a rumor, and nothing has been formally announced from the MDE.
11:00 a.m. Job-Alike Sessions
Certification Officers
Student Teaching/Field Directors
(Anyone who can provide minutes from either of these two sessions, please forward them to Bob Wiggins. Thank you.) MACTE Business Meeting and Department Heads break-out session: Elaine Collins (GVSU) began the meeting and asked for a treasurer’s report. Mark Seals (Alma College) reported that MACTE currently has a balance of about $3300. He reminded the group of the fee structure, based on the number of representatives from each institution ($160, $240, $320, and $480 per academic year).
Elaine reported that MACTE had received too few applicants for this year’s two MACTE scholarships for teacher candidates, so those applications received will be rolled over into next year’s pool.
She introduced James Pine (Grand Valley State University), who is in charge of the MACTE website, and he gave a demonstration of the new, improved website (www.michacte.org). He encouraged us to visit the site and click on “MACTE Info,” then “Serve with MACTE,” and then to open up and complete the “Willingness to Serve” form, in order to join a subcommittee. The Discussion Boards are not public, and only accessible to members who login. The website does not currently provide information about a given member institution’s dues status, etc., but that can be added, as long as James is given the necessary information. Steve Barbus (SVSU) explained that MACTE leases the website from a California company, so it is not housed at any institution’s server, and can easily be moved from TPI to TPI.
Elaine invited the group to discuss an issue which has become of major interest to the public college deans, as well as several other constituencies: If we do go forward with the idea of hiring a “public relations specialist,” where should they be located/sponsored? She mentioned that the Dean’s Council does not have a dues structure, as MACTE does, and that MACTE represents both public and private institutions, so it makes sense for MACTE to be the sponsor.
A proposal handout was distributed to each of the participants, containing the objective, scope of work, cost estimate ($1200/month), maintenance cost estimate (by doubling current MACTE dues rates), and schedule, for the proposed public relations specialist position. She mentioned that an increase of the current dues would support this person’s salary, and the proposal is to try it on an initial two- year basis and then revisit how well it is working. She invited suggestions about additional responsibilities, and it was agreed to specify that the person should attend all State Board of Education meetings as our representative (perhaps in addition to representing other associations/groups?). It was pointed out that there is a need to emphasize that this representative would need to engage in and facilitate two-way communication between the MACTE institutions and legislative/governmental bodies. It was also agreed to add to the “contact individuals and groups” stipulation examples (such as Michigan ATE and DARTEP).
The MACTE board would conduct the search, and they would invite MACTE members to propose interview questions. Elaine reassured that group that, while two years might be too short to bring about significant changes, it is considered to be sufficient to give the group a sense of whether the public relations specialist is moving in a positive direction, and whether this is worth continuing to support. While the proposal distributed today is probably not intended to be a job description, it seems important to also add language about the desired characteristics (regarding experience in education, teaching, etc.) of the successful candidate.
Steve Barbus (SVSU) explained that, if this proposed position and subsequent dues increase were approved, the MACTE bylaws would have to be updated by a vote of the membership. Scott Behrens (Adrian College) moved, and it was seconded, to approve the proposal as written and the associated increase in the dues structure and MACTE bylaws.
Reuben Rubio announced that two of next year’s DARTEP meetings are to be held at the St. Johns RESA site, and it would be nice to hold at least one of the other meetings on the west side of the state. No mention was made of Siena Heights University’s offer to host a DARTEP meeting at their Adrian campus during the 2010-2011 year.
Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon