To: Daniel Rich, Dean
College of Human
Resources, Education, and Public Policy
From: Delaware Center for Teacher Education Committee
William B. Stanley,
CHEP, Chair
Dan Boulet, Engineering
Kate Conway-Turner,
Arts and Science
Marion Hyson, CHEP
Ann McNeil, Health
and Nursing Sciences
Barbara VanDornick,
CHEP
Subject: Draft Proposal to Establish a University of Delaware Center
for Teacher Education
Mission of the Center
The University of Delaware Center for Teacher Education (DCTE) is proposed to promote excellence in education through a system of collaboration and innovation in the continuing development of educators, curriculum, and school renewal in the State and region. In collaboration with University faculty, professional staff, and administrators, school personnel, and the Delaware Department of Education, the Center is designed to help develop educators who will work to teach individuals the knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions required to act as competent members of a democratic and pluralistic society. The Center should play an active role in University, State, and other educational reform initiatives, including programs for teacher preparation, educational leadership, curriculum development, and student and teacher assessment processes.
Toward this end, the Center would work to provide outreach and inservice activities, develop partnerships, conduct research, and initiate task forces and other collaborative efforts designed to enhance and improve educational programs. It is expected that the DCTE would play an important role in establishing and coordinating University/School partnerships such as Professional Development Schools, and clinical experiences through a new Delaware Educational Partnership Network. The purpose of the Partnership Network would be to foster support for, and implementation of, the University’s new Conceptual Framework for Teacher Education and to establish guidelines and responsibilities for the University and participating schools in the Network partnership.
In addition, the Center should provide support for the University Council for Teacher Education (UCTE). The DCTE (in cooperation with the various University units providing teacher education programs) could assist in the areas of staff support, information-gathering, and the dissemination and implementation of UCTE policies. The DCTE would also work to help UCTE coordinate and enhance programs for the preparation and development of teachers and other school personnel at the University of Delaware. This coordinating function is essential to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation process as well as to the enhancement of University/State partnerships dedicated to educational improvement.
Because it is not an academic unit, the DCTE is not designed to offer courses or degree programs. While the Center might help to advertise courses from academic units, offer workshops or summer institutes, it is the University’s academic units (e.g., departments, schools, or colleges) that should retain responsibility for all courses, as well as for degree-granting or certification programs.
Rationale
The development and maintenance of an excellent educational system require the coordination and collaboration of the broad educational community with a special emphasis on three main groups: (1) University teacher education faculty, professional staff, and administrators; (2) A university content-area faculty and administrators; and (3) school teachers, professional staff, and administrators, ( including Delaware Department of Education personnel) responsible for public and private preK-12 education. While many other groups are involved in the educational process (e.g., students, parents, the business community, etc.), the work of the three groups noted above is essential to the process of schooling and the work of each should be coordinated and motivated by a clear, well articulated philosophy of education.
In Delaware, there have been several attempts to coordinate the work of higher education, the schools, and the Delaware Department of Education (e.g., the recent Curriculum Framework Commissions and standards-based educational reform). However, since these three key groups function essentially within separate institutional structures and cultures, and since so many different organizations are involved, collaboration and coordination have always been difficult. For example, at the University of Delaware alone, there are four colleges (the College of Arts and Science; the College of Agricultural Sciences; the College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy; and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences) and more than twenty departments directly involved in teacher education programs. In addition, other departments and Colleges are involved in teaching content area courses for students in education programs or providing outreach programs to improve curriculum and teacher knowledge (e.g., the College of Engineering, the College of Marine Studies, the College of Business). At the State level, there are nineteen public school districts and many other educational and social service programs working to deliver quality preK-12 schooling.
The Delaware Center for Teacher Education, to be located in the College of Human Resources, Education, and Public Policy at the University of Delaware, is proposed as a means to enhance and institutionalize planning, access, and coordination among the various groups involved in the educational process. The Center, by including representatives from key educational groups in the planning and implementation of its activities, should establish a better means of providing information, identifying mutual agendas, collaborating on clinical experiences and inservice development, coordinating projects, exchanging services, and coordinating and sharing research findings on important educational issues.
Functions
The Center’s activities should be informed by the best available research and reflect exemplary programs and practices. In fact, the Center’s work should serve as an example of the strong relationship between teaching, service, and research. The Center should also be a place where exemplary models of teaching, learning, and curriculum will be demonstrated, disseminated, and assessed through various outreach activities. In addition, the Center Director and staff should work in collaboration with teachers, administrators and Department of Education personnel to improve teacher education and schooling. As appointed by the President, Provost, and Dean of the College of Human Resources, Education, and Public Policy, the Center Director should serve as one of the University’s primary representatives to various State groups, e.g., the Delaware Professional Standards Council, the Department of Education, and district superintendents.
An essential function of the Center would be the establishment of outreach programs, partnerships with school districts, and enhanced access to the University’s programs and resources for teacher development, educational leadership, and curriculum design and assessment. Access enhancement should include, but not be limited to, a system to respond to requests for information and services, regular meetings with educational leaders and stakeholder representatives, dissemination of research findings, the formation of network systems, and coordination with various State educational initiatives. In conjunction with UCTE and its program review processes, the Center and its Director should also help to facilitate the coordination of all University of Delaware teacher education programs.
To facilitate coordination among the University’s many teacher preparation programs, the Director of the Center would chair the University Council of Teacher Education (UCTE), and the Center would work closely with UCTE, providing both leadership and staff support. The Director should also serve as the main University liaison to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and coordinate the preparation for periodic NCATE reviews. However, the University Council for Teacher Education should remain the "Unit" as defined for purposes of NCATE accreditation. While the DCTE would provide support for UCTE activities, it should be the responsibility of UCTE to review and establish policies and guidelines for the various educational programs leading to certification or directly responsible for school improvement. Consistent with University policy, all UCTE policy recommendations are subject to approval by the Faculty Senate and the central administration.
Finally, the Center should encourage and support various research activities, including those developed by faculty and professionals in academic units and centers, as well as projects initiated by school districts, the State, and other external agencies. For the Center to remain a credible and independent voice in the discourse on educational policy and practice related to teaching, learning, and curriculum, it must be informed by the best available research, and the Center’s direct involvement in educational research would be a good way to ensure this outcome. Ideally, the Center should function as a place where the best available thinking and models for teaching, learning, and curriculum are explored, promoted, and assessed. It would not be the purpose of the Center to determine any of the research activities for which other academic units, Centers, or individuals have been or should be responsible. Indeed, such units and Centers should play a critical role in informing the DCTE of research findings. It would be the responsibility of the Center and its Director to provide opportunities for collaborative, interdisciplinary work on important educational issues, and to help ensure that the key groups involved in educational development are informed about the wide range of educational research activities going on at the University.
Structure and Organization
The Center would be located in the College of Human Resources, Education, and Public Policy (CHEP). The Director of the Center should hold a fiscal-year, senior professional position requiring the educational background and experience sufficient to hold an appointment at the rank of Full Professor in the one of the teacher education units at the University. In addition to strong scholarly credentials, the Director should have had significant experience in university teacher education programs, administrative experience in higher education, and significant experience working in outreach programs or other forms of collaboration with educational groups outside the University. It is essential that the Director be someone who is capable of relating to and collaborating with all the key groups involved in Delaware education.
To better coordinate the efforts of other University Centers involved in educational research, development, and other work with Delaware schools, a University Council of Educational Centers should be established. The establishment of such a council is essential to ensure that the Directors of other centers outside the DCTE communicate on a regular basis and work to maximize effectiveness and eliminate redundant activities. The DCTE should serve as a focal point for working with the other centers, and the Director of the DCTE should chair the Council, whose members would include the directors of other University educational centers (e.g., the University of Delaware Research and Development Center, the Mathematics and Science Resource Center, and the Center for Educational Leadership and Policy). The DCTE Director would not have authority over the research activities, agendas, or projects of the other centers. The Director’s role as chair of the University Council of Educational Centers would be limited to the coordination, gathering, and dissemination of information concerning the various center activities. Since the Director of DCTE will have the primary responsibility for informing the schools, teachers, the Department of Education and other concerned groups regarding available programs and other educational activities, the Director would need to be kept up to date on the various activities of the other educational centers.
The Director of the Center would report to the Dean of the College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy. However, given the University-wide responsibilities of the Center, the Director should consult regularly with deans of the other Colleges involved in teacher education, as well as with the heads of all units offering methods and content area course work taken by undergraduate and graduate teacher education students. The Center would operate in accordance with University policies and its own bylaws, which should be developed as the Center is established in the spring of 1998.
All University teacher education faculty and professionals should be encouraged to become involved in the Center’s work and should have the opportunity to apply for secondary appointments in the Center. Approval of secondary appointments will be determined by the DCTE administration on the basis of available funding and the potential contribution of the faculty or professionals seeking an appointment. Typically, funded appointments would involve a fiscal year appointment (e.g., two-ninths applied to Center work) or a reassignment of a portion of one’s work load to Center activities for a specified time (an administered load). In addition to secondary appointments, some faculty or professionals might receive full time appointments to the Center for a limited period of time (e.g., one to three years) depending on the nature of the project in which they are involved. When such projects are finished, these faculty or professionals would return to their respective units.
The Center should also provide support for visiting scholars, teacher fellows (interns) from local districts, postdoctoral fellowships, public service and other graduate assistantships, and administrative internships (including school district and Department of Education personnel), The administrative internships and public service assistantships should provide new opportunities for collaboration with school districts and the State.
In the process of organizing and staffing the DCTE, careful consideration should be given to whether certain non-academic units (or significant elements of such units) should be included in the Center. The main criterion for inclusion in the DCTE should be whether the unit has education-related functions that are university-wide. In many cases, an office or other non-academic unit has some functions that are University-wide and others that are specific to particular academic departments or programs. For example, the Office of Student Services is, at present, responsible for teacher certification. Since teacher certification is a university-wide function, this function would fit within the scope of the DCTE mission. On the other hand, the Office of Student Services also provides student advisement for students in Elementary Teacher Education programs. Given the specific nature of this service, that function should remain within the School of Education. Among the non-academic units whose functions should be reviewed for possible the possible inclusion of those functions in the DCTE are the following:
A DCTE Advisory Board should be appointed by the CHEP Dean with the advice of the other deans responsible for teacher education programs and in consultation with representatives of the various groups concerned with teacher education in the State. The Advisory Board’s role would be to monitor and review the Center’s activities, and make recommendations regarding the initiation of other activities when necessary. Advisory Board membership should include representatives from each of the major groups involved in the Center’s mission (i.e., teachers and school administrators, State Department of Education personnel, University administrators from teacher education units, teacher education faculty, University administrators and faculty involved in teaching content area course work included in teacher education programs, teacher education students, and representatives of the private sector.
There should be a clear distinction between the role of the DCTE Advisory Board and the University Council on Teacher Education. Although the Center works closely with the UCTE, the role of the DCTE Advisory Board is limited to issues related to the Center’s mission.
Conclusion
The proposal to establish a University of Delaware Center for Teacher Education is a direct response to the need to facilitate and enhance University of Delaware/State partnerships to improve PK-12 schooling in Delaware. Toward this end, the Center will work to help coordinate existing teacher education programs at the University and to establish new collaborative efforts in response to the educational needs of the State and the profession. The goal is for the DCTE to be established and functioning by July 1, 1998.