NCATE Review

NMU NCATE
Review Home

Northern Michigan
University:
Narrative Overview

Subject Matter/
Program Table

Institutional
Report

Planning and
Analytical Studies

Student Teaching
Totals 1983-2000

Professional
Education Unit:
Definition
Organizational Chart

Conceptual
Frameworks

Contextual
Frames

STANDARDS

Standard 1
Candidate Knowledge,
Skills and Dispositions

Standard 2
Assessment System
and Unit Evaluation

Standard 3
Field Experiences
and Clinical Practice

Standard 4
Diversity

Standard 5
Faculty Qualifications,
Performance, and
Development

Standard 6
Unit Governance
and Resources

NCATE Report
(Word Document)

Past Reports and
Long Range Plans

EXHIBITS LIST
SYLLABI/OUTLINES

NMU-AAUP
Master Agreement

School of
Education Home

NMU Home

NMU State
Accreditation Website

STANDARD FIVE

Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and Development
Faculty are qualified and model best professional practices in scholarship, service, and teaching, including the assessment of their own effectiveness as related to candidate performance; they also collaborate with colleagues in the disciplines and schools, the Unit systematically evaluates faculty performance and facilitates development.

1.0 FACULTY QUALIFICATIONS

The Unit has thirty-three (33) full-time faculty members within the University: twenty-eight (28) faculty members with a doctorate and five (5) without the doctorate. Of the thirty-three full-time faculty members in the Unit, fourteen (14) are full-time in the Unit, that is, members of the School of Education faculty. Thirty of the thirty-three positions are “tenure” positions. The Unit has three full-time positions in the School of Education that are unfilled, and recruitment is in progress.

In the Fall 2000 semester, the Unit had thirteen (13) part-time adjunct faculty members (assigned, with limited exceptions, four or less credits) who teach specific courses related to their expertise and/or supervise practice teaching. Examples of expertise are: language arts/reading, special education law, and aggression in the classroom.

Part-time adjuncts are selected for their demonstrated excellence in the elementary and/or secondary classrooms and the richness of their experience and/or expertise such as teaching as an art per the conceptual framework. During the Winter, 2001 semester, the two exceptions relative to classroom experiences are: 1) ED 410: Legal Rights and Services in Special Education, assigned to Stuart Hakola, an attorney whose expertise is in special education law; and 2) ED 495: Aggression in Educational Settings, assigned to Peter Holliday, school psychologist.

In the staffing plan for the 2001-2002 academic year, the Unit Head requested three full-time, one-year adjunct positions for the School of Education, subject to renewal depending on need and more importantly to enhance programmatic emphases on practice. The positions, subject to the necessary approvals, will require the Masters degree, demonstrated excellence in the elementary and/or secondary classroom, and a richness of experience and expertise in the practice of teaching relative to teaching as an art, diversity, and teaching with the Michigan Curriculum Frameworks, the Michigan Teaching and Learning Standards, the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile, etc.

The Unit affirms the important and special role of part-time adjuncts (University and Unit) to the program as collaborative and essential partners in the development and delivery of the programs, particularly, the pedagogy of preparing candidates from Phase I through and including Phase IV for being classroom teachers with the content, skills, and dispositions to teach all students.

To be a member of the Unit, full-time in the Unit or part-time faculty in the Unit, within or outside the School of Education, requires a minimum of three years of teaching experience in elementary and/or secondary education, general and/or special education as appropriate. The same minimum years of experience is required of all part-time faculty in the University’s Professional Education Unit. The Unit faculty, full-time and part-time, generally have many more years of certificated classroom experiences, and have opportunities to remain linked to the world of practice and to “renew” their practice through the courses situated in the schools.

Important to the Unit and its undergraduate and graduate programs is the diverse settings in which the faculty acquired their experience. The Unit members’ teaching or administering experiences in the schools were in different parts of the United States and/or abroad; urban, rural; public, private; elementary, middle, and/or secondary levels; settings with diverse students.

In summary, the Unit faculty, namely, the full-time and part-time Unit members in the University, have their doctorates in the specialty they teach and likewise the matching classroom and/or administrative experience at the appropriate levels, elementary and/or secondary schools. Thus, the Unit faculty who are teaching the content specific courses, elementary or secondary, have the related doctorate and school experience. For example, the two professors in science education, one for elementary education (Dr. Rita Hrecz, School of Education) and the other faculty member for secondary education (Dr. Carolyn Dawson, Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics), have their doctorate in science education and related experience in teaching science in the schools.

2.0 FACULTY AND BEST PRACTICES IN THEIR TEACHING

Consistent with the conceptual framework, School of Education Bylaws, and Northern Michigan University –A.A.U.P. Faculty Bargaining Agreement, the professional studies faculty commit themselves to demonstrate through their teaching many forms or modes of pedagogy with full understanding that the excellence sought is not monolithic or uniform. Faculty’s perspective is that often as the faculty teach so the candidates may teach. Therefore, faculty seek to reflect the many forms of best practice. Exhibit # 5.1 illustrates the modes of teaching demonstrated in their own teaching, modes which are within the universe of reasonable, research-based practices and likewise modes of assessing.

The School of Education faculty, having a primary responsibility for teacher preparation (basic and advanced) and the preparation of other school personnel, have linked the Conceptual Framework to the primary assignment of teaching, annual evaluation of the primary assignment, and developing their professional practice as teacher educators. (See Exhibit # 5.2, Section 5.0, subsections 5.3-5.5).

The School of Education faculty express their commitment to good practice through matters of context such as but not limited to:

1. Sharing a common form for end-of-semester evaluation of course instruction by candidates, approved by the faculty with a common protocol for distribution, tabulation, summation of written narratives, and along with the form for reporting back to the faculty after the grades are submitted. The end of semester tabulations and narrative summations become a part of the faculty members’ annual evaluation document. The same form and protocol is for part-time adjuncts in the Unit.
2. Observing annually each faculty member’s teaching and preparing a summary report that becomes part of the faculty members’ annual evaluation portfolio.
3. Appointing a faculty member as a mentor for each new faculty, a faculty member that shares with the new faculty a professionally related expertise and/or responsibility. See Exhibit # 5.3.
4. Creating conditions which enhance demonstrating professional knowledge about teaching, pedagogical skills, and dispositions for preparing teachers and other school personnel, e.g., class size, creating as often as possible cohorts of candidates as they move through the program, coordinating scheduling at the University with the schedules of schools, integrating courses into blocks, and situating concurrently specific courses and field experiences in the schools, to cite examples. Creating conditions which maximize the richness of the candidates’ preparation also enhances the faculty’s conditions for demonstrating the kinds of practices for assuring that all students learn within the frames for equity, honoring and caring for differences, and using differences and diversity as resources to enrich content and pedagogy.

The part-time faculty in the Unit (full-time in the University) who instruct the secondary professional studies courses for the content areas are expected to demonstrate good teaching within the University-Faculty Agreement provisions relative to demonstrating effective teaching. For example, the Unit faculty who instruct the professional studies secondary methods courses are to demonstrate best practices in their teaching. The Director of Field Experiences, Dr. Clarken, has each candidate evaluate the program, their supervision of practice teaching, their advisement, etc. These are summarized and shared with the Unit Head as well as with the secondary methods faculty. Candidates through this format may express concerns that in turn provide steps for consultation between the Unit Head and secondary departmental head and faculty members on a case-by-case basis. When circumstances warrant, other actions proceed, e.g., meetings with candidates, the faculty member, the department head, and/or the departmental evaluation committee. Of course, the protocols in such circumstances are crafted to assure substantive and procedural rights of the faculty member and also the candidates who are completing secondary education programs.

The University recognizes excellence in best teaching practices by designating faculty for the NMU Distinguished Faculty Awards and/or the State of Michigan Association of Governing Boards (MAGB) Outstanding Faculty Awards. Between the previous NCATE review and present, Unit members have received 3 of the University’s 6 Distinguished Faculty Awards, and 4 of the 10 MAGB Awards. The Unit recipients are represented in the tables on the following page.

3.0 PROFESSIONAL SCHOLARSHIP AND SERVICE

Per the NMU/AAUP Master Agreement, Section 3.1.1.1 (Exhibit # 5.4), each department has bylaws:

“The bylaws of a department will constitute the means whereby that department agrees to conduct its internal affairs and by which it shall address procedures and standards for faculty appointments, evaluations, promotions, and tenure recommendations. Departments thus have the freedom and the flexibility to conduct the departments’ internal affairs according to the bylaws they create, so long as those procedures are in compliance with the general standards and procedures specified in Articles II and V hereof.

Departmental bylaws shall describe specific standards for promotion which confirm levels of achievement in the areas of assigned responsibility, professional development and service commensurate with each higher rank and which shall be defined by example. While reflective of the differences in their fields, the bylaws in each department shall be comparable to the standards in departmental bylaws throughout the University, i.e., the circle of comparison shall be the University community.”

Thus, departmental bylaws present judgmental criteria for professional scholarship and professional service that are in accord with Master Agreement criteria. The departmental criteria are to have comparability and apply to all full-time faculty, including all members of the Professional Education Unit at Northern Michigan University. The criteria for Unit members are in their respective departmental bylaws. As might be reasonably expected given the School of Education’s primary responsibility for the professional studies preparation of teachers and other school personnel, the faculty in Section 5.0 explicitly link the Conceptual Framework to the judgmental criteria for professional development and service as well as teaching.

Exhibit # 5.5 summarizes the professional scholarship and service activities of the Professional Education Unit members.

The NMU/AAUP Master Agreement stipulates a minimum of $850 in the 2000-2001 school year to support faculty professional development, e.g., support for research, and travel for presentations at professional meetings. The dean of each college, per the Agreement, has additional dollars specified to supplement the $850 per faculty member to support the professional development activity of the faculty. For example, in the College of Professional Studies, the amount is $300 in the 2000-2001 academic year. Other funds are also available to support the scholarly activity of Unit members.

Assisting Unit members’ professional development and service is the awards of sabbaticals to Professional Education Unit members for professional development per the N.M.U./A.A.U.P. Master Agreement provisions. The table below summarizes the award of sabbaticals to Unit members since the last NCATE accreditation review.

Since the last review, 47 of the 288 faculty members in the University received sabbaticals. Of the 47 recipients, the Unit received 12% of the awards, though Unit recipients comprise only 2% of the 288 faculty members in the University. Most of these were full year sabbaticals.

4.0 COLLABORATION

Unit members collaborate to advance the practice of preparing educators and to advance the effectiveness of teaching and learning for all students. The medium for collaborating assumes many forms consistent with the Conceptual Framework and the Contextual Frames. Basic to the collaboration is the frame that improving teaching and learning in K-12 education and improving the preparation of educators in the University require the participation of each in the work of the other, i.e., a community of common interest. Examples are:

1. The Collaborative Sites of Practice and Inquiry Grant from the Michigan State Department of Education Office of Special Education for integrating personnel preparation of general and special education with the world of practice. A representative of the University’s Unit, chairing a statewide taskforce on the preparation of personnel for the 21^st Century, developed the concept of collaborative sites of practice and inquiry, which was included as a recommendation to the Michigan State Board of Education. The State Board of Education approved an RFP and funding of three sites in Michigan (Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, and Northern Michigan University). Northern Michigan University’s Unit is in the fourth year of funding. The collaboration engages the University’s teacher education program, the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District, the Marquette Area Public Schools, and the Aspen Ridge Middle School, namely, particularly the schools in which the University situates classes and field experiences so that general and special education candidates practice teaching in inclusive settings.

2. The U. P. Center for Educational Development and the Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics provide mediums and opportunities for collaboration among the faculty in the Unit, K-12 educators, and the State. The centers receive grants from state and/or federal agencies that involve and serve the common interests of preparing better teachers and improving the practice of teaching and learning for all students. Through these grants, faculty and outstanding practitioners serve their common interests relative to the Michigan Frameworks for the content areas (e.g., social studies, language arts, science, and mathematics), the Michigan Teaching and Learning Standards, etc. An example is the work of Dr. Lois Hirst, Judy Parlatto, and others in developing and implementing Phase IV, the teacher induction and mentoring program which is very much a Unit and K-12 collaborative partnership to serve both the Upper Peninsula and the State. The two centers are participants in the induction and mentoring program. Dr. Hirst is the University and State Department of Education designee to collaborate with the State of Michigan for purposes of developing other collaborative initiatives in the State for teacher induction, mentoring, and improving the practice of teaching and learning for all students. Dr. Hrecz, science educator in the Elementary Education Program, has released time to the Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics for collaborative science education projects with teachers.

3. The Unit has two program development committees, the Elementary Education Program Development Committee and the Secondary Education Program Development Committee. The Elementary Education Program Development Committee members comprise the faculty who instruct the Block I and II courses, including Professor Jane Jamsen from the Department of Mathematics since she instructs courses for teaching mathematics in the elementary grades. The Secondary Education Program Development members represent the faculty in the School of Education and the faculty who instruct the secondary content specific methods courses and supervise the practice teachers such as Dr. Zalewski from the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Carolyn Dawson from the Seaborg Center for Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics, Professor Hyslop from the Department of English, and Dr. Howard Nicholson from the Department of History. They meet to address issues of context essential to improving the program, e.g., scheduling, sequencing, selecting practice sites, supervision of practice teaching, and other issues which affect the extent to which their practice is in accord with the Conceptual Framework. See Exhibit # 5.6 for selected meeting minutes.

4. The U. P. Writing Project engages a faculty member in the Unit’s School of Education, Dr. Jon Davies (previously, Dr. Suzannne Standerford), and Dr. Marc Smith, Professor of English. The U. P. Writing Project is a collaboration between the National Writing Project (federally funded), Northern Michigan University, and Upper Peninsula school districts. The project is in its fifth year and engages 20 to 25 fellows each summer, namely, teachers of writing from the Upper Peninsula. Quite importantly, the collaboration extends throughout the school year with writing fellows from previous summers also as participants. The writing fellows form supporting writing communities, and thereby serve two important functions: 1) support to fellow teachers to continue to practice their writing; and 2) support to teachers in the teaching of writing to students.

Through these and other collaborative projects, the school and Unit faculties create a culture of common understanding as members of learning communities that each is integral to improving the practice of teaching and learning in K-12 and integral to improving the practice of preparing candidates.

The collaboration within the Unit extends to advanced programs for preparing other educators such as those in the Unit’s programs for school guidance counseling and for school administrators. Drs. Hirst and Kaurala collaborate with school administrators. Examples are: 1) the summer educational leadership institute, 2) the governing board of the U. P. Center for Educational Development with the intermediate school districts, and 3) the Michigan Association of School Administration Region I (Upper Peninsula). Dr. John Bayerl, coordinator for the school guidance counseling programs, is actively engaged with the Upper Peninsula school guidance counselors, the Michigan School Guidance Counseling Association, the State Department of Education’s Coordinator for School Guidance Counseling (Dr. Kathy Crooks), and the vocational/career “school to work” consortia, to cite examples.