Making the grade for IU's School of Education

Only above-average students make the grade for IU's
education school
a letter to the editor in response to the misinformation in a recent column by Andrea Neal....it is important to stay diligent and get the facts as we all work for better schools in Indiana--misrepresentation, political spin, and distortions get us nowhere.  Ms. Neal should not only be embarrased but she should apologize.

I am writing in response to Andrea Neal's Nov. 24 column on raising teacher standards. I agree that the way to improve schools is to improve teachers. To do that, as Neal suggested, it is essential to recruit the best and brightest into teaching and prepare them well to be effective teachers. But spreading misinformation about schools of education dilutes that effort.


In her column, Neal mistakenly suggests that U.S. teachers come disproportionately from the bottom third of their high-school cohort groups. She adds that Indiana University accepts into its teacher education program students with cumulative GPAs as low as 2.5 on a 4-point scale. The implication is that IU education students are selected from the bottom third of high school graduates.

The fact is that before students are admitted to the IU School of Education they first must earn admission to IU. On the Bloomington campus, the average high school GPA of entering freshmen this fall was 3.69 on a 4-point scale and their average SAT score was 1199. This puts the majority of IU entering freshmen in the top 10 percent of high school graduates in Indiana.

Among these top-ranked students admitted to IU, those interested in education as a major must apply to the School of Education and meet additional admissions requirements. These requirements include at least a 2.5 average GPA in freshmen and sophomore arts and science college courses and no grade lower than "C" in pre-professional education courses. In addition, students must pass the math, reading and writing portions of the Praxis teacher license test of basic skills, and complete specific requirements in the content field they will teach.

The actual average college GPA of students admitted to the School of Education in Bloomington this fall was 3.39 on a 4-point scale. The requirement of at least 2.5 GPA in college courses before admission to the School of Education is higher than that of most other academic units on the Bloomington campus, which typically require a minimum 2.0 GPA.

To attract even more high-performing students, last year the School of Education in Bloomington instituted a new Direct Admits Scholars program that guarantees admission to entering IU freshmen who have distinguished themselves as outstanding students in high school. The average high school GPA of students admitted to the School of Education through this program is 3.82 on a 4-point scale.

But the real test of a high-quality teacher education program is the performance of graduates. This year eight of the 10 finalists for Indiana Teacher of the Year were alumni of the IU School of Education in Bloomington and Indianapolis. The Teacher of the Year and the runner--up are graduates of the Bloomington program. Two of the four Indiana finalists for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching announced a few weeks ago are IU School of Education alumni. That award is the highest recognition that a mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States, an award won by an alumna two years ago.

We should indeed learn from international comparisons, find ways to increase starting pay for teachers, and continuously strive to improve the pipeline of professionals for the classroom. A productive discussion, however, has to be based on facts and a more thorough understanding of how successful American schools of education prepare teachers. It serves no purpose to spread misinformation about schools that are doing an excellent job preparing teachers. To do so only undermines the effort to recruit top students into teaching.

Gonzalez is dean of the Indiana University School of Education.

Focusing on Learning in School Reform

Hey! How about some good news.  Here's an effort to really to work on instruction that values the expertise of teachers and gives them the time to work together on strategies for learning.  So much of reactionary, politicized efforts at school reform do the opposite: blame the teachers, pile on more paperwork, test & test again.  What we know works is giving teachers the space and time to work as the professionals they are.  The DOE could take a lesson.

June 29, 2010

Teacher-initiated reform

Posted by Susan Blackwell

This week more than 300 teachers and administrators from Indiana and beyond are participating in a project-based learning (PBL) workshop at Ben Davis High School. PBL reflects a reform effort coming from the efforts of educators, not politicians. Unfortunately, when politicians use the term "reform," they often mean increased competition and entrepreneurial schools. When educators use the term, they mean an increase in the quality of student learning.

IUPUI and CELL have taken a lead in providing the opportunities for educators to make meaningful changes in classrooms that address 21st century skills. PBL promotes rigorous projects that also engage community members in reviewing the work students create. My institution, University of Indianapolis, is focusing on PBL at the college level in teacher preparation, the medical professions, the arts, and the sciences. In particular, the UIndy Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship Program is preparing beginning teachers to teach with a project-based approach. Teachers at Tech High School, Decatur Central High School, and Ben Davis High School have made this commitment to more rigorous learning standards and are mentoring beginning teachers to do the same.

We educators understand that the quality of student work needs to become more rigorous. We know what needs to be done. It sometimes appears that educators are making little to no effort to reform schools. This initiative demonstrates that, despite the ongoing negative critique of teachers and schools, educators are looking at their methods so as to improve academic learning for all students.

Fire all the Teachers!

This is what's coming folks....all this School Board has done is pre-empt the new rules coming from the Feds.  Now of course, how a completely new faculty are supposed to not only maintain the gains in reading in math but improve them hasn't really been explained yet.  But it sure is easy to blame the teachers, isn't it?

-- A school board in Rhode Island has voted to fire all teachers at a struggling high school, a dramatic move aimed at shoring up education in a poverty-ridden school district.

In a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the board approved the plan by Frances Gallo, superintendent at Central Falls School District, to discharge the teachers, administrators and other personnel at Central Falls High School.

The firings, which will be effective at the end of this school year, came after the district said it failed to reach an agreement with the teachers' union on a plan for the teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores.

A union spokesman called the firings drastic and cited a 21 percent rise in reading scores and a 3 percent increase in math scores in the past two years.

The school district said 93 people -- including the principal, three assistant principals and 77 teachers -- were fired. The teachers' union said the firings affected 74 classroom teachers plus a number of other educators such as guidance counselors and reading specialists.

Read More:

Hard-Won is Right!

More good reporting from Fort Wayne on the impact of public support for quality teacher education.

Hard-won compromise on teacher licensing [link]

Bennett

Ideally, a revision of Indiana’s teacher licensing rules would have started with discussions between education groups, the state’s teacher colleges and representatives of the Indiana Department of Education.

Instead, state officials dropped a complex proposal on the Professional Standards Advisory Board in July that would have made dramatic and disturbing changes to the requirements teachers must meet to earn and maintain their credentials. To its credit, the advisory board objected, calling for more time to consider the proposal, known as Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability, or REPA.

Five months, thousands of e-mail comments and countless hours of public debate later, the advisory board last week approved the plan that would have come if teachers, administrators and college officials had been involved from the start. To his credit, state schools chief Tony Bennett listened to the complaints, and the final plan will be better for it.

“The changes represent significant compromise from all involved,” Bennett said in a news release. “Yet, these revisions don’t at all compromise the effectiveness of our proposal. In fact, it’s a better document now than it was in July.”  The 19-member advisory board, which includes David Goodwin, superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Steuben County, spent many hours in committee work and reviewing public comment.

“We tried to react as well as we could to the comments,” Goodwin said. “There were some real compromises. There were things I felt very strongly about that didn’t happen and some that did.”


Some key changes in the compromise:

•The original REPA plan would have eliminated early-childhood education and middle school as licensing categories. Teacher professional groups and early-childhood educators objected, noting the special needs of students in the middle grades and of young children. The categories have been restored.

•The fine arts, health, physical education, journalism and library media were proposed as “workplace specialist” licenses. Educators rightly argued that the areas demanded more extensive requirements.

•The final plan eliminates a maximum limit on teaching methods courses an education student must have. DOE officials had argued that college students were spending too much time learning how to teach. Critics effectively argued that schools, with increasingly diverse enrollment, need teachers with the skills to reach students at all levels of ability.

•School principals will verify, not approve, licensing renewal. Teachers will be able to renew their licenses through professional development hours or by earning six college credit hours.


Kathleen Murphey, associate dean of the School of Education at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said she was pleased with the changes made by the advisory board.  “The board has listened to the public comment, and they changed the proposal,” Murphey said. “There are a few things in the secondary (school) area that we might have to change. There’s language that says people getting certified in a content area must have the same courses as someone with a major in that area.”  Teresa Meredith, vice president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said the union is waiting to see the final language presented when the advisory board meets again on Jan. 7, but she said that ISTA also is pleased with the changes. “The Department of Education has been very receptive and willing to talk with us,” she said. “It would have been nice to be involved in the preliminary discussion, but we’re glad the advisory board has chosen to slow down and to allow us to give input.”


Teacher and administrator licensing might not seem to be pressing issues in education, but the quality of schools is inextricably linked to the quality of instruction. It’s important work ensuring students have the best teachers and school leaders, and the advisory board members and Bennett deserve credit for taking seriously their responsibility to ensure students have the best-qualified instructors.

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091216/EDIT/312169993/1147/EDIT07