Educational Policy Committee
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Members present:
Guests: Carol Lyon, Marcia Less, Dean Marple, Bob Ristow, Jeanne Roller, Tracy Schuster-Matlock, Rachel Serianz
I.
Approval of
minutes from 12/6/05
Motion to approve minutes from December 6: J. Van Speybroeck; seconded by B. Wiese.
Motion passed without objection
II.
Clarification
of minutes from 11/29
“HPESS should consult with the Biology Department about rectifying the situation regarding BIOL 202, which reflects the original intent of the discussion.”
Motion passed without objection
III.
Add WI
designation to SOC 314
Motion to approve change: B. Wiese; seconded by P. Connelly.
M. Hansen explained the reasoning behind this change. Sociology has had difficulty offering enough courses to transfer students and providing a necessary WI course for majors, especially since recent changes to the program shifted a number of courses to the 200-level.
Motion passed without objection.
IV.
Education
Program Review
Motion to approve 5-year review: J. Van Speybroeck; seconded by D. Stoube.
B. Wiese explained that Education is seeking accreditation
from TEAC and the
Education is not requesting approval for any changes to its curriculum, but merely approval of the 5-year review.
The department is using the broadly-defined Danielson
competencies in defining standards, and these work well with
A committee member asked about how much flexibility the department has in defining teaching competencies.
Professors have choices about how to promote particular competencies in the classroom.
B. Wiese explained that the department uses internal and external consultations to assess the strengths and weaknesses of department.
Discussion then moved to the issue of assessment. T. Schuster-Matlock stated that assessment has focused largely upon students’ evaluations of the program. The department would like to refine it more and is seeking a grant from the state Dept. of Education.
In response to a question from a committee member, T. Schuster noted that while there do not seem to be competing demands from various accrediting agencies, some demands do pose challenges to the personal philosophies of individual professors.
State licensure for teachers does not currently require an exit test, but M. Less noted that such a requirement may be coming soon as a substitute for all the elaborate portfolio work that licensed teachers must do.
P. Koch argued that even if national standardized tests are created, it would be beneficial to maintain the practice of creating teaching portfolios.
J. Roller and B. Wiese added that students could perhaps
keep rolling portfolios, especially since
Fr. Grant and J. Burke, in reference to the department’s course and skills matrix that more detail would be useful and that other departments should not create a simplified matrix. They understand that Education is a unique case, for as a department it is always addressing all kinds of criteria and demonstrating that for accrediting agencies.
In April, Education will host accreditation visits. As a result of this and program review, all the information necessary to do accreditations is now quite organized.
Finally, let the
record reflect that all members of the department put a huge amount of time
into the effort to produce these documents, and collaborated well.
Motion passed without objection.
V.
Miscellanea
T. Hill passed out this semester’s schedule for 5-year program reviews
Fr. Grant will be discussing General Education with the chair of history tomorrow.
Foreign Language is coming up for program review; theirs will be a big document.
Motion to dismiss at 4:07: J. Van Speybroeck; seconded by K. Manning.
Motion passed without objection.