Central Educators Build Strong Communities

College of Education

Fall 2010 Michael Wright Central Educators Build Strong Communities

Welcome

• Introductions – EDFL • Joanie Hartnett • Tae Shin • Will Sewell • Robert White – Charter Schools • Victoria Hughes – Kansas City Initiative • Joseph Kyser – THRIVE • Carol L. Smith • • Jessica Rhodes SueAnn Carter

T.H.R.I.V.E.

• TRANSFORMATION – HEALTH – RESPONSIBILITY – INDEPENDENCE – VOCATION – EDUCATION • The THRIVE Program provides a 2-year residential college experience for young adults with intellectual, cognitive, and developmental disabilities, building skills for transitioning from home to independence. THRIVE is a certificate program (not an accredited college degree program); exiting students will receive a certificate of completion along with their personal portfolio. Because the curriculum program will be tailored to the individual skills and needs of these students, some may go on to earn a degree with the proper supports.

Changes & Announcements

• • • • • • • • • Congratulations to Counselor Ed faculty for achieving initial CACREP accreditation!

http://www.teachkc.com

and http://www.teachkc.org

Workshop On Wheels Jean Othic Regional Professional Development Center Charter Schools staff Lovinger Lounge Provost meeting with departments Fall TWS day is November 19

Summer Vacation

Advice from a Mountain

• • • • • • • Reach for new heights Rise above it all There is beauty as far as the eye can see Be uplifting Patience, patience, patience Get to the point Enjoy the view!

– Ilan Shamir

Little ditty about Jack and Diane, two American kids growin’ up in the heartland

1960’s Elementary Classroom

High School

1970’s College Classroom

The College Experience

Transportation to Their First Teaching Job

1980’s Elementary Classroom

The Family Years

But the World Has Changed

(in the past 25 years) • • • The life and jobs schools prepared students for in the past largely don’t exist today.

Many of the jobs today’s students will have in their lifetime haven’t even been invented yet.

Up to 60% of students entering community colleges must take at least one remedial course.

Changing World Example #1

Changing World Example #2

•

Nanotechnology

– A technology that creates small materials in the size of molecules by manipulating single atoms, or making devices in that size range.

– Nanometer = one-billionth of a meter (0.000000001) – Probably the most exciting emerging technology that will impact future generations: • Can purify drinking water • Engineered food and crops (smart foods) • • Cheap energy Information & communication • Health care

Changing World Example #2 (cont.)

• • •

Nanotechnology

– Defined in 1974 by Japanese Professor Norio Taniguchi as the processing, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule.

– At that time, nanotechnology was purely theoretical.

– In the 1980’s scientists developed the ability to see and work with particles of that size.

Nanotech workers in the U.S. today: – 20,000 Nanotech workers needed by 2015: – 2,000,000

Example #3

Arizona Schools Putting More Classes Online

Aug. 8, 2010 The Arizona Republic Newspapers have migrated online. Music has gone digital. It was only a matter of time before education went the way of the iTouch and smartphones. Once a fringe offering, online education has gone mainstream, with 27 percent of all high-school students taking at least one online class last year, according to a new survey by Blackboard Inc. and Project Tomorrow.

Statewide, more than 17,800 students were enrolled full time in an online class as of March 2009, according to the Arizona Department of Education. Classes typically are free to students because they are part of the public school system. The state education department Department pays public school districts and charter schools to offer the classes.

Online education, also known as distance learning, is among the fastest growing segments of the education market.

Are our students prepared to teach online?

• • What would it take to have our students “e-mints certified” when they graduate?

What would it take for US to be ready to help our students reach that level?

Pressure to Change Education

Focusing on the Essentials Douglas B. Reeves

Focusing on the Essentials (“the Big Six”)

Douglas B. Reeves 1.

2.

3.

Feedback When students receive feedback that is accurate, specific, and timely, the impact on achievement is so great that it is more significant than the socioeconomic status of children. Efficacy When teachers believe they are the primary causes of student achievement, student gains are three to five times higher than when they assume that the causes are factors beyond their control.

Time If a high school quarterback needed to improve passing skills, a middle school basketball player needed to work on free throw shooting, or an elementary school musician had a difficult time playing a particularly challenging piece, we would not hesitate to prescribe “more practice” as the remedy. Why should changing a student’s schedule for reading, writing, and math be more difficult?

Focusing on the Essentials (cont.)

4.

5.

6.

Nonfiction writing There are no “silver bullets” in education, but few activities have a greater and more consistent positive impact on every other discipline than nonfiction writing. The overwhelming evidence is that more nonfiction writing -- description, persuasion, and analysis -- helps students at every level improve thinking, reasoning, and analytical skills. Formative assessment The media and governmental authorities focus on end-of-year test scores, but research is clear that formative assessment -- that is, assessments during the school year that are used to “inform” teaching and learning -- have a greater impact on improving achievement than any other form of test. Expectations 40 years of research on the subject demonstrates that when teachers and administrators expect more, they get more; when they expect less, they get less.

The “Big Six” Essential Questions

1. How good is our feedback?

2. How do our teachers know that they influence student results?

3. If we know that a student is two or three grades behind where he should be, how will his schedule be different from classmates whose performance is on grade level?

4. How is nonfiction writing integrated into our curriculum outside of the regular English Language Arts curriculum?

5. What are teachers and principals doing differently today as a result of the most recent formative assessment data?

6. What is the evidence in publicly available student work samples that our expectations for students meet or exceed grade-level standards?

Pressure to Change Teacher Education

Two that will significantly impact our work

Impact on Learning

• • • • • • The expectations of teachers today is significantly different than it was 10 or 20 years ago!

Accountability – a focus on student learning Assessment – based on DOK (not Bloom’s) Must show improvement every year Response to Intervention (RTI) – Adjust lesson and instructional strategies to accommodate student needs Data – track & graph student progress

Impact on Learning

• • • • • The #1 question we will be facing this decade Our criteria for success used to be our impact on our students’ learning Now the measure of success is our students’ impact on P-12 student learning We will be publicly judged, evaluated, and accredited by how well our candidates, graduates, and school leaders impact learning.

How do OUR teacher and leader preparation programs impact student learning?

Impact on Learning

• • • We MUST model current, appropriate teaching and assessment in OUR classrooms (and virtual classrooms) We MUST prepare our students for the tasks they will be required to perform as teachers The Teacher Work Sample is the closest assessment we have that matches the planning and assessing new teachers will be required to do daily

Our Future, Our Choice

• “The core problem is that higher education was designed in the 11th century and operates on a 19th century agrarian calendar, while trying to prepare students for life and work in the 21st century.” – George L. Mahaffy, The Red Balloon Project: Re-Imagining Undergraduate Education •

Will we be part of the problem, or part of the solution?

Strategic Planning Activities for 2010 2011, and Beyond

1. Continuous Improvement of Instruction – – Use TWS feedback for Program Improvement Improved Field Experiences – – Common Course Assessments for Core Classes Joint Professional Development Program with LEA, PDN and/or MCC – Reciprocity in teaching assignments with MCC faculty – Faculty led effort to improve instruction • Peer Review Model for all faculty • Quality Matters review for every online course

Strategic Planning Activities for 2010-

2011, and Beyond (cont.) 2. Marketing & Recruitment – Recruit Undergraduates (with emphasis on minority and non-traditional students) from high schools and MCC campuses – Recruit Graduate Students – Increase Online Program Offerings – Advertise widely

Strategic Planning Activities for 2010-

2011, and Beyond (cont.) 3. Relationship Building and Fund Raising – Develop a Business Support Network – Secure Funding for Kansas City Initiative

The Student Is…

• • • …THE most important person on the campus. Without students, there would be no need for the institution.

…A flesh and blood human being with feelings and emotions like our own….NOT a cold enrollment statistic.

…Not someone to be tolerated so that we can do our thing….They ARE our thing.

The Student Is…

• • …Not dependent on us….Rather, we are dependent on THEM. …Not an interruption of our work, but THE purpose of it. We are not doing them a favor by serving them…they are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.

Thank You!

Let’s have a GREAT year!

Go Mules & Jennies!

Central Educators Build Strong Communities