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STANDARD 4: DIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
Demographic Overview Median family income exceeds fifty thousand dollars annually. With a growing professional and services sector eclipsing the once-dominant manufacturing industry, the unemployment rate approximates the national average. While only seven percent of families classify as “living in poverty,” families with children under eighteen years of age comprise nearly twenty-five percent of poverty level families. Demographics of Local Education Authorities (LEA’s)
Undergraduate and Graduate Teacher Education Candidate Enrollment by Diversity and Gender Category 1998-2002
Indicators of Diversity in Teacher Education Programs
Curricular Experiences The revised 2002 academic program (referred to as the “new program”) provides coursework and field experiences that prepare candidates to better address the needs of diverse student populations. The new curriculum provides dually licensable programs in Elementary/Mild Intervention, Secondary/Mild Intervention, and an All-Grade Mild Intervention/Elementary/ Secondary, triple licensure program. Beginning in Fall of 2002 the Department incorporated five exceptional needs courses into the required program of study for all Teacher Education majors, thereby assuring that candidates meet all IPSB standards aimed at serving diverse student populations. The new required courses are Collaboration and Communication in Exceptional Needs (SPED 295), Elementary Methods for Exceptional Needs (SPED 218), Advanced Methods for Exceptional Needs (SPED 327), Behavior / Classroom Management (SPED 430), Advanced Practicum in Teacher Education (EDUC 301), and Laboratory Teaching with Children (ART 403-01, for Visual Art, K-12 candidates in lieu of EDUC 301). The Department’s professional education core courses at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels, listed in the section below, address the
opportunities and challenges inherent in serving diverse populations. The following professional education courses address, to varying degrees, several key components of diversity—race, ethnicity, gender, exceptionalities, sexual orientation, and geography. The courses listed below are requirements in the undergraduate Teacher Education Programs, but additional requirements constitute part of the elementary, secondary, and exceptional needs programs, respectively.
In order to determine the emphasis being placed on diversity throughout the teacher education program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the Department surveyed all full-time and part-time professional education faculty regarding how many diversity-related coursework experiences were provided. The survey revealed that undergraduate courses present candidates with 274 experiences—ranging from text/readings, to technology/audio-visual, in-class activities, guest speakers, to out-of-class projects—that directly address issues related to the six diversity components. This survey was conducted in the Fall of 2002. The survey data, displayed in Table 4.2 indicate that coursework experiences address all diversity components in the undergraduate program. However, those experiences related to race, ethnicity, exceptionalities, and gender, respectively, constitute the strongest focus of undergraduate professional education core courses. Conversely, coursework experiences related to sexual orientation and geographic diversity, respectively, constitute fewer experiences in the undergraduate professional education core. Diversity Components as Percent of Total Coursework Experiences: Undergraduate Professional Education Core Courses Table 4.2
(Source: Department of Education Faculty Survey, 2002) Faculty survey data, as displayed in Table 4.3a indicate that, as a group, core courses in the undergraduate preparation program dedicate between 20% and 100% of their coursework experiences directly to diversity-related issues. That is, the coursework explicitly and directly addresses issues of race, ethnicity, gender, exceptionalities, sexual orientation, and geography. One course, such as Introduction to Exceptionality (EDUC 136), is, in its entirety, geared to coursework with diverse learning populations. Conversely, Student Teaching Seminar (EDUC 425) is designed to support candidates’ student teaching and, therefore, adapts to the varying needs that student teachers bring to the seminar setting. Undergraduate Professional Education Core Courses Table 4.3a
(Source: Department of Education Faculty Survey, 2002) At the Graduate level, undergirding all Exceptional Needs and School Counseling core course and field experience competencies are the ability and desire to assist all students. Candidates demonstrate competency in these areas through mastery in selected core courses listed below (Tables 4.3b & c). These courses place particular emphasis on the skills necessary to provide services to diverse populations. Mastery of these courses includes demonstrated dispositional sensitivity to diversity and an orientation toward equity and fairness in the treatment of all persons. Candidates are routinely placed in school settings that provide opportunity and support for gaining experiences with and developing the skills necessary to provide culturally competent services to diverse ethnic and racial groups and exceptionalities. Faculty who instruct School Counseling and Exceptional Needs candidates have demonstrated knowledge and experiences related to working with and preparing candidates to work with students from diverse groups. Similarly, clinical/supervising faculty who provide on-site supervision have training and experience in working with diverse populations. School Counseling Core Courses-Graduate Table 4.3b
(Source: Department of Psychology Faculty Survey, 2002) Exceptional Needs Core Courses-Graduate Table 4.3c
(Source: Department of Education Faculty Survey, 2002)
In a quest to deepen their own theoretical and practical understanding of diversity issues, the Department faculty members have recently boosted the University library’s diversity-specific book holdings by 225 books, using as a resource the bibliography of Common Sense about Uncommon Knowledge: The Knowledge Bases for Diversity as a resource (Smith, 1998). These resources will further bolster the Department’s diversity-centered coursework. In the classroom setting, several noteworthy guest speakers have addressed teacher candidates. Pastor Michael Latham, President of the Fort Wayne NAACP, familiarized candidates with the social-cultural-academic challenges facing African-American children in local schools. A Native American speaker, Jerry Farlee, a Lakota Indian living on the Cheyenne River Reservation, addressed Elementary Methods Social Studies candidates. Two high profile public school administrators have presented to candidates in professional education core classes. First, Ms. Laura Taliaferro, principal of Elmhurst High School, on the subject of social-emotional challenges p-12 students face in the schools, and numerous speakers on the topics related to student exceptionalities. Mr. Tom Smith, principal of one of the nation’s most culturally diverse high schools, South Side High School in Fort Wayne, joined a panel of area educators that spoke to student teachers. Additionally, as part of their required program of study, Elementary/Mild Intervention have the choice of Introduction to Race and Ethnicity (SOC 135) or Minorities, Immigrants, and Migrants (SOCW 375). Secondary majors and all-grade exceptionalities and visual art take Introduction to Race and Ethnicity (SOC 135). In addition to classroom-based work, two recent out-of-classroom experiences have encouraged candidates’ participation in diversity-centered settings. One event was an off-campus lecture in October by Dr. Janice Hale, author of Learning While Black, on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). The second event, entitled “Race in Fort Wayne”, was a symposium sponsored by the Department of History and Social Studies, and was held on the University campus in November 2002. Candidates in both Foundations of Reading Instruction (READ 200) and Methods & Materials for Teaching Reading for All Children (READ 302) have participated in Ruby Payne’s workshops on teaching children of poverty. The Reading classes then incorporated concepts and instructional strategies gleaned from Payne’s program into coursework. Subsequently, candidates referenced those ideas and teaching approaches to their field experiences in elementary school settings in the community. In addition to participating in the Ruby Payne Conference, candidates and faculty have attended Latinos Count: Community Summit, presented by DeSoto Translation & Marketing of Fort Wayne, in partnership with IPFW. An Elementary Education Math Methods action-research project generated a special multicultural experience. Candidates hosted “Family Math Night”, a math-centered interactive event bringing together second grade parents, students, and teachers at Lindley Elementary School, a bi-lingual (English-Spanish) school whose population represents several minorities in Fort Wayne. In the Spring of 2002, the Department budgeted for a series of lectures
on issues of minority education that professional education professors have
recently begun to incorporate into their courses. This series begins in the
Spring of 2003, within the following targeted courses:
At the undergraduate level, EDUC 100, EDUC 201, EDUC 250, EDUC 301 and methods courses for secondary majors, professors and clinical/supervisory faculty continue to utilize Assessment of Professional Potential and Dispositional Behaviors for Field Placement to evaluate candidates in reference to diversity issues. Finally, Assessment of Professional Potential constitutes a key component of candidates’ application process for admission into the Teacher Education program as well as their application process for student teaching. At the advanced graduate level, both professors and candidates complete
Assessment of Professional Potential in several courses: SPED 510, SPED 513,
and SPED 550. Additionally, applicants to the graduate program in
Exceptional Needs and School Counseling must submit Assessment of
Professional Potential from two professionals. Service Learning The concept of service learning as pedagogy is presented to all undergraduate Teacher Education candidates in the introductory level course, EDUC 100, through an undergraduate field experience in schools or community service organizations. The field intensive practicum course, EDUC 201, further develops both the theoretical and pedagogical models through development of content based lesson plans that incorporate service learning. With the pedagogical principles established, candidates then continue to develop and practice service learning through methods classes, including social studies, science, mathematics, mild disabilities, and, finally, student teaching. Through service opportunities, candidates interact with the homeless, the hungry, refugees, and victims of violence, as well as with linguistic minorities. Additionally, candidates act as messengers of the service learning concept with their peers as well as with institutions at the local, regional levels. Both faculty assessments and candidate self-assessments reveal that service learning has developed high levels of candidates’ self-confidence, empowerment, and social conscience. Additional assessment of service learning skills and attitudes occurs through field assessment instruments, the portfolio review process, lesson plans, the community, and outreach log. Over the course of the past five academic years, more than three dozen events and opportunities for participation have marked the Department’s involvement in service learning. Prominent accomplishments include: a $2,500 grant received from the National Service Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (two years), participation in the National Conference for Service Learning (two years), candidate grants, candidate awards, collaboration with Northrop High School Teaching Academy, membership in the Campus Compact, the “Math Is Everywhere” program, the “Stellar Story Tellers” program, and student presentations at the 2002 “Campus Compact: First Student Conference for Service Learning” at Ball State University, Spring, 2002. Finally, in 2002, one the Department’s faculty was selected by AACTE and
National Service Learning Partnership in Teacher Education as one of 50
national educators to attend the latter’s national conference. Candidates’ Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty
In addition to the on-campus faculty, candidates work in P-12 public and parochial schools with minority certified personnel. Teacher education candidates have numerous opportunities to interact with minority school faculty through practicum, internship, and methods courses, and finally, student teaching (Table 3.3a – c, P-12 minority data). The Department recognizes the need to recruit minority faculty. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, the University as a whole continues in its endeavors to recruit diverse faculty members through both broad-based regional and national media advertising and targeted minority media advertising. These advertisement avenues are supplemented by contacts with professional colleagues in the field. The Department itself has expanded its efforts in minority recruiting through online professional search sources, postings in ethnically targeted professional journals, direct mailing to diverse higher education institutions with advanced degree/doctoral programs. In recognition of the importance of diversity, both the University’s
Strategic Plan and the Department’s Business/Marketing Plan emphasize the
need to develop a recruitment and retention plan for minority faculty,
staff, and students. The Department and University are working in tandem
through a subcommittee charged with creating a viable diversity plan. The
Vice President of Academic Affairs, the Human Resource/Affirmative Action
Officer, and a member of the Department of Education have joined with a
member of the University Advisory Board whose expertise lies in facilitating
institutional diversity. These members have consulted with a representative
from a local state university that is currently implementing a diversity
plan. Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates Department Initiative for Increasing Candidate Diversity UNITED has initiated efforts both to collect and analyze historical data
on minorities at the University and to investigate successful diversity
efforts at local or peer universities. UNITED’s longer-term goals are to
establish systematic collaboration in recruitment efforts with the
University Office of Admissions and regional high school guidance
counselors. Finally, UNITED hopes to initiate a broad-based mentoring
program targeted at aspiring middle and high school students as well as
University teacher candidates. The mentoring program would provide
accomplished minorities in the region as role models and practical guidance
for young people. Currently, individual faculty have independently assumed
the mentoring role with several minority candidates in the Department.
Beyond frequent faculty-initiated contact with minority candidates, the
faculty has collected and distributed scholarship information, such as a
website specifically geared to African-American university students:
http://www.blackexcel.org/ . Retention of Diverse Candidates
Diverse Field Placements In addition to the overarching goal of providing teacher candidates with real-world teaching experiences, the goals of placements are three-fold: To involve teacher candidates in a variety of classroom locales, to expose teacher candidates to minority student populations and, finally, to meet the University’s commitment to engaging with Diocesan-based P-12 schools. During field placements, both university supervisors and
clinical/supervisory faculty assess candidates’ diversity-related
performance and dispositions through three means: the Department’s several
field assessment instruments, candidates’ self-assessment through
reflections, and candidates’ case studies of P-12 students. Demographics of Regional School Corporations Table 4.4a provides composite data on the demographic composition of the four regional school corporations, the principal site at which University teacher and school counseling candidates complete their field experiences. The data indicate that over the past five years the most frequently utilized school corporations -- Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) and East Allen Community Schools (EACS) -- have experienced substantial increases in the racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity of their student bodies. Likewise, the percent increases in candidates with exceptionalities have been significant in both FWCS and EACS. As for employment of minority certified personnel, East Allen County Schools has witnessed a double-digit increase while Fort Wayne Community Schools has actually decreased in the percent of certified minorities on staff. Beyond ethnic/racial diversity and diversity of student exceptionalities, the socioeconomic mix of students attending the region’s schools continues to grow. Data reveal that the numbers of disadvantaged students, as measured by the percent of free/reduced lunches and textbook eligibility, have increased in three of the four school corporations a ten-year comparison indicates double-digit increases in disadvantaged students in both FWCS and East Allen County Schools (EACS). Presently, nearly half of FWCS’s students qualify for subsidized lunches and textbooks, while nearly one-third of EACS’s student body meets subsidy qualifications (Table 4.4a). Minority Populations: Students in P-12 Regional Public Schools 1998 - 2002 Table 4.4a
(Source: Indiana Department of Education website: http://k-12.in.us) Given the substantial numbers of minority racial/ethnic, exceptional needs, and socio-economic student bodies, especially in the FWCS and EACS, Department candidates’ field experiences occur in public school corporations with increasingly diverse minority student populations Additionally, in keeping with the University’s Mission of promoting Roman Catholic education in the region, Department candidates complete fieldwork in several Fort Wayne/South Bend Diocese schools. Student population data are available only for individual schools, not for the Diocese as a whole. The data displays minority enrollment for the five Diocesan schools where Department candidates often complete fieldwork (See Table 4.4b). Minority Populations: Students in Key Fort Wayne/South Bend Dioceses Schools Table 4.4b
(Source: Indiana Department of Education website http://k-12.in.us) Best practice in pre-service Teacher Education dictates that the Department meet the challenge of providing a largely majority teacher candidate population with the kind and number of experiences that will enable them to interact in meaningful ways with minority racial, ethnic, learning exceptional, and socio-economic populations. Field placement settings are defined by the Indiana Professional Standards Board (IPSB) as the grade level categories. The settings in which Teacher Education field placements occur are Primary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle School (6-8), and Secondary (9-12). Teacher candidates’ placements take place in five geographic locales: urban, suburban, rural, private/parochial, and on campus. In addition to four regional school corporations, field placements occur in non-public, parochial schools and private, specifically Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, South Bend, Indiana as well as Lutheran Schools of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Canterbury School of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Finally, on-campus field experiences take place on the University of Saint Francis campus with school-age children, specifically in the areas of Reading, Exceptional Needs, and Art Education. In these program majors, candidates have the opportunity to work with diverse P-12 student populations on the University campus during scholarship-available summer programs. Both graduate and undergraduate level candidates in elementary and exceptional needs complete practicum’s in the campus-based Oaks and Willows Learning Center, while Art Education candidates may work during the Fall and Spring Semesters in Saturday classes for 1-8 graders, called the Saturday Children’s Art Classes. As well, during Summer Session, Visual Art majors work with 1-8 graders in the Summer Children’s Art program, and with high school students in the Summer High School Art Academy. Field placement diversity data originate from a survey taken in December of 2001 by twenty-eight student teachers as they completed their Teacher Education preparation program (See Table 4.5). Although most student teachers in the Department of Education are candidates for initial licensing at the undergraduate level, the program also enrolls initial licensing candidates at the graduate level. Among the survey respondents, nine (32%) are elementary education majors, ten (36%) are secondary education majors, two (7%) are exceptional needs majors, and seven (25%) are visual art K-12 majors. Additional data for two subsequent semesters are on file. The results of an identical April, 2002, survey mirror the December, 2001 results. The Department continues to collect data each semester on graduates’ field placement experiences. Data indicate that, on average, University of Saint Francis teacher candidates complete almost 52% of their field placements in urban settings, settings in which they are most likely to encounter diverse racial, ethnic, learning, and socio-economic P-12 students. The total number of field placements completed by all survey respondents over the course of their Teacher Education program preparation is 225. Undergraduate Candidates by Major: Summary of Overall Percentages for Field Placement by Geographic Locales Table 4.5
Field Placements for Advanced Graduate Preparation, School Counseling and
Exceptional Needs Graduate Placements in Diverse School Settings 1998-2002 Table 4.6
(Source: School Counseling Candidate Records & Department of Education Candidate Records)
Diverse School Settings: School Counseling and Exceptional Needs - Graduate Table 4.7
Candidates’ Non Course-Related Experiences with Diverse P-12 Students
Summary
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