II. Unit Standards (cont.)
Standard 6:Unit Governance and Resources
6.1How do the unit’s governance system and resources contribute to adequately preparing candidates to meet professional, state, and institutional standards?
The unit leader is an academic dean and holds all authority associated with budget development and monitoring; hiring, evaluation and removal of professional education faculty and support personnel; and makes recommendations to facility and technical support decisions, including the library, the institutional assessment system, and the student information system. The dean, as unit leader coordinates the Teacher Education Committee activities which involve all the departments on campus with teacher education programs. Each program has a teacher educator or teacher education representative within the membership of this committee. This Committee serves as the major recommendation source to changes within the professional education programming.
The major changes made for this standard based on data stem from the difference between the scores of the regional elementary education candidates and the campus-based academy elementary candidates in the area of student learning. The Teacher Work Sample assessment activity and the resulting key assessment data showed that the regional candidates did not have as strong of an understanding of assessment and the ways and means of looking at P-12 student learning as did the campus-based elementary education candidates. The changes made were: (1) establish and continue to increase the travel budget for faculty to visit the regional sites, and (2) hire a professional staff member qualified in elementary education to advise candidates, teach professional courses on site, and supervise candidates during the teacher internship. Likewise, the increase in candidates within the regional programs placed additional demands for field placement personnel. Thus the institution, under the recommendation of the dean, hired a professional staff project coordinator to assist the field placement faculty member with the duties of placement.
The unit dean contributed to the decision making process to reorganize the budget lines of the institution to provide for more efficient utilization of resources. This resulted in the establishment of a budget line for assessment and accreditation enabling more faculty members to attend conferences and workshops associated with assessment and accreditation standards.
Unit Leadership and Authority
Leadership for Effective Coordination
The Chadron State College (CSC) Education Department is located in the School of Education, Human Performance, Counseling, Psychology & Social Work (EHPCPSW), although content area teaching endorsements for education degrees, and thus the unit, span across all schools and departments within the college. Ten academic departments house either an initial and/or an advanced education program.
The college is divided into three schools for the purpose of accounting management; however, the three deans serve greater, specific functions which encompass the entire campus. The academic dean (Dean of Professional Licensure) associated with the School of EHPCPSW serves as the Education Unit head. The unit head is the administrative manager and leader for the Education Unit. This position assumes primary responsibility for: (1) the effective and efficient utilization of resources, including personnel, budgets, and facilities; (2) school faculty and staff employment recommendations, mentoring, and professional development; (3) providing leadership and oversight for academic program quality and accreditation; and (4) ensuring that the policies and procedures of the Nebraska State College System, Chadron State College, and negotiated contract requirements are fully met (Exhibit 6.1).
The unit head sits on the President’s Executive Council and the Vice President of Academic Affairs Deans’ Council, providing insight and recommendation about issues relating to academic programming and student success, and serving as a communication link between the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the faculty (Exhibit 6.2). The unit head chairs the Teacher Education Committee that provides recommendations to the planning, delivery, and operational activities for the unit (Exhibit 6.3 and 6.4). The unit head has the decision making authority regarding the budget and the hiring/releasing of faculty within the Education Department.
Several faculty governance committees within the institution directly assist the unit head with operating a coherent system of planning, delivering, and operating programs. These committees include the Faculty Senate’s Academic Review Committee (This committee governs curriculum and policy for undergraduate programs.), the Faculty Senate’s Graduate Council (This committee governs entrance standards, curriculum, and policy for graduate programs.), and the Teacher Education Committee’s Unit Screening Committee (This committee oversees entrance standards for undergraduate education candidates.). Serving in a less formal capacity are the Elementary/Middle School Coordinating Team, the Secondary Coordinating Team, and the Graduate Coordinating Team. These teams are comprised of faculty members who are teaching within these respective areas. They meet throughout each semester, with the purpose of organizing, coordinating, and scheduling.
Recruiting and Admission Practices
The unit’s recruiting and admission practices are described clearly and consistently in publications and catalogs. Recruiting for CSC is primarily the responsibility of the Admissions Unit. The college utilizes its website and television advertising for recruitment as well as the traditional methods of personal, telephone, and mail contact. The marketing team, in conjunction with the education unit, advertises the programs. The CSC website identifies additional recruitment publications and states the process and qualifications for admission to the teacher education program (Exhibit 6.5). The general admission process, qualifications for Chadron State College, and the qualifications for candidacy can be found in the college General Catalog (Exhibit 6.6).
Accurate Publications
CSC’s academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading policies, and advertising are accurate and current. The academic calendar and catalogs are set by the faculty Academic Review Committee. All departments within the college are represented on this committee. The academic calendar and catalog are reviewed by the Vice President of Academic Affairs and the Deans with assistance from department chairs and faculty. The information is disseminated to students through advising, the Chadron State College General Catalog 2011-2013, Chadron State College Graduate Catalog 2011-2013 (located at: ),the student handbook, via the academic advisors, syllabi, student government, and the orientation for incoming first year students.
The Enrollment Management and Student Services unit overseas the College and Media Relations Unit which coordinates the marketing for the college. All departments have input into the process and planning for marketing. Individual departments on campuswork closely with the Office of Media Relations to ensure accuracy and current content in advertising and publications. The staff in the Office of Media Relations has strived to maintain and improve consistent communication with academic departments in recent years by assigning marketing liaisons to each of the institution’s schools.
Grading policies are provided to students and stakeholders through the student handbook and individual course syllabi. Faculty members develop, monitor, and enforce the grading policy within their courses. The policies are found in each course syllabi. There is also a grade appeal process that would enforce the grading policy (Exhibit 6.7).
Access to Student Services
The unit ensures that candidates have access to student services such as advising and counseling. The candidates within the undergraduate programs are provided student advisement and services through an individual department advisor, the MyCSC communication system, and the Student Transition and Registration Team (START) office (Exhibit 6.8). All students, upon entry into the college, are assigned a START advisor who has met with every academic department for training about how to best work with each department’s first year students, and who are trained to build first semester course schedules and view financial aid information for students.
Students also have free access to the campus Career & Academic Planning Services (CAPS) office (Exhibit 6.9). Students will find a link on the CAPS webpage to the Advising Center which is staffed by Advising Center staff and faculty who volunteer their time. The CAPS office includes a personal counseling program and career center.
Along with the Advising Center, there is a student tutoring/writing center on the first floor of the main dorm complex on campus. Student tutors from all disciplines are available through a sign-up method for tutoring and writing advice and instruction. Tutors work one-on-one with students.
The advanced degree candidates are assigned an advisor by the Graduate Dean in consultation with the academic departments. The Graduate Office communicates with the candidates as they progress through the program through email and letters via the US Postal Service. The graduate candidate advisors, as well as the graduate candidates, have access to the MyCSC electronic communication system.
Counseling and disability services are available for every CSC student. Students can self-refer, be referred by housing (Resident Assistants and Resident Directors), faculty, friends, family, and/or through health services. They may also be sanctioned to attend counseling sessions because of an infraction of housing policies. CSC students have the option to be additionally counseled by private counselors or psychologist outside of the institution (Exhibit 6.10).
Collaboration with P-12 Practitioners
The unit and other faculty collaborate with P-12 practitioners in program design, delivery, and evaluation of the unit and its programs. The Teacher Education Committee is representative of the CSC campus, relative to programs assisting in the preparation of teachers, administrators, and school counselors. Two regional school administrators serve as members of the Teacher Education Committee. These individuals provide the unit with an additional view of P-12 education. Assessment documents as well as the assessment data are brought to the Teacher Education Committee. The administrators, as members, participate in the review of documents.
The Educational Service Unit (ESU 13), within the CSC region, has Educational Unit faculty members as participants in two of their advisory groups. CSC utilizes these positions as a means of communication with the ESU. Also, the field director meets with focus groups of administrators at a minimum of twice during the academic year.
P-12 school teachers within the school systems provide the laboratory for the EDUC 300/320 Observation and Participation course activities of the candidates assisting with the delivery and operation of the teacher education program. P-12 school cooperating teachers, through the teacher intern program, also assist in the operations of the program through evaluation of candidate performance.
Unit Coordination
Departments offering teaching endorsement programs have a designated faculty member who serves as the teacher educator and instructor of record for specialization instruction within his/her respective content area. All content area teacher educators are members of the education unit and serve as members of the Teacher Education Committee. The Teacher Education Committee meets monthly during the academic year to address questions pertaining to curriculum, policy, and operational issues affecting the function of the unit; bridging the gap between content area studies and professional studies programming. The minutes of the Teacher Education Committee are located at the following the link (Exhibit 6.11 and Exhibit 6.3).
Unit Budget
Budget Allocations
The Education Department budget serves to support professional education instruction in clinical experiences, special education, early childhood education, early childhood unified education (combination of special education and early childhood education) and elementary education. Content education is housed within the respective disciplines of art, science, business, family and consumer sciences, physical education and health, social sciences, English, special education, music, and theatre. Elementary education content is also supported across disciplines of family and consumer sciences (early childhood education), math, music, and theatre. Due to the integration of the teacher education program throughout the institution, the budget supporting teacher education is infused throughout the institutional academic budget (Exhibit 6.12).
The college restructured the administrative organization beginning with the 2011-2012 academic year. A part of this redesign involved a change in the structure of the budget for academic units. This redistribution of the budget provides for better accountability of spending patterns and allows the college to establish and maintain the new initiatives associated with the new strategic plan of the institution. The Education Department budget is in alignment with other departments on the campus. The individual department budgets throughout the college have been stable over the past five years. (Exhibit 6.13).
The Education Department budget supports travel for faculty to attend Educational Service Unit meetings, and meetings with statewide teacher education professionals to be engaged in teaching and advising at distance location, and to work with area schools. Faculty has available to them approximately $900 to $1500 for professional development. Faculty members have access to a pool of research dollars for scholarship related to applied and action research. The unit head’s budget also provides support for office functions of the professional staff and office assistants.
This major change in budget allocations was due to the focusing of human and physical resources to better strategically address the teaching and learning needs of the 21st century. The planning process involved a group of faculty members, professional staff, and administrators in re-imagining the institution amid (1) rapidly developing technology, (2) rising expectations, and (3) declining revenues. This change was college-wide and based on public data and research relative to these three drivers of change. The college has placed financial resources into developing a teaching and learning center to enhance quality of learning for all students. The education unit and faculty have been a part of the campus-wide initiatives for development and improvement of the learning environment at the college.
Personnel
Workload policies, including class size and online course delivery, allow faculty members to be effectively engaged in teaching, scholarship, assessment, advisement, collaborative work in P-12 schools, and service. The workloads for teaching, scholarship, and service activities are established by the institution and through the negotiated agreement for the Nebraska State College System. The full time tenure track faculties carry a 30 credit hour workload per academic year; 24 credit hours for teaching, and 6 credit hours for scholarship and service.
The teaching workload includes instruction, advising, independent study, and supervision. Scholarship includes applied research, presentations, publications, grants, and professional leadership roles. Service includes working on campus committees, working with P-12 districts, and service to the professional community.
Unit faculty teaching only undergraduate courses have a teaching working load of 24 hours per fall/spring schedule. The unit faculty members carry reduced teaching loads if they teach graduate courses. Unit faculty with two or more graduate courses per semester have 18 credit hour teaching loads per fall/spring schedule, faculty members with one graduate course have 21 credit hour teaching loads per fall/spring schedule. Faculty members in areas outside of the unit teach 24 credit hour teaching loads per academic year, whether or not they have graduate courses. The 24 credit hour load is the load set by the institution and the negotiated agreement. The reduced loads for unit faculty are reflective of accreditation requirements at the state level and recommendations from NCATE. Summer workloads are treated as an independent contract and are not to exceed a total of 9 credit hours throughout the May, June, and July summer terms. (Exhibit 6.14 – faculty loads)
The supervision of teacher interns is included as part of the teaching load and assigned as 1 credit hour per five visits to the elementary student teacher site and a half (.5) credit hour per three visits to the secondary student teacher site. Secondary and middle grades teacher interns are supervised by both the professional education faculty and the specialty discipline faculty. The Education Department faculty member visits the secondary teacher intern three times per semester, and the specialty discipline faculty member visits the secondary intern two times per semester. Elementary level interns are visited by an elementary education faculty member five times per semester. All CSC faculty loads within the Education Department meet the standards set by the State and the recommendations set by NCATE.