4a. Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences
Curriculum, field experiences, and clinical practice promote candidates’ development of knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions related to diversity identified in the unit’s conceptual framework. They are based on well developed knowledge bases for, and conceptualizations of, diversity and inclusion so that candidates can apply them effectively in schools. Candidates learn to contextualize teaching and draw effectively on representations from the students’ own experiences and cultures. They challenge students toward cognitive complexity and engage all students, including English language learners and students with exceptionalities, through instructional conversation. Candidates and faculty regularly review candidate assessment data on candidates’ ability to work with all students and develop a plan for improving their practice and the institution’s programs. /
- Learning Outcomes: Initial and Advanced
- Recently published scholarship supports the unit’s learning outcomes for addressing diversity and inclusion.
- The unit requires its teacher candidates to demonstrate their sensitivity to and appreciation for diversity and inclusion via theTeacher Work Sample Portfolio. In this document,teacher candidates must exhibit how their instructional processes will be differentiated to meet the unique and diverse needs of the learners under their charge.
4b. Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty
Candidates in conventional and distance learning programs interact with professional education faculty, faculty in other units, and school faculty from a broad range of diverse groups. Higher education and school faculty with whom candidates work throughout their preparation program are knowledgeable about and sensitive to preparing candidates to work with diverse students, including students with exceptionalities. /
- Within the unit, teacher candidates are exposed to racially, ethnically and gender diverse professors. External to the unit, including the broader university context and clinical placements, teacher candidates interact with professional faculty whose commitment to diversity and inclusion is evidenced by their promotion and usage of multimodal and differentiated teaching strategies.
- Although 21% of the faculty have not reported their ethnic composition, 15.72% of the faculty at KeanUniversity are of color and represent such ethnicities as Asian, Black, and Hispanic backgrounds.
- Whereas a previously submitted Institutional report reflected an 8% disparity in gender diversity, recent data show Kean University has a close balance between its male and female faculty with 49.2% representing males and 50.7% representing females.
4c. Experience Working with Diverse Candidates
Candidates engage in professional education experiences in conventional and distance learning programs with candidates from the broad range of diverse groups. The active participation of candidates from diverse cultures and with different experiences is solicited, valued, and promoted in classes, field experiences, and clinical practice. Candidates reflect on and analyze these experiences in ways that enhance their development and growth as professionals. /
- Kean University is proud of its ranking as one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, as noted by Diversity Inc.
- Demographic data of the student body reflects immense variation by ethnicity, including 46.9% White, 19.9% Black/African American, 19.9.0% Latino or Hispanic, and at least 6.1% reporting Asian/Pacific Islander.
- Of the institution’s full-time undergraduate students, 39.5% are male and 60.5 % are female.
- Teacher candidates gain exposure to diverse perspectives via the unit’s Professional Development Schools Model Cohorts. The cohorts provide a support system within the clinical settings and afford teacher candidates numerous opportunities to reflect upon and dialogue about their interactions with other teacher candidates whose values and beliefs may be different from their own.
4d. Experience Working with Diverse Students in P-12 Schools
Extensive and substantive field experiences and clinical practices for both conventional and distance learning programs are designed to encourage candidates to interact with exceptional students and students from a broad range of diverse groups. The experiences help candidates confront issues of diversity that affect teaching and student learning and develop strategies for improving student learning and candidates’ effectiveness as teachers. /
- Clinical experiences are conducted in both rural/suburban settings and urban multicultural settings.
- The professional education unit affords candidates opportunities to work with P – 12 students at its internally based ChildCareCenter, CampusSchool, Speech Clinic, and Reading Clinic.
- Diverse experiences with students in P – 12 schools are also facilitated through university programs such as Project Adelante and Adelante Scholars.
- The Teacher Work Sample Portfoliorequires teacher candidates to reflect upon their experiences working with diverse student populations in both urban and rural/suburban settings. Candidates must demonstrate their understanding of the contextual factors that influence their students’ learning and how modifications in their teaching strategies may be required to help students master curriculum content.