ACEI-QUEST Hunter College of the City University of New York 3
Cover Sheet Goes Here
Hunter College 2 Context Statement
Standards e
ACEI-QUEST Hunter College of the City University of New York 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Quest Context Statement
Section 1: Basic Factual Information
Program Data
Section 2: Relevant Policies and Practices
Education as collateral major
Strong liberal arts and science preparation
Paired field experience and didactic courses
Six-semester sequence
Four-semester sequence
Role of Coordinator of Child Education Programs and Director of Clinical Experiences
Field site selection and school district partnerships
Admission requirements
QUEST progress standards
Required professional development workshops
Technology and enhanced access for QUEST students
Lincoln Center
Diversity of Faculty
Support of the Office of Educational Services (OES)
Teacher placement services
Section 3: Faculty Evaluation of Strengths
Candidate proficiency
Section 4: QUEST Assessment System
Evaluation of Candidate Proficiencies
Admission
Progress Standards
General education core
Content core
Pedagogical core
Use of multiple measures to capture candidate proficiencies
Establishment and utilization of required candidate performance levels
Maintenance of bias-free judgments
On-going program evaluation
Section 5: State Regulations-Undergraduate-Any Unique State Requirements for K-6
Section 6:
Program of Study
Faculty Judgments
Admission
Courses
QUEST faculty meetings
Retention
Hunter College 2 Table of ContentsContext Statement
Standards Tablee
ACEI-QUEST Hunter College of the City University of New York 3
ELEMENTARY TEACHER PREPARATION
PROGRAM REPORT COVERSHEET
For review by the
ASSOCIATION FOR CHILDHOOD EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
Submitted by: Hunter College of the City University of New YorkSchool of Education
Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Address:
695 Park Ave., Room 1023 West
New York, NT 10021
Date: September 15, 2002
Chief compiler: Nancy de la Cruz-Arroyo
Phone(212) 772-4638
Fax (212) 772-5334
Program name: Quality Urban Elementary School Teachers Program (QUEST)
Degree level: B. A.______
Check levels of specialty professional association programs offered:
Initial__X___
Advanced_____
Date of on-site visit_____Spring 2004______
List all attachments included with this elementary program report:
Transition plan to performance based assessment
Teacher candidate work samples: (1) journal reflections and (2) Social Studies Thematic Unit
A.
Hunter College 22 Context StatementContext Statement
Standards e
ACEI-QUEST Hunter College of the City University of New York 3
QUEST Context Statement
SECTION 1:
Basic Factual Information
Quality Urban Elementary School Teacher (QUEST) program is thea Hunter College undergraduate childhood education teacher preparation program. The program provides candidates with an academic course of study leading to a Bachelors of Arts degree upon successful completion of all coursework in the required liberal arts and the collateral major, Childhood Education. Undergraduate he program is an academic course of study leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree in which candidates must successfully complete coursework in both a liberal arts major as well as the required collateral coursework in Childhood Education. QUEST candidates can majorare encouraged to major in one of the following liberal arts content areas: Biology, Chemistry, English Language Arts, Geography, History, Mathematics, or Social Studies.
QUEST prepares candidates to become New York State teachers with initial certification in Childhood Education, Grades 1-6. QUEST is an integrated, 30-credit program completed over either four or six semesters, which includes extensive field experiences attached to didactic courses. During each semester in QUEST teacher candidates are in the field at least one day a week. The six-semester sequence is designed for students who enter Hunter College as freshmaen and the four-semester sequence is designed for transfer students and other students who do not apply to QUEST until they have completed 40 or more credits.
QUEST is committed to the preparation of teachers for urban elementary schools whothat can deal effectively with the wide range of diverse learning needs found among the city’s student population. These teacher candidates are prepared to fulfill the assorted roles required in complex urban schools. An integral component of this program and preparation of teacher candidates is the comprehensive collaboration with New York City public schools, which provide teacher candidates with outstanding field experiences.
Program Ddata
While QUEST has existed since the 1970-s, the newly registered program (submitted here for review) has only admitted students since Fall 20201.
In the fall of 1998, the program had enrolled approximately 232 teacher candidates. The numbers decreased to 196 in the fall of 1999 ,and to 147 iIn the fall of 20010 and 153 in Fall 2001teacher candidates were enrolled in the QUEST program in the fall of 2001. The current student enrollment for Fall 2002 is 168 students. This figure includes candidates completing the old version and candidates starting the reregisteredre-registration version of QUEST.The decrease in enrollment seems to be due to the more stringent admissions requirements in the teacher education programs in general. Moreover, Apapproximately 60% of students who generally apply to the QUEST program are transfer students. Many are admitted to Hunter College having 60 or more credits. Applying to the QUEST program with more than 60 credits often will delay the graduation date for a semester or two since transfer students must identify a liberal arts major, fulfill the requirements for that major, meet the prerequisites for admission to QUEST and fulfill the QUEST requirements. Therefore, a significant number opt to postpone pursuing teacher education on the undergraduate level and apply to Hunter College’s graduate Childhood Education program. Approximately 85% of the teacher candidates admitted to QUEST chose English Language Arts as their first major. The remainder of candidates selected History, Math, and English as their liberal arts major. In 2001, teacher candidate enrollment for QUEST was 153, a slight increase from the fall 2000 cohort. Attrition rate for QUEST is systematically low, averaging a less than a 3% dropout rate. Retention rates remain high with the majority of students completing the program within their designated program time frame. QUEST graduates return to Hunter for a master’s degree, the graduate training required for professional NYS certification. Using the graduate Literacy Program as an example, 30% of new teacher candidates admitted to the program are from our undergraduate programs.
In 2002, approximately ______students are enrolled in QUEST. T the QUEST teacher candidate composition is ethnically diverse with a majority (95%) of the candidates being female and 5% maleand representative of New York City’s population: approximately 15% African-American, 25% Latino, 15% Asian, and 45% Caucasian of whom 20% are recent immigrants or first generation American citizenss. Approximately 90% of the teacher candidates commute from the five boroughs of New York City with the remainder commuting from surrounding areas in New York State. A majority of the candidates ____%Another characteristic of QUEST teacher candidates is that many must work to support themselves or contribute financially to their families.
QUEST teacher candidates must take portions of the New York State Teacher Certification Examination during the program. Scores on the Professional Knowledge/Pedagogy portion (ATS-W) for Hunter College for theollege for the program year 1999-20002000-2001 indicate that of the 267 307 students teacher candidates who took thise exam, 986% of the students passed the Professional Knowledge/Pedagogy. Scores on the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test ( LAST) for the same year indicate that of the 276 316 who took the exam 963% of the students passed the test that measures general knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences.. (NEED TO DETERMINE BREAKDOWN FOR SCORES)
A significant number _____% of of QUEST teacher candidates upon completion of their degree are hired by the New York City Public Schools and in particular, by the school districts that have an on-going collaboration with Hunter College.
SECTION 2:
Relevant Policies and Practices
There are a series of policies and practices that govern the implementation of the QUEST program. These policies and practices represent the cumulative wisdom of three decades of experience in field-based undergraduate childhood education within the context of a strong liberal arts and sciences undergraduate college environment.
Education as collateral major
Participation in QUEST requires the selection of a liberal arts major to be combined with the collateral Education major. One cannot major in education on the undergraduate level at Hunter College. The collateral education major is a 30-credit major that includes three, 75-hour internships and Ione full semester of student teaching. The selection of liberal arts majors has been limited to content areas that are a part of the curricula of grades 1-6.The majority of the courses in QUEST are two- credit courses. Teacher candidates can complete the program over four or six semesters.
Strong liberal arts and science preparation
In addition to the requirement of a liberal arts and sciences major, there is clear support for a comprehensive general education for QUEST teacher candidates. Teachers in elementary schools are required to teach all subject areas in the curriculum and thus need a broad liberal arts background in addition to specialized knowledge of teaching. Therefore, QUEST teacher candidates are required to complete a general education core in the arts and sciences that includes the following courses:
· ENGLISH 120 Expository Writing (or equivalent) with a grade of at least "B-"
· ENGLISH 220 Introduction to Literature
· MATH 104 Mathematics for Elementary Education Part I and MATH 105 Mathematics for Elementary Education Part II
· HISTORY 151 U.S. from the Colonial Era to the Civil War and HISTORY 152 U.S. from the Civil War to the Present
· GEOG 101 People and Their Environment
· Two semesters of science, at least one of which is a laboratory science
· 6 credits in the arts
· CSCI 115 Educational Technology
· HED 314 Health Education for Children
· At least 6 credits in the study of a language other than English (The Hunter College distribution requirement is 12 credits or the equivalent.)
These courses also fulfill aspects of the general education distribution requirements of Hunter College. Since the Hunter College Senate has recently approved a new set of requirements, General Education Requirement (GER), to replace the previous Distribution Requirements system, these core education requirements will have to be reviewed and revised where necessary to reflect be compatible with the new GER structure.
In addition, like all Hunter College undergraduates, QUEST teacher candidates must complete the Pluralism and Diversity Requirements. This policy mandates that all undergraduates must take a total of 12 credits in the following manner:
· 3 credits in Non-European societies, particularly those of Africa, Asia, Latin America or those indigenous to the Americas.
· 3 credits in American minorities in the United States of America: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans.
· 3 credits in Women and/ or issues of gender or sexual orientation.
· 3 credits in Europe or derived from Europe, including the ways in which pluralism and diversity have been addressed.
Paired field experience and didactic courses
From the first semester in QUEST, teacher candidates take two didactic courses and an associated field course. For example, in the second semester of the 6-semester model, QUEST teacher candidates take a foundations course, Child Growth and Development, a curriculum course, Developmental Reading and Fieldwork I, a 75-hour school-based internship. In the field courses teacherQUEST teacher candidates have weekly, college-supervised experiences in urban classrooms. ExperiencedKnowledgeable classroom teachers also guide the QUEST teacher candidates during their field experiences. These weekly experiences take place during a full day in a school under with additional the supervision of provided by two faculty members. The faculty members are the instructors for the paired QUEST education courses for each semester. Over the course of the program the role of teacher candidates include observation, tutoring individual students, instruction with small groups and whole class instruction.
Six-sSemester sSequence
Students admitted to the program with 30 credits must have attained a minimum Hunter College Grade Point Average of 2.75 or better, received a score of at least 12 points on part III of the CUNY Math Test or completed Math 101, passed English 120 or a 200- or 300-level writing course with a grade of B- or better, have no more than 6 credits of CR/NC grades. If they have more than 6 credits of CR/NC, these gradesy are calculated as “C” or “F” to determine minimum GPA. The applicant , must declare an approved liberal arts or sciences major: mathematics, biology, chemistry, English Language Arts, geography, history, and social studies (an option within either the history or geography major). All students admitted must provide proof of TB test taken within the last two years. In this model teacher candidates take 5-6 QUEST credits or two or three QUEST courses in each semester. The remainder of their full time course load should include liberal arts courses, including courses in their liberal arts major.
Four-Ssemester sSequence
The four-semester sequence is designed for students who have transferred to Hunter College and other Hunter College students who have completed 40 credits. The requirements are as follows: completed 40-70 credits toward the Bachelor’s degree, transfer students with 60 or more credits with GPA of 3.3 or better and a grade of B or better in English 120 do not have to present Hunter College grades before admission to QUEST. Transfer students with GPA’s between 2.75 and 3.29 must complete 12 credits of course work at Hunter College with a GPA of at least 2.75 before a final decision is made on their application to QUEST and must meet all program requirements. The four-semester model is very intense with teacher candidates scheduled for 6-8 credits of QUEST courses each semester. This generally requires the teacher candidate to take 4 QUEST courses in each semester except for the last semester, when the teacher candidate takes 2 QUEST courses. If the teacher candidate wants to graduate after 4 semesters at Hunter, then the candidate must also complete the requirements for their liberal arts major at the same time.
Role of QUEST CoordinatorCoordinator of Child Education ProgramsCoordinator of Programs in Childhood Education and Director of Clinical Field Experiences
The identification of field sites and the selection of teachers within those sites require the cooperation of the Coordinator of QUEST Childhood Education Programs and the Director of Clinical Field Experiences. As QUEST teacher candidates are “in the field” every semester, it is important that sites be selected that maximize the opportunities for them to gain pedagogical competence while acquiring the specific knowledge and skills associated with a particular course content. Thus, the cooperation of the Coordinator of Programs in Childhood Education and the Director ensures that the required field experiences are distributed across a range of school sites. They work collaboratively to develop field sites, advise and place students. The Director of Childhood Education Programs has general administrative and advisement roles with QUEST students and faculty. It is important that sites be selected that maximize the opportunities for QUEST candidates to gain pedagogical competence in general while acquiring the specific knowledge and skills associated with specific a particular course content. The cooperation of the QUEST CoordinatorCoordinator of Child Education Programs and the Director also ensures that the required field experiences that are a part of every teacher education program are distributed across a range of school sites.