PTEAC Minutes
Thursday, September 22, 2016
302E DEV
3:00 PM
Present: Campbell, Cimitile, Coffey, Evans (Recorder), Helder, King (Chair), McDonell, Owens, Pettes-Guikema, Pickett, Rozema, Tutt, White, Ysasi, Zwart
I. Welcome (Caryn King)
A. State is considering changing rules for secondary certification – will announce formally at upcoming DARTEP meeting
i. MDE may remove requirement of teachable minor
ii. This would not preclude GVSU from requiring a teachable minor, but it would remove the requirement for a subject area test
B. Process for Administrative Rules Changes
i. MDE will vet the process at DARTEP
ii. Gather feedback from Teacher Education and Public
iii. Tweak recommendations
iv. Make recommendation to State Superintendent
v. Change considered for 2018-19
C. Discussion
i. Many schools will not hire secondary teacher candidates who are only certified to teach one subject
II. PRE Data on GVSU Students (Rob Rozema)
A. Research studying the problems with the PRE over the past year
i. Collective scores since the inception of the PRE
ii. Scores began poor, have declined to present
iii. The lowest scoring area remains the students’ performances on the writing portion of the PRE
B. Analysis against ACT score data
i. Universities with higher ACT scores generally do better on the PRE
a. GVSU exceeded these expectations
b. ACT mean of our teachable majors versus our PRE pass rates
c. The higher the ACT score of the major; the better the performance on the PRE
ii. Comparative analysis of those who took the PRE, ACT Mean rates, and their teachable majors at GVSU
iii. Aggregated by race and ethnicity at GVSU, for approximately 2 years of testing, we find that 10/10 African-American students failed and 11/11 Hispanic students failed
a. We have a 0% pass rate among African-Americans and Hispanics
b. Similar results are exhibited at other institutions in the State of Michigan
c. The PRE data also exhibits a slight gender bias
C. Analysis of test areas: Reading, Writing, and Math
i. Math majors taking the PRE have a 90% pass rate on the math portion of the PRE
ii. English majors taking the PRE have a 36% pass rate on the writing portion of the PRE
a. What is it about Math majors that is different?
1. Test taking skills that are commonly required of one discipline may not be as strong in another
b. What is it about the writing exam and why are our students performing so poorly on it?
1. Disconnect between what writing actually is and what the test purports to measure
D. PRE’s Financial Consideration
i. Declining pass rates on PRE Writing requires retake attempts
ii. Denser pool of failure – by the fifth test attempt, students have a 6% statistical pass rate
iii. Each retake is a financial consideration for students, Pearson, and the State of Michigan
a. $50 for the paper based test or $140 for the computer based test
b. State is phasing out the paper based test and offering the minimum number of test dates test allowable by law
E. Discussion
i. Teacher perspective is either we aren’t teaching students the curriculum well enough, or it is a really, really bad test
ii. Do students know exactly what is causing them to fail a particular portion of the test?
a. Not necessarily
iii. What about stereotype threat?
a. It is a concern
iv. Stakeholder planning meeting for Office of Professional Preparation Services (OPPS)
a. Kevin would like to bring these data to this meeting for consideration
v. Data from review sessions – we are now looking at if those have caused any improvement
a. Initial indicators is that we have not budged the pass rate
vi. Resources provided/discussed, available at www.gvsu.edu/English/pre
vii. What is your argument for a replacement?
a. The SAT is nationally normed, free for high school students, and aligned with state and national curricula
b. Praxis is more expensive, but the state would not accept a more expensive (and better) test
i. Comparisons to other states, their tests, cut scores, and pass rates
ii. The notion of standardization falls flat
III. Placements for Science and Social Studies Pre-service Teachers (Kevin Tutt)
A. What can we do to ensure that Social Studies Pre-service Teachers can teach their subject area in Elementary placements?
i. Science/Social Studies faculty can recommend placements to COE Placement Coordinators
ii. It is important/related to accreditation SPA reporting, as our students must teach their major in their Elementary placements
a. It would be helpful if faculty know of quality placements in the field that they are shared with SISC
b. There are parameters that may prevent these placements
1. Federal definitions of high needs
2. Cooperating teachers can only have a TA/ST every three years in some districts
B. Discussion
i. Is there a reason why our Elementary candidates are not mandated to teach one placement in lower elementary and another in middle school?
a. Lower elementary and upper elementary
b. Needs to be in a self-contained classroom, and this is often not the case in middle school settings
c. Competition with need to place secondary students in middle schools
ii. Are there CAEP considerations?
a. State’s consideration; not necessarily a CAEP consideration
IV. Ideal Characteristics/Qualifications of an Elementary/Special Education Placement Coordinator (Caryn King)
A. Appreciation expressed for Brian Williams’s practice of effectively communicating the placements considered to see if CLAS faculty had any red flags to raise
i. More effective, collaborative communication to ensure that the needs of the academic programs are being met, considered, heard
ii. Willingness to network in the schools, communities, etc. is important
iii. Co-collaborating with the schools/university to make sure that we’re finding the best people to cooperatively teach in the schools
iv. Cohort models are excellent, and powerful experiences for our students
a. Data collection is continuing
b. Alpine is proving to be a fantastic success
c. 8/8 from the first year were hired in Michigan schools
d. Cohort models and paired placements will also help us meet CAEP standards
1. Provide professional development for our cooperating teachers
2. Cohort models facilitate this with one location, shared expectations, consistent feedback, common language, etc.
v. To make a persuasive argument, one must be a very good listener
a. Someone who genuinely likes people
b. Empathy
c. Collaborative
d. Listening
V. Update on Possible PRE Relief (Caryn King)
A. Possible reconsideration of cut scores for those who would be able to use alternative measures to opt out of the PRE with ACT test scores
i. Lobbying the State Superintendent’s Office to lower the ACT opt out score from 24 to 22 in writing in order to be consistent with reading and math opt out scores
ii. Possible entrance exam relief
iii. Caryn King to report back to PTEAC following the DARTEP meeting in early October
a. MACTE is also addressing this issue with Superintendent Whitson
b. All institutions are advocating for some PRE relief
c. SAT scores, praxis, lower ACT opt out scores – some relief is needed to address a looming teaching shortage
d. This is a self-made crisis
iv. Lack of access to ACT scores
a. The College of Education is working on a policy to ensure all students provide access to their ACT scores (need to get this recorded in Banner for all students)
b. This is a simple solution, and short-lived with the move from ACT to SAT for Michigan College Admissions
VI. Update on Teachable Minors (Maria Cimitile)
VII. Announcements
A. Unrest from social studies on Charter School and College of Education Scholarship
i. Dean Kanpol is currently meeting with President Haas, Tim Wood, Tom Butcher, Matt McLogan, and Mayor Duggan
a. Barry’s philosophy is focused on benefitting the K-12 students in the classroom
ii. How many students do we pull out of GRPS by doing this?
a. Caryn’s recommendation is to study this through comparative analysis
iii. Concern expressed that students placed in Charter Schools run the risk of not being hired in public schools
a. Charter schools are public schools and are mandated to meet the same regulations
iv. Workload issues for CLAS TA/ST supervisors
a. Creates capstone issues for students that may be unnecessary
v. This could be really beneficial for many students living on the East side of the state
a. 22% of our students are from Wayne, Oakland, Macomb counties
vi. College of Education is planning a bus/truck tour on Friday, September 30, 2016
a. Students considering Detroit placements will visit Charter Schools in Detroit
B. Math Conference – details from David Coffey
C. Cooperating Teacher Conference and Upcoming Fire-up Conferences detailed
D. Michigan Association of School Psychologists are having their national conference at GVSU
i. Discounted rate for students
ii. More information on the MASA website
E. Certificate of International Teaching Experience flyer distributed
VIII. Adjourned