To: Faculty Colleagues in Teacher and Educational
Leader Preparation Programs
Fr: Randy Hendricks
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Re: Fourth Annual Report on Progress Toward Implement Regents’ Principles
and
Actions for the Preparation of Educators for the Schools
Dt: March 28, 2002
Be forewarned. This is a lengthy and detailed memo. But it is also an important one.
As most of you are aware, we have been required each year since the inception of the plan in 1998 to submit an annual report on our progress toward implementing the Board of Regents’ Principles and Actions for the Preparation of Educators. We must submit our fourth annual report to the Regents’ Office by May 31, 2002.
This year the report must be comprehensive (last year we were required to submit an update). Because 2002 graduates of teacher preparation programs are the first affected by the 1998 Regents’ policy, we are required to report evidence of the impact of our implementation for the 1998 principles as well as evidence of our programs and plans in place for the principles that were added in August 2001. Earlier this semester we received from the Regents’ Office a new set of rubrics to be used in preparing the report.
I have created a web document to help organize the report. You can find it at http://www.westga.edu/~rhendric/fourthannualreport.html. Below I describe what the document contains and then the requests I am making of each of you addressed by this memo.
The Document
The document serves as a template for writing the report, with some
additional apparatus such as links and text that provide information.
It represents a compilation of four other documents: the 2002 Rubrics,
the Regents Principles and Actions (rev. August 2002), and our own Second
and Third Annual Progress Reports. The document is broken down
as follows:
· Directions. A link to an online version of this memo
located at the front of the document.
· A tabular index with links to each of the rubrics that govern
our report.
· Two main sections: I Teachers and II Leaders
· Within each main section, three subsections: I. Inputs,
II. Performance, III. Results
· Subsections are further divided by the multiple rubric items
Each one of these include
1) a statement of the principle followed by the date of its inception
(either 1998 or 2001) as written by Regents’
staff
2) a 0-4 item rubric we are to use to rate our performance for each
principle.
3) a link to the Regents Principles, with reference to the specific
principle addressed in the rubric item (for information as needed)
4) links to either our Second or our Fourth Annual report, depending
on which of these we provided the most recent or most comprehensive information
related to the particular principle covered by the rubric. In a few
instances both are included. (These links are to provide you with
information as needed)
5) text cut and pasted from either the Second or Third Annual Report,
or in a few instances from both. (These appear right now in various
shades of red. The variation represents nothing more than my nervous
trigger finger on the mouse. I will go back and adjust these to a
uniform shade that is easiest on the eyes.)
Request
I ask that the individual identified beside each link take responsibility
for generating the evidence we will use for that section of our report.
In most cases those identified are department chairs, coordinators, directors,
or committee chairs with responsibilities in teacher and/or leader preparation
programs. In a couple of instances they are faculty members who I
believe are the most familiar with education programs within their departments.
And I have asked for Dean Layton’s assistance in many areas that cut across
programs.
I fully expect that you will involve colleagues in the process as appropriate, and department chairs may wish to designate faculty members within their departments to do the work. More specifically the task will be
· to update the evidence we provided in our
Second and Third Annual Reports with new evidence that directly addresses
the rubrics
· to make sure that we are providing evidence
of “impact” for 1998 Principles and of “programs and plans in place” for
2001 Principles
· to recommend a single rating for our performance
on each section, based on the evidence you provide. Final ratings
for the institution may be adjusted before we submit the report.
“Level 4 should be used on each rubric to indicate that an institution
meets or exceeds that particular component of the Principles” (from the
cover letter for the 2002 Rubrics)
· to submit the evidence and the suggested
rating for each rubric to me in a Word file e-mail attachment by Wednesday
May 8 at the latest.
Navigating the Site
The site is designed to enable you to work with the sections you need
to without wading through the entire document and to easily print just
the sections you need if you prefer working with hard copy. In the
cases in which there are multiple links within a cell in the index (Stronger
Content—HS, Field Experience—HS, etc) you will need to click on the top
link to get the rubric and then the appropriate link beneath it for the
other information.
The Leaders Section
Because this is the first time we have had to report on our leadership
programs separately, we have not in the past generated information in a
fashion that made it easy for me to break it into sections under the rubrics.
I have therefore entered those sections from our previous reports separately
at the beginning of the section (There is one exception in the case of
the rubric under the Guarantee. Here I have simply repeated the information
under the corresponding rubric in the Teachers section). You can
access your information by clicking on the appropriate link in the first
cell, then access each of the rubrics in the remaining cells. As
you work up the evidence to be used in your updates, please use the rubrics
to organize what you report.
For the purposes of the report, leaders are defined as principals and superintendents. I have included those programs that appear to me to play a significant role in the preparation of such leaders. If I have left some off that should be included, or included some that really don’t belong (I wasn’t quite sure about the Director of Special Education, for example), please let me know.
Because the section of the Principles on School Counseling is under revision, we are not required to report on School Counseling.
Finalizing the Report
I will assume the responsibility for incorporating your updates into
the online document, gradually transforming it from a template into a draft
of the report. We will all, therefore, have access to the report
as it is being compiled. When the draft is finished, I will produce
a Word version for Dr. Hynes’ to review before he submits the three required
hard copies to the Regents’ Office by May 31.
Communication
You have no doubt noticed that the word evidence appears frequently
here. Evidence is key to our report. If you believe that you
do not have or cannot get the evidence necessary to file the report, please
let me know right away.
Given the volume of information involved here, I fully expect I have overlooked some items or made mistakes in entering some data. Please let me know when you discover such errors so I can correct them. Also let me know if you encounter any difficulties navigating the site.
Many of you will no doubt wish to get clarification on points related to your specific sections. Rather than try to anticipate all such questions here, I’ll simply wait for you to contact me directly. I will add, however, that I am already fully aware that these requests add more work to your already busy schedules.
Please share this information and the web address widely with your colleagues.
There
is a high probability that some of them are spring-loaded with information
waiting for the touch of a trigger.
Please e-mail or call with questions. And please accept in advance my sincere thanks for your help.
Randy Hendricks
Associate Vice President for Academic Affair
6445, rhendric@westga.edu