Office of Teacher Certification

1. 0      CALL TO ORDER      Cucina

1.01 Present (Voting Members):

Megan Birch (English), Pat Cantor (Education Department), John Donovan (Math), Bill Haust (Art), Deb Mardin (Proxy-OTC), Pat May (Social Science), Louise McCormack (Health and Human Performances), Mary Ann McGarry (Biology), Holly Oliver (Music, Theatre, Dance), Marianne True (Education), James Whiting (Languages and Linguistics)

Present (Non voting members):

Christie Ahrens (College of Graduate Studies), Mary Campbell (Undergraduate Studies), Kelsey Donnelly (OTC), Edie Patridge (College of Graduate Studies)

Absent (voting Member)(s):

Kim Duncan (Chemistry), Lynnette Lawrence (College of Graduate Studies), Student                  Representative

2.0       APPROVAL OF AGENDA WITH Add-ons & PERMISSION TO DEVIATE    Cantor

2.01     Request for agenda add-ons (time permitted)

3.0       APPROVAL OF CONSENSUS ITEMS

3.01          Minutes from February 15, 2010 meeting                                             Cantor

Council approved February minutes

4.0       DISSCUSSION ITEMS

4.01     Developing a common American Disabilities Act (ADA) statement  McCormack

on all teacher certification syllabi

Bill Haust, Louise McCormack and Holly Oliver had a meeting with the common goal to add an American Disabilities Act (ADA) statement to all teacher certification syllabi.  After a short discussion the council decided that they were strongly supportive of a common statement that should be on all Syllabi University wide, not only teacher certification classes.

DISPOSITION:  The ADA committee will connect with the PASS office to see if such a statement is already in place and will report back to the council at the April meeting.

4.02     Fingerprinting Workshop                                                                              Cantor

Chief Doyle has been very helpful developing PSU’s first Fingerprinting Day which will               be sponsored by University Police.  It will be on 4/29/2010 from 10:00-2:00 in the HUB                    room 109.  The students will get this service at a special rate of $10.00.

4.02     Exit grade for student teachers                                                                     Cantor

As of right now, a student teacher only has to pass student teaching in order to be eligible for certification.  The council had a discussion to see if there should be a required GPA that a student must achieve at the end of student teaching in order to be recommended for certification.

This discussion brought forth the following motion:

Motion:  Student teachers in programs using the Pass/No Pass grading policy must receive a Pass at the end of student teaching in order to be recommended for certification. Student teachers who are in programs that has a letter grading policy must receive a “C” or better at the end of student teaching in order to be recommended for certification.

(Maker: May; Second: True)

MOTION APPROVED 11-0-0 (3 absent)

This policy will be put into the 2010 catalog, and will effect Fall 2011 student teachers                 and beyond.  This change will be printed on the road to teacher certification and will be                       mentioned to student teachers at Seminar 2.

This motion led to a discussion about the required entrance GPA and how some programs require a 2.5 and others require a 2.7.  There has been talk about having all teacher certification programs requiring at 2.7, but some programs were hesitant to do that. The possibility of keeping an overall entrance GPA of 2.5, but requiring a 2.7 GPA in all content courses was considered, and will be discussed more at a later meeting.

5.0              OLD BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

5.01    Latino Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) Summit                                   Birch

Megan Birch reminded CTE members of the opportunity for them and their students to attend the Latino Education and Advocacy Day Summit on Monday, March 29.  PSU will be offering a link to this summit, which is taking place in California.  Megan still is not sure of the room but will notify everyone where it will be available.

Holly Oliver raised the question of how other programs are preparing students to work with English language learners in schools.  James Whiting mentioned a graduate course that is being offered this summer specifically designed to prepare teachers in “mainstream” classrooms to work with English language learners.  Seniors would be eligible to take this class.  If there is a lot of interest, he might be able to develop an undergraduate version of the class.

5.02    Other Business                                                                                                  Cantor

Holly raised a question about whether student teachers can have out-of-state placements and what the process is.

DISPOSITION:  The OTC will look into the policy for student teaching out-of-state and will report back to the council at the April meeting.

MaryAnn McGarry mentioned that she and four New Hampshire teachers will be traveling to India to share with and learn from Indian and Pakistani colleagues.  See this article:

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100315/GJNEWS02/703159918/-1/CITNEWS

MaryAnn also mentioned that next month she will be bringing a proposal for changes to the Biology Education major, including bringing the major to 120 credits.  She asked the CTE members to read these carefully before the next meeting.

Louise McCormick asked for clarifications on two e-mail requests she had received from Irene, one related to how programs are addressing 21st century learning outcomes and one related to changes in the ED 300s.

5.03    Update on State review                                                                                Donnelly

State Programs on Conditional Status until 5/31/2012:

• Post Baccalaureate English
• Post Baccalaureate Elementary Education
• Computer Science
• Biology
• General Science
• SPED Administration
• New Programs on Provisional Status until 5/31/2012:
• Curriculum Administration
• Chemistry

All other programs are approved until 5/31/2015

DISPOSITION:  Irene was asked to provide the council with an accurate list of programs and an updated copy of the final report including feedback on commentary.

6.0              MOTION TO ADJOURN                                                                    Cantor

Meeting adjourned at 4:50pm.