KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
COE COURSE SYLLABUS TEMPLATE
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
EDU-541 SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION
I.
Course Description: EDU-541 Supervision of Instruction
This course is designed to provide educational personnel with a theoretical and practical understanding of the various models and approaches to the supervision of instruction. Staff development as a supervisory process will be a major emphasis. 3 ch. 3 sh.
II.
Instructor Information
Joseph McSparran, Ed.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Secondary Education
III.
Course Rationale:
One of the problems plaguing American Education is the effective assisting and assessing of instructional performance. It continues to be a topic of high interest and great dissatisfaction. It emerges as one of the recommendations in A Nation at Risk which urged that superior teachers be rewarded, average ones encouraged and poor ones improved or termination. A report by the Rand
Corporation called teacher evaluation as presently conceived underdeveloped and under conceptualized. In spite of the need for action, the less than inspiring findings of instructional supervision discourage doing more of what historically has been found to be insufficient.
The individuals responsible for implementing supervision programs often lack the prerequisite supervision skills. In recent years, there has been a development of conceptual models focusing on the use of classroom events to assist educational personnel to increase personal effectiveness. The general purpose of this course will be to investigate effective supervision, to compare and contrast the models and approaches available to supervisors, and to develop the technical skills necessary to implement these models and approaches. In addition, critical issues facing supervisors will be addressed.
IV. Course Objectives / Student Learning Outcome
A. Relationship to Standards

Course Objectives/ Student Learning Outcomes
To make an eclectic view of assisting and assessing educational personnel.
To interpret conflicting definitions and conceptions of clinical supervision.
To understand the critical process of communication
To examine the role of the supervisor in conferencing
To become familiar with data collected in classroom observations
To describe the educational issues impacting supervision.
To apply the models of supervision to school district settings
To understand the concept that anything that improves instruction is part of supervision.
To understand that supervision includes direct assistance, group development, professional development, curriculum development, and action research.
PDE SPA
B. Relationship to Conceptual Framework:
V. Assessment
A. Core Assignment (See Attachment)
1. Description of core assignment:
2. Rubric (3 column-format) Target- Acceptable – Unacceptable
Criteria Target Acceptable Unacceptable
7, 9,
10
4, 9,
10
1, 3
8, 9,
10, 3
INTASC ISTE
9, 10
9, 10
9, 10
9, 10
4,9

B. Other Assessments based on a subset of the following:
C. Grading Policies: Grading for the course will be based on total points earned on various course projects and assessments, as well as on class participation and involvement in class activities.
D.
Assignments

Textbook assignments

Formal Supervisory Functions paper

Mid-term and Final Assessments
VI.
Course Outline
A. Introduction and Overview of Course and Participants
1.
2.
3.
Need for supervision
Overview of established models
Models in historical content
B. Clinical Supervision: Model, Concept, Practice Assisting and Assessing
1.
2.
3.
The means-oriented model of supervision
The ends-oriented model of supervision
The teacher concern model of supervision
C. Instructional Supervision as Staff Development
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Stated goals
Stated procedures
Training
Voluntary participation
Administrative support
D. Process Model: Traditional Approach, Neo-Traditional Approach
1. Purpose
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Operational Focus
Peer Reviews
Faculty Responsibilities
Required Skills
Effective teaching research
Strengths and Weaknesses

E. Ends-Oriented Models
1.
2.
Purpose
Operational Focus
3.
4.
5.
6.
Peer Reviews
Faculty Responsibilities
Required Skills
Strengths and Weaknesses
F. The Teacher Concern Model; Peer Supervision/Peer Coaching
1. Purpose
2. Operational Focus
3.
4.
5.
6.
Peer Reviews
Faculty Responsibilities
Required Skills
Strengths and Weaknesses
G. Conflicts in Models; Assisting and/or Assessing
1. Specificity of the criteria of good teaching
2.
3.
4.
Locus of criteria determination
Combinations of Models in practice
The assisting/assessing dilemma
J.
I.
H. Data Collection, a Synthesis
1. Data collecting procedures
2.
3.
Types of observational systems
Summarizing and presenting the data
Conferencing Styles, Skills, Content
1.
2.
3.
Purposes of conferences
Supervisor’s responsibility
Conferencing procedures unique to each model
Supervision and Educational Issues and Individual Differences
1. Generalists verses specialists
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Holding schools more accountable
Strengthening the link between school and community
Legislative supervisory practice
Merit pay/career ladders
Technology and supervision

VII.
Tentative Schedule
Session 1- Introduction * Orientation * Course Review * Ch. 1: “Supervision for Successful
Schools” * What is Supervision? * Who is Responsible for Supervision? * Supervision as
You Know it in the Schools * Ch. 2: “The Norm: Why Schools Are the Way They Are”*
Session 2- If Many Schools are Ineffective, Why is this the Case?* The Teaching Career and School Environment as Contributors to School Effectiveness * Ch. 3:
The Exception:What Schools Can Be” * Effective Schools Research* Evaluating Research
Related to School Studies
Session 3- Supervisory Functions in Your Schools* Ch. 5: “Reflections on Schools,
Teaching, and Supervision* Effective Teaching Research *Supervisory Platforms*
Supervisory Beliefs * What Makes an Effective Supervisor?
Session 4- Ch. 6: “Supervisory Behavior Continuum: Know Thyself” Supervisory
Behaviors* Your Behavior Approach* Ch. 7: Developmental Supervision: An
Introduction* Case Study: “Hang in There…”
Session 5- Case Study: We Need to Talk ASAP * Case Study: Does the Left Hand Know
What the Right Hand is Doing…And Does it Matter?” * Ch. 8: “Directive Control
Behaviors” * Ch. 9: “Directive Informational Behaviors”
Session 6- Course Project Abstracts* Ch. 10: “Collaborative Behaviors” * Collaborative
Behaviors With Individuals and Groups * When to Use Collaborative Behaviors *
Collaboration and Cooperation * Ch. 11: “Nondirective Behaviors” * Nondirective
Behaviors With Individuals and Groups *
Session 7- Ch. 12: “Developmental Supervision: Theory and Practice” & Supervisory
Approaches * Applying Various Approaches to Supervision * Ch. 13: “Assessing and
Planning Skills” * Assessing Time * Planning Within the Organization * Individual and
Organizational Needs *
Session 8- Mid Term Assessment * Ch. 14: “Observing Skills” * Describing and
Interpreting Unique Features * Differentiated Supervision * Clinical Supervision *
Session 9- ASACD Tape: “Observation: Another Set of Eyes” * Observation Practice *
Observation Tape Assessments * Class Assessment of Taped Segments *
Session 10- Ch. 16: “Direct Assistance to Teachers” * Various Forms of Direct Assistance *
Developing a Direct Assistance Model: Union School District *Peer Coaching Model*
Session 11- Ch. 17: “Group Development” * Dimensions of an Effective Group * Grouip
Member Roles * Changing Leadership Styles * Dealing with Dysfunctional Members *
Group Meetings *Ch. 18: “Professional Development” * Why the Need for Professional
Development* The Nuts and Bolts of Professional Development *
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Session 12- Ch. 19: “Curriculum Development” * Sources of Curriculum Development *
The Purposes of Curriculum * Ch. 20: “Action Research: The School as the Center oof
Inquiry” * How Action Research is Conducted *
Session 13- Course Project Presentations
Session 14- Course Project Presentations
VIII. Other Policies
A. Accommodations
Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should privately contact the Director, Office of Service to Americans with Disabilities to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact the
Director at 610-683-4108 in the Stratton Administration Building to coordinate reasonable accommodations
B. Academic Honesty
Any acts of academic dishonesty by students, such as plagiarism on written papers or cheating on exams, threaten to undermine the educational and ethical goals of the University for its students. Such violations are of the utmost seriousness. The goal of the following policy and procedures is to promote a climate of academic honesty for all individuals at the University (The Key, p. 47).
C.
Attendance Policies

Attendance is critical to the success of each student in the class and of the class as a whole. Regular attendance is an expectation, knowing that emergencies, illnesses, etc. have to be taken into consideration throughout the term.
IX.
Instructional Resources
Acheson, K.A. & Gall, M. (1992). Techniques in the Clinical Supervision of Teachers. 3 rd
Ed.. New York: Longman.
Glickman, C.D., Gordon, S.P. & Ross Gordon, J.M. (2003). Supervision and Instructional
Leadership: A Developmental Approach: 4 th
ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sergiovani, T.J. & Staratt, R.J. (1998). Supervision: A Redefinition. 6 th
ed. New York:
McGraw Hill.
Waite, D. (1992). The Instructional Supervisor as a Cultural Guide: An ethnogrphiic view of supervision would extend the process. Urban Education. 26 (442).
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KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
COE COURSE SYLLABUS ATTACHMENT
CORE ASSIGNMENT
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
COURSE PREFIX, NUMBER, AND TITLE: EDU-541 Supervision of Instruction
Description of core assignment:
The research project requirement for EDU-541 involves the selection of a research problem in the area of school supervision and the development of a workable, realistic plan to address the problem. In an effort to make the project worthwhile, students are encouraged to select a problem that has value in the school district where they are employed. During the final two (2) sessions of the course, class members will make a formal presentation to the class, explaining the problem and detailing for the class how the problem is to be addressed in the school.
Rubric (3 column-format) Target - Acceptable – Unacceptable
Criteria Target Acceptable Unacceptable
The Supervision project is well written and the formal presentation is well developed and is presented in a format that is easy to follow and one which fully supports the thesis of the project.
The Supervision project is well written and the formal presentation is presented in a format that is easy to follow and generally supports the thesis of the project
The Supervision project is not well written and is presented in a way that is ambiguous.
The presentation does not clearly explain or support the main thesis of the project.
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