PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION COUNCIL
MINUTES
November 14, 2011
Cardinal Room, UC
Members Present: Agraz, Bricker, Butcher, Carpenter, Carter, Catley, Corbin, Faughn, Grube, Hodges, Lawrence, L. Nickles,
Ogletree, Schade, Tapley, Unruh, Wells
Lisa Hoyle and Mary Kay Bauer were in attendance representing Educational Outreach and Music Education respectively.
I.
Dean Perry Schoon
The Dean was attending another meeting and was not present.
II.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the September 14 meeting was approved.
III.
Chair’s Report
A. Conceptual Framework update
Dan shared that two open forums have been held and candidates for Task Force members have been discussed with Perry. Dee
Nichols will chair the Task Force and a kick-off meeting will be held in the very near future.
B. Rural Urban Exchange
John Habel requested that Dan share information about the program with the PEC. The Rural-Urban Exchange is a collaborative
undertaking involved CEAP at WCU and the School of Education at NCA&T. Six students from each institution will be selected
to participate. The RUE is available to all teacher-education students at WCU who are juniors or seniors and not in full-time
student teaching or Intern II during Spring 2012. Details can be found at http://www.wcu.edu/3082.asp. Questions can be
directed to Dr. John Habel habel@wcu.edu or Dr. Tom Oren oren@wcu.edu.
C. Revisioning Update (Program Approval/Advanced Licensure Programs)
There is an agreed upon program approval process that will be analyzed this summer by using a sampling from Elementary
Education programs. The biggest issues are technical in nature regarding the granting of access for reviewers with different
campus systems. Lee Nickles thinks we will be in good shape because we’re using TaskStream. There are still a number of
questions regarding program approval at the state level. School Personnel programs were slated for review but that has not yet
moved forward.
We are in a transition year concerning Advanced Licensure (Graduate) programs. Therefore, some students may be finishing
MAT programs this fall or spring and not have both evidences. As of fall 2012, there will be two required electronic evidences:
Evidence 1 Influencing Action Plan and Evidence 2 Master Teaching Project plus two artifacts of the student’s choosing. Tom
Hodges inquired how a student would determine which portfolio, old vs new, they would need. Would it be determined by when
they started the program or when they will finish? Lee and Dan suggested they will know better after the summer pilot when
everything will definitely be sent forward. MAED graduates should have electronic evidences by 2013.
D. Methods License
In August 2011 the State Board of Education (SBE) approved the elimination of the Methods Faculty License to align Teacher
Education Policies and Licensure to reflect the new Program Approval Process. Faculty who desire to convert the Methods
Faculty License to a SP1/SP2 or delete it altogether must send a written request to the Licensure Section. Once the methods
license is deleted, faculty may convert to previously held license types, or qualify as a new holder of the Standard Professional
License. One complete licensure application (to include a brief note/letter of explanation of all desired actions) is sufficient for
methods license deletion and conversion. At WCU, as at many of our sister institutions, we will continue to require that all
faculty that teach method courses and/or supervise interns are expected to maintain licensure. After discussion of current
options, it was strongly recommended that faculty holding a current Methods Faculty License renew it as a Methods Faculty
License to keep it current. If the Methods Faculty License expires, it cannot be renewed again as a Methods Faculty License.
The holder of an expired Methods Faculty License will need to qualify for the SP1 or SP2 if licensure is desired. Note that SP1
license renewals require three years of public school teaching in order to convert it to an SP2 license.
PEC Minutes
November 14, 2011
Page 2.
IV.
Information
A. Admissions –none
B. Curriculum – Lee Nickles
Lee Nickles brought forth the following curriculum items:
Birth – Kindergarten Program
The BK program is requesting program and prerequisite changes, along with course prefixes changes from SPED to BKSE for
special education courses associated exclusively with BK. The BK change requests are being treated as one slate. Motion and
second to approve changes. Motion passed.
Elementary Education
Request increase credit hours from 2 to 3 for ELMG 390and the removal of EDEL 323 from the curriculum. Motion and second
to approve changes. Motion passed.
Special Education
A new 3 hour course, SPED 313, is being requested as an elective to students interested in Postsecondary Education for students
with Intellectual Disabilities and who wish to volunteer in the University Participant program. Motion and second to approve
course request. Motion passed.
SPED is requesting to put both the residential MAT in Special Education (Adaptive Curriculum concentration and the General
Curriculum concentration) and the residential MAED in Special Education (the Severe Disabilities concentration and the Mild to
Moderate Disabilities concentration) on inactive status. As the online programs began to grow in enrollment, the enrollment in the
residential programs declined and the department can no longer justify offering residential courses because of the low enrollment.
They will teach out those students currently enrolled in the residential program. Motion and second to approve request. Motion
passed.
SPED is proposing program revisions that will reduce the number of total credit hours for the MAT Adapted Curriculum program
from 48 to 45. Changes are present on the catalog. This MAT is also a totally online program. Motion and second to approve
request. Motion passed.
New First Year Seminar
A first year seminar course EDPY 190 is being requested as part of the living learning community Whee Teach in conjunction
with English 101. It was noted that if the instructor who currently is teaching the course would leave WCU, the English
Department cannot guarantee that they will have the staff to teach this course in the future. Motion and second to approve the
course addition. Motion passed.
C. Appeals – Dan Grube
In an effort to move through the agenda, Dan will share appeals information at a later date.
D. Policy and Procedures – none
E. Field Experiences – none
PEC Minutes
November 14, 2011
Page 3.
F.
Assessment- Renee Corbin
Renee Corbin shared that Certification of Teaching Capacity items will be added to the Student Teaching/Internship II program
evaluation surveys that are given annually to completing teacher candidates. This is in preparation for the fall survey. The
current survey shows 100% agreement from students that they are very prepared in the areas of Ethics and Professional
Responsibility and Formal and Information Assessment.
Additionally, Renee announced that the NC Department of Public Instruction is no longer doing the Principal Survey. She sent
one out herself asking questions about initial and advanced licensure hires from WCU and received a strong response. In fall
2012, General Administration will be taking over responsibility for administering the survey and will also be adding personality
questions.
G. Technology – none
V.
Old Business
A. Grade Requirement for PES Core
Given the re-visioning of our programs, Dan announced that the Provost Office has been reviewing the catalog. It’s has been
found that many areas have conflicting information, new program vs catalog. Concerning professional education, not every
program has clear information about grades and the professional education sequence. He would like to discuss this at our next
meeting.
The Council adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Schade
PEC Secretary