January 20, 2004
To:
Board of Examiners
NCATE
C/O Lindsye Mitchell
From: Dr. C. Sue McCullough, Dean
College of Education and Human Services
Longwood University
Re:
Accreditation visit and report
I have received the Board of Examiners report on the continuing accreditation visit to
Longwood University, October 25-29, 2003.
I wish thank Dr. Jean Morrow, Chair of the visiting team, and members, Virginia Clark
Johnson, Wendell Pope and Thelma Robinson. I also wish to thank the State team chaired
by Dr. Helen Bessant-Byrd, with members Michael Davis and Kimberlye Joyce, and our
State Consultant, Byrd Latham. Together this accreditation team examined our
Institutional Report, Conceptual Framework and exhibits, interviewed faculty,
administrators, students, and school district personnel, and visited our Partnership sites,
classrooms and campus. Their work was thorough and professional.
The accreditation process of self-review and external review is arduous but ultimately
very useful in identifying areas of strengths and challenges to be met. Longwood has a 50
year tradition of being accredited by NCATE. We do value the accreditation process and
the impetus it provides to assure our programs meet or exceed the ever-changing national
standards.
Attached is the rejoinder to the 2003 Board of Examiner’s Report.
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Longwood University
Rejoinder to the 2003 Board of Examiners Report
Continued
Standard 4: Diversity
Former Standard II.B: Diversity of teacher candidates is limited.
Rationale: Although Longwood College of Education and Human Services is
participating in some initiatives that are designed to attract more minorities into the
teaching profession, current candidates do not have opportunities to interact with a
significant number of candidates from diverse ethnic, racial, gender and socioeconomic
groups in professional education courses on campus.
As stated in our Strategic Plan, Longwood is fully committed to maintaining and
enhancing a culturally diverse and pluralistic academic community. We have increased
the percentage of underrepresented minorities since the last NCATE visit with 18.5% of
our undergraduate enrollees and 18% of our graduate enrollees being minorities. (See
Tables 4-4 and 4-5.) For example, in the 2 years from 2001-2003, we increased the
number of minority graduates from 6.4% to 8.9%. With 18% minorities currently
enrolled, we expect this graduation percentage to increase substantially. We believe that
with 18% minority students enrolled in both undergraduate and graduate programs that
our teacher candidates do have an opportunity to interact with a “significant” number of
minority candidates. We plan to continue to recruit and graduate increasing numbers of
minority teacher candidates. For example, we will continue our Teachers for Tomorrow
program with increased emphasis on follow-up of minority candidates, and continue
developing our Pre-Teacher Education articulation agreements with the Virginia
Community College System which has a very diverse student population. Other
initiatives are in the planning stages.
Standard 6: Unit Governance and Resources
New
Initial – Faculty teaching undergraduate courses are assigned excessive loads.
Rationale: The workload policy states that faculty teaching undergraduate courses will
teach 12 credit hours a semester. No credit is provided for program coordinators, and
the workload credit for supervision of student teachers and practica is not consistent.
The Longwood faculty undergraduate teaching workload is 12 hours. Current policy
(Faculty Policy and Procedures Manual, p. 62) permits workload differentiation for
program coordinators based on the size of the program, whether the program coordinator
is in charge of a separate facility, etc. Program coordinators may be paid a stipend,
receive a reduction in teaching load or receive an adjunct salary for teaching an overload.
The Board of Visitors dictated a no overloads policy in their June 2003 meeting. Thus,
that is no longer a compensation option. It is true that under current budget and resource
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conditions, that few program coordinators receive either a stipend or reassignment of
teaching load. Within budget and resource constraints, we are committed to addressing
this issue.
The Longwood Faculty Senate passed a revised policy on the Supervision of Student
Teachers on February 13, 2003 that adjusts and reduces the workload for supervisors in
selected areas and makes the policy more consistent across all units. The policy was
presented to the Longwood Board of Visitors and passed December 13, 2003. Thus, this
policy was not in effect at the time of our NCATE site visit. Implementation of this new
policy should bring more consistency to supervision workloads. (See Appendix A for the
policy passed by the Faculty Senate and the Board of Visitors.)
Continued
Former Standard III.C. (Advanced) Faculty teaching graduate courses are assigned
excessive workloads.
Rationale: The university workload policy has not changed since the last visit. The most
recent date in the faculty manual related to the workload policy is 1997.
As noted previously, in June, 2003, the Board of Visitors dictated that there would be no
more overloads for faculty. Prior to this decision, faculty were exceeding the workload
policy regularly with teaching overloads, primarily in off-campus sites. The no overload
policy was implemented effective Fall, 2003, and is strictly enforced. There was a
modification to the Graduate Teaching policy (Faculty Policy and Procedures Manual, p.
9) effective Fall, 2002, when the teaching load policy was clarified to state that the policy
applied to both on-campus and distance learning offerings. Prior to that, it had been
interpreted as applying only to on-campus classes.
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Appendix A
ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ACTION ITEM 1
BOARD OF VISITORS
ACTION ITEM 2
Approval of Revision of Policy on Supervision of Student Teachers
ACTION REQUESTED: On behalf of the President, I move that the changes to the
Policy on Supervision of Student Teachers be approved as presented.
BACKGROUND: The proposed policy was approved by the Faculty Senate on
February 13, 2003. It now has the support of the Dean of the College of Education and
Human Services, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the President.
This policy is found on page 9 of the Faculty Policies and Procedures Manual. Deletions
are struck out; additions are italicized. The policy is as follows:
Supervision of student teachers. No supervisor should be responsible for more
than 18 students per semester. The credit-hour load for supervisors is normally
two credit hours per three students supervised at clustered locations or three
credit hours per three students supervised at widely spaced assignments, and are
based on an assumption of weekly visits at widespread locations. If visits are less
frequent, or the locations are clustered, the credit hour load should be adjusted
proportionately.
RATIONALE: The current policy, while in accordance with the maximum allowable
number of students specified by NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education) (“unacceptable” supervisory loads are considered to be those in excess of 18
teaching candidates for each full-time equivalent faculty member per semester), was
devised for supervisors who are adjuncts, or who do not also teach classes on campus
during the semester they are supervising. The reality in the College of Arts and Sciences
is that supervisors for K-12 and secondary programs (English, Math, and Modern
Languages) also teach courses on campus and their supervisory duties must be calculated
to fit their teaching schedules and loads. For these disciplines, also, placements are
typically not in the surrounding Longwood area, but can be as far as Tidewater and
Northern Virginia. In Modern Languages, we have instituted a requirement for our
student teachers that their placement be within a 1 1/2 hour radius of Longwood, so we
have addressed a large part of the problem already. However, one student teacher in a
Richmond area school can result in a five-hour commitment once a week for the
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supervisor: 3 hours round-trip driving time, 1 1/2 hour observing a block-scheduled class
(the norm these days), and 1/2 hour of consultation with the candidate. Three students in
a combination of Richmond and other areas would demand a commitment of between 10
and 15 hours per week, not including the regular course preparation and evaluation time
involved in preparing the course, as with any course. The Math and English/Modern
Languages Departments believe that this commitment (3 students, 10-15 hours per week)
is equivalent to or greater than that required for teaching a 3 credit course on campus.
The only disciplines at Longwood University that employ full-time faculty to supervise
student teachers are Math, English, Modern Languages, Physical Education and Special
Education. All elementary supervisors are adjunct instructors, as are secondary
supervisors for disciplines not listed above. They supervise between 2 and 15 student
teachers each, in the county where they live. They are paid by the adjunct pay scale, and
travel time and distance are taken into consideration. The proposed policy does not affect
adjunct policies and procedures.
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