April 27, 2009
Dr. Tracy Pellett
Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies
Central Washington University
400 E. University Way, MS 7503
Ellensburg, WA. 98926
Dr. Pellett,
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit the Department of
Education as part of their mandated program review. Dr. Craig Hughes was very
gracious and provided much needed information for this review. I would certainly
like to thank him, the faculty, the staff, and the students for the time and effort
that they put into the preparation necessary for this process to be successful.
I have enclosed a summary of my impressions from the visit. My general
feeling is that the Department of Education is strong and has effective programs.
The disciplines represented are certainly essential for the growth and
development educational leaders and facilitators who educate diverse school
populations.
I have tried in the enclosed material to address what seemed to me to be
the essential parts of such a review. If you should have any additional questions
that you would like me to respond to, I would certainly be willing to respond to the
best of my ability and impressions gleaned from my visit.
My thanks to you and all the others involved for the opportunity to be
involved in this program review. I found it to be an enjoyable and stimulating
experience.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gerald W. Bowler, Chair
Department of Teacher Education & Family Development
Southern Utah University
351 W. University Blvd.
Cedar City, Utah 84720
435-586-1933
bowler_g@suu.edu
Program Review
Department of Education
Central Washington University
By
Dr. Gerald W. Bowler, Chair
Teacher Education & Family Development Department
Southern Utah University
On the 6th, 7th and 8th of April 2009, I conducted an external review of the
Department of Education as part of their mandated program review. This
document is to summarize my findings and impressions related to that visit.
General Observations
According to the mission statement, the purpose of the Department of
Education is to ensure graduates are prepared to be outstanding educational
leaders and facilitators of learning who demonstrate the knowledge and skill
necessary to educate and work with a diverse school population. This mission
also includes having well qualified faculty, which represent traditional areas of
expertise within the field of education. Along with their primary role as teachers,
the faculty serves as advisors and mentors, and they may be the reason why
graduates the Department of Education are in high demand in educational
occupations. I reviewed the assessment plans and reports discussed in the selfstudy for the programs in the department. They were comprehensive and well
done. The department has strong academic programs and a productive,
dedicated and committed faculty who have meaningful interaction with students
both in and outside of the classroom. The facilities at the Ellensburg campus, as
well as, the outreach centers are designed for effective classroom instruction,
which allows students a positive learning environment.
Curriculum
Strengths
All programs within the Department of Education are based on the
standards provided by professional organizations. Each program reviews its
curriculum on a regular basis. Changes to curriculum or course content are
based on assisting students to meet the standards outlined by the state and the
professional organizations. Course offerings for each program are designed to
meet the standards developed by the state and the professional organizations.
The scope of course offerings has been sequenced to build student knowledge
and understanding from lower division to upper division to graduate level classes.
Curriculum has been developed to meet the requirements set by the State of
Washington for graduates to receive their teaching certificates and
endorsements.
Challenges
While the curriculum developed by the Department of Education appears
to be successful, there is always room for improvement. One area addressed by
students was a need for more information about classroom management with
more behavioral management perspectives. Some courses need to be
reassessed in terms of curriculum presented; too much information for one
course and should be reorganized into two courses. Overall the students were
pleased with the curriculum presented and felt that they were receiving the
knowledge and skills they need to be successful teachers.
Program Planning and Assessment
Strengths
The Department of Education has a system in place for course and
program evaluations. Each program has determined what evidences are needed
in order to document program effectiveness and student progress. This evidence
has been gathered into an electronic portfolio, data based spreadsheets and
Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEOI). LiveText, the electronic portfolio
instrument, is evaluated according to standards-based assessment rubrics. The
results of these rubrics are available for faculty to help guide their instruction and
program development. A new assessment process resulting in data based
spreadsheets were developed to give additional evidence for program
development that the electronic portfolio evidence did not cover in specific areas
that the department felt were needed for total program assessment. Findings
gathered from these assessments have resulted in a re-structuring of the
Department of Education into four distinct departmental entities. The Central
Administration and the College of Education and Professional Studies are to be
commended on this action. These new departmental entities should enhance the
productivity of the faculty and assist the students in their educational endeavors
by giving a clearer focus and a more personalized touch to the issues facing
each entity.
Challenges
LiveText appears to be the biggest challenge to this area. Artifacts are
often instructor specific or confusing. The problem includes courses taught by
different faculty at various center locations. A specific menu of artifacts for each
standard would be a recommendation to alleviate this confusion by instructors
and students. This action should enhance student understanding and mastery of
the standards. Another area of concern is the problem with instructor knowledge
of how to navigate through the LiveText format. More in-service training for
instructors would be a recommendation for this challenge.
Faculty
Strengths
The Department of Education is represented by a diverse and
knowledgeable group of dedicated professors. The faculty is committed to
producing quality educators. A majority of the faculty had numerous artifacts in
the areas of Teaching, Scholarly Activity, and Service. Awards for excellence in
Teaching, Scholarship, and Service have been given to ten members of the
faculty over the past four years. The faculty have presented at numerous
international, national, regional, and local venues. Presentations are an indicator
of a faculty willing to share their ideas and expertise to others in the field.
Referred articles and book reviews are the two main areas of focus for the faculty
in the area of scholarly writing. I found that the faculty genuinely appreciated the
efforts of their peers and everyone seemed willing to help and assist their fellow
teachers in any way. The students echoed the same message of appreciating
the knowledgeable and caring instructors at every center visited. This
professionalism was apparent at all of the centers visited.
Challenges
The largest challenge for the faculty, especially the graduate faculty, is in
the area of grant writing. This area of weakness needs to be addressed. While
the faculty demonstrated evidence of good scholarship, there is always room for
improvement and a recommendation would be that more faculty get involved with
writing and presenting for scholarly venues. The formation of the new
department entities should help this challenge by allowing the department chairs
to make this a focus for their representative departments. Another challenge is
finding ways the keep this dedicated group in place rather than leaving the
university of other job opportunities.
Students
Strengths
The Department of Education is represented by students from numerous
ethnic backgrounds. This diverse population is a positive component to the
education of the students in the department programs. The students are
receiving the training needed to be successful educators demonstrated by the
reports from the self-study. Pass rates for teacher certification (WEST-E) are
above average in the areas of Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education,
Library Media, and Special Education. The students interviewed were very
knowledgeable about the specific components needed to be an effective teacher.
They were prepared to enter the teaching profession. The number of students
having full time employment has been increasing over the past four years. I see
this as a real strength for the department. The students are receiving quality
classroom preparation, quality field experiences, and quality assistance from
Career Services. The students also have opportunities to participate in five
faculty-led clubs or professional organizations.
Challenges
Students in the Reading and Bilingual/TESL programs have average pass
rates on the teacher certification test. This is an area that needs to be
addressed. The department division should assist in providing attention to this
challenge. There has been a drop in the number of Master of Education (MEd)
students over the past four years. There may be a number of reasons for this
drop off in student participation in the program. One recommendation for this
challenge is for the department to start an aggressive recruiting campaign at the
main campus, all centers locations and school districts in the Central Washington
University service arena. One interesting finding discovered during the visit was
that students felt the most important part of the program was the field
experiences that they were receiving. They wanted more hours in the school
classroom. With the limited number of school classrooms in the Ellensburg area,
it is the recommendation that the main campus program look at implementing a
cohort program similar to the student cohort program located at the off campus
centers. This should allow the students to have more field experiences in the
limited number local school placements in the Ellensburg area.
Facilities
Strengths
The facilities utilized by the Department of Education are structured to
facilitate interactive and quality instruction. The classrooms have been equipped
with the technology needed for the instructors to demonstrate state of the art
teaching practices and those classrooms have the technology needed to interact
with the other centers. This allows the students at the different centers to receive
the same quality instruction from professors that could not personally be on site.
The computers were current with the needed applications to complete assigned
work.
Challenges
The Department of Education has used its self-generating funding to
supplement equipment supplied through the general funding process. These
funds must be in place for the Department of Education to run its programs and
this may be a challenge in the current economic downturn. It is imperative that
the funding stream for the programs be accessible for the department to
effectively run these programs. A plan for using the funding should be in place
for maintaining the facilities and the technology.
Library and Information Literacy
Strengths
The Brooks library provides an adequate access to online resources for
undergraduate and graduate students. Students may also use SUMMIT or
interlibrary loan to access materials. The Educational Technology Center (ETC)
located in Black Hall is the most important component in this area and should be
the biggest strength to the department. The ETC houses the Curriculum Library
where the students have assess to materials, textbooks, kits, games, educational
assessments, etc.
Challenges
Students, undergraduate as well as graduate, located at the Ellensburg
campus and the centers need to have training on how to access electronic
journals. An adequate funding stream to run the ETC is a challenge for the
Department of Education. Faculty or publishers from companies that have been
solicited by the faculty have donated most of the materials being utilized in the
ETC. If education students are expected to enter the teaching profession
prepared for the students of the 21st Century, it is imperative that the ETC has a
adequate budget to house these preparatory materials and resources.
Future Directions
The Department of Education has been recently divided into four new
departmental entities. These new departmental entities should enhance the
productivity of the faculty and assist the students in their educational endeavors
by giving a clearer focus and a more personalized touch to the issues facing
each entity.
The development of program goals and outcomes based on the particular
needs of the four new departmental entities have been addressed but will need
further ongoing consideration and changes as the new departments become fully
functional.
The Instructional Technology Center for faculty is an important component
of the department and is presently serving a vital role to the success of the
programs. An ongoing training program to keep the faculty aware of and
comfortable with the latest changes and improvements in technology is also
critical to the effectiveness of the faculty in terms of giving students a quality
educational experience. This center must also have a budget to assist faculty
with the latest technologies and associated software programs.
The Department of Education has been working on a systematic
reorganization of course sequencing. This is one area that is never completely
finished and will require the four new departments to take a closer look at the
courses required in each program. An additional area that will need to be
addressed is increasing the graduate’s ability to interpret and utilize educational
data. Teachers need to be able to look at data and make changes to their
instruction to enhance the educational experiences of their students.
Final Conclusions
In general, it seems the Department of Education is strong and in good
position to move forward. The individual departments’ curricula are strong and
consistent with state and national requirements. The formation of the four new
department entities will assist in further improvement in this area. The facilities
utilized by the department are exceptional and make a difference in giving the
students a first class education.
I was particularly impressed with the expertise and commitment of the
educational faculty. They have the drive and desire to give each and every
student the best possible educational experience. Many faculty drive multiple
hours to teach a class at a center just to make sure the students have an
opportunity to experience the knowledge and expertise of the instructor. There is
a good mix of veteran and new hires in the department and they genuinely
appear to like to work together. This is indeed rare and every effort should be
made to ensure that this continues with the department divisions.