Meeting Minutes
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD (PEAB)
The Evergreen State College, Teacher Education
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Seminar II E 2105 x,y
Voting Members Present: Scott Coleman (TESC), Kelly Foster (WEA), Laura Lynn
(WASA), Deborah MacKinnon (WEA), Linda O'Shaughnessy (AWSP), Greg Pier
(WEA), Michi Thacker (WEA), Marci Waugh (WEA)
Others Present: Maggie Foran, Terry Ford, Sue Sanders, Sherry Walton
PEAB Members Unable to Attend: Patricia Lisoskie (non-voting), Fletcher Mann
(WEA), Sally Merriwether (WFIS), Ashley Rupp (Independent Schools)
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:30 by Greg Pier.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes from the March 10 meeting were approved.
Announcements and Information
We reviewed and briefly discussed ESSB 5732 that moves policy responsibility for
teacher education programs from the State Board to the Professional Standards Board and
ESSB 5983 that creates some specific policies for Professional Certification programs.
We spoke very briefly about enrollment growth progress at Evergreen – a report is due
later this month.
We had a brief update from Sherry Walton and Terry Ford on the use of the Pedagogy
Assessment Instrument by our Evergreen faculty to assess our MIT student teachers.
Sherry and Terry shared that the MIT students, for the most part, have the skills which
are assessed by the instrument and are able to demonstrate them in their student teaching
settings; however it is difficult to find opportunities to demonstrate some of these skills
because of the limitations found in some of their school settings, especially 5E, Culturally
Responsive Learning Activities,7E, Diverse Perspectives, and 8E, Technology.
State Board of Education Requested Review of How Evergreen's MIT Students are
Prepared to Teach Reading to P-12 Students with Learning Disabilities
Following an April 27 request from the State Board of Education, the PEAB members
conducted a review of where and how the MIT program addresses the needs of P-12
students with language learning disabilities and where and how the program teaches
strategies for teaching students with these disabilities. Sherry Walton and Terry Ford, the
MIT faculty members most involved in teaching reading and special education to our
students, were present to provide this information. The notes below are taken from the
discussion with Terry and Sherry on this topic.
Where And How The Program Addresses These Needs And Teaches The Related
Strategies
The MIT program pays careful attention to individual learners' needs, and this carries
over into the needs of students with reading disabilities. MIT students study reading and
reading assessment in year one and are encouraged to make adjustments for students with
reading difficulties in their Fall student teaching experience, with varying degrees of
support from their cooperating teachers. Students also have a five week strand in special
education that includes special education terminology, laws, and approaches. Students
also study a specific disability in depth with a small group and share their learning with
the entire cohort. Topics include communication disorders. Students are assessed at the
end of Winter quarter of year two to verify that they have become fluent with essential
special education concepts, including communication disorders.
Degree To Which Program Completers Are Able To Meet The Needs Of K-12 Students
This is assessed anecdotally – particularly in the Spring student teaching experience when
the students have studied Special Education in more depth. Terry shared several
examples of student teachers making accommodations for reading-related disabilities,
including: making large copies for a visually impaired student, a student teacher
recognizing an ADD student that her cooperating teacher had not been aware had ADD
(though he had been previously diagnosed), students doing pre-reading activities in all
content areas, buddy reading, proving information in other forms to students with
reading disabilities so they could keep up with the content of the class. The observation
was made by some of the PEAB members that the continuing high placement rate of MIT
graduates (around 90%) is a powerful indirect indicator that our graduates have
convinced K-12 administrators that they are exceptionally successful at meeting the
needs of K-12 students.
Program Changes That Would Enhance Teacher Capability In This Area
Both the reading faculty members and the PEAB members shared the conviction that this
study is taking a look at a narrow slice of a larger problem whose major roots are in the
school environment, not in teacher preparation. Many teachers feel they lack the time to
deal with special education issues, including reading disabilities. The problem is one of
non-support for special education – it is not enough of a financial priority. Sherry Walton
shared that the MIT program realizes the lack of financial support in the schools for
helping students with reading disabilities and accordingly the faculty pays particular
attention to helping our students learn strategies that can be used to help the entire class,
including those with disabilities, read more successfully.
One specific program suggestion was made by the PEAB: that our MIT students get a
more systematic exposure to the technology being used in the schools to help students
with reading disabilities. In summary, the PEAB members were very positive about all
that is being done by the program to prepare teachers to work with students with reading
problems.
Note: Over the next couple of months the requested report will be written for the
State Board based on these notes and additional written testimony from student
teachers on this topic.
Review of Reading Instruction: Prevention and Diagnosis of Reading Difficulties
and Research-Based Intervention Strategies
Complementing the information just provided, Terry Ford shared some information about
what the MIT students learn about teaching reading, assessing reading, and research on
the reading process. Terry described several research-based strategies the students learn
for teaching and assessing reading
Seminar Observation and Participation
We joined the MIT students and faculty for small group seminars on the topic of Identity
and Difference: Social Class. The PEAB members commented that this experience was
very useful in helping them understand the program and encouraged that we spend at
least some time at all our meetings next year interacting with the students and faculty.
Review of Program Approval Standard #4
We reviewed Program Approval Standard 4 by reading through the sections of the 05-07
MIT Catalog that discuss the program's design and conceptual framework.
(4) Program design: Each college or university, in compliance with the provision
of WAC 180-78A-264, is responsible for establishing a collaboratively developed
approved preparation program that is based on a conceptual framework, current
research and best practice that reflects the state's learning goals and essential
academic learning requirements.
Review of the 2002 Site Visit Report
We reviewed the Site Visit report from October 2002 with the emphasis on the two areas
that were singled out as "unacceptable, approaching acceptable". As in prior years, the
PEAB felt that both areas of concern are a consequence of some of the Evergreen MIT
program's greatest strengths – in the one case integrating liberal arts faculty into the
teacher preparation program, and in the other, having strong faculty development and
strong faculty assessment and not linking them through administrative mandate. The
suggestion of better educating the Site Visit team next time on these issues was made.
Final Business
Greg Pier agreed to continue to serve as PEAB Chair for next year.
We set the date for our first meeting of 2005-2006: Thursday October 20, 2005, 9:302:30 – room to be announced.
The meeting was concluded at 2:30 by Greg Pier.