Questions about newsletter? Please contact David Stoloff, email: stoloffd@easternct.edu

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS
Volume XIV, Spring 2003

Last Week of Spring 2003 Classes – May 7 Edition

best viewed at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/030507.html
on the WWW; for past issues Ed. Dept. News Index - http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/newsindex.html

Education Dept. Homepage

Alumni News

Departmental Documents

Please see the University Disclaimer.

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words.html

Cinco de Mayo

Bienvenidos! Welcome! Cinco de Mayo or the Fifth of May commemorates the 1862 victory by Mexican forces, including ordinary citizens, over French soldiers. The battle known as La Batalla de Puebla or The Battle of Puebla took place on May 5th. It is a day marked by many Mexicans and those with Mexican ties as an important cultural event. Everyone likes a party or fiesta - so put on your party clothes and get ready to explore the roots of Hispanic culture by learning more about this day in the history of Mexico.

From Cheryl Cox's Grade 2-3 WebQuest posted at http://www.zianet.com/cjcox/edutech4learning/cinco.html

Posted on May 7, 2003.

Announcements

1) The following students received memberships into Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges: Bethany Champagne, Brandon Bilodeau, Susan Leser, Amy Niblett, Sarah Ververis, Kathryn Balkan, and Maureen Morse. The Awards Ceremony celebrating their achievement will take place on Wednesday, April 30, 4 pm in the Betty Tipton Room.

2) Outstanding Student Teaching Award for the Spring 2003 Semester:

Vicki Buchanan, Graduate Elementary Education
Henry Kydd, Undergraduate Secondary Social Studies
Jason Ladegard, Undergraduate Early Childhood Education
Kristine McQuarrie, Undergraduate Secondary English
Angela Puccia, Undergraduate Early Childhood Education
Laura Quarticelli, Graduate Elementary Education

3) Education Department Faculty Meeting, Thursday, May 8, 2003, 12:30 - 1:45 in Webb Hall 115

Tentative Agenda Items -

An item for discussion from Hari -

Might comprehensive portfolios be submitted on CDs?

We should also discuss methods of providing feedback on the comprehensive exams.

Please contact David to add to the agenda.

4) Friday, May 9 meetings' schedule -

9:30 am - vote on the General Education Proposal in BTR

10 am - University Meeting - honoring Diane Cerreto and others in the department - BTR

After University Meeting, Education Unit retreat in Webb Hall 115 - here's the agenda -

Agenda for Education Unit Retreat to Prepare for the NCATE Visit of Fall 2003

Convening directly following the University Meeting on Friday, May 9,
in Webb Hall 115 - about 11:30 am until 2 pm

Light lunch will be available until 2 pm. Participation is encouraged for all or part of the retreat.

Welcome - Dean Kleine
   Setting the Agenda for the Fall 2003 NCATE Visit
        Progress towards national accreditation
        Summer goals - developing an action plan with volunteers
        Refining the document room
        Preparation required in September

Curriculum mapping - discussion facilitated by Theresa Picard, Ken Dobush, and Darren Robert
        Aligning documents to performance assessment

Towards a common framework for Education Unit syllabi - discussion facilitated by Leslie Ricklin and Hari Koirala
        What NCATE and SPAs expect
        Finding consensus

Next steps

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New faculty photo at

http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/faculty.html

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A message shared by Dean Kleine, May 5, 2003 -
Of interest to anyone who is a professor in the Education Unit.

-----Original Message-----
From: Hasegawa Jack [mailto:Jack.Hasegawa@po.state.ct.us]
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 9:52 AM
To:

Subject: Wanted Current and Aspiring Teachers to take American Board field

I sent this link, http://www.idealist.org/en/events/93517/83461 which advertises a test ofered by the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence. The advertisment says they are developing four certification examinations designed to create new pathways to enter the teaching profession. I sent an e-mail asking if anyone knew what this was. My return e-mail reminded me that this is something we've actually discussed in the past, so I thought I'd send this update, gleaned from colleagues with better short-term memory.

This is the new licensing examination that is being sponsored by the Education Leaders Council (The splinter group of CCSSO). They got a $5 million discretionary grant from the US Department of Education to create another licensing exam to compete with ETS' Praxis series and the NES licensing exams. Their emphasis is on content, without much concern for pedagogy. The proponents believe that command of a high level of content should suffice to teach a subject. Teacher preparation would not be necessary to sit for the exam. Interestingly, the group was contracting with ACT to develop the test and they had a parting of the ways. There is some confusion over the fate of the test, for the intellectual property of the test items is being "discussed." You might want to look on the NCATE website for an article Art wrote on the matter and investigate the matter carefully before promoting it.

Arthur Wise, the President of NCATE has an article about the need for more teacher preparation, not less. Although he does not directly mention the ABCTE test, he clearly makes the case that the Bush administration's emphasis on content and fast-track alternate certifications (as opposed to Connecticut's "alternate route to certification") may not produce the kind of teachers we need or want. If you can't download the article from this link, you can find it featured on the NCATE website http://www.ncate.org.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/ew_sendfriend.cfm?slug=30wise.h22

<<Idealist.org Wanted Current and Aspiring Teachers to take American Board field tests!.url>>

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Announcement from Dean Kleine – April 16, 2003 –

ANNOUNCING A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY LEADERS

Linking Family and School Literacies:
The Critical Connection for Student Success

Wednesday, May 28, 2003
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Radisson Hotel in Cromwell
No registration fee

Featured Presentations

"Connecticut's Changing Demographics and the Impact on Family Literacy"
Dr. Harold L. Hodgkinson
Director of the Center for Demographic Policy at the Institute for Educational Leadership
and one of the nation's leading educational demographers

"Making a Difference for All Young Children, Not Just the Lucky Few"
Dr. Victoria Purcell-Gates
Professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University and leading scholar on the influence of culture, class, gender, and SES on literacy development and access to literacy learning in schools

Connecticut Commentators
Dr. Janice M. Gruendel
Co-President and Senior Policy Fellow
Connecticut Voices for Children

David M. Nee
Executive Director
William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund

For program information:
Judy Carson (judy.carson@po.state.ct.us or 860-713-6576; or
Harriet Feldlaufer (harriet.feldlaufer@po.state.ct.us or 860-713-6579)
For registration questions:
EASTCONN Conference Office 860-455-0707

Please complete the following registration information:

Name:
Title:
Organization:
Street Address:
Town:                                                   Zip:
Phone:                                                 Email:

Send completed registrations to EASTCONN Conference Office, Windham Mills Bldg. #1, 3rd floor, 322 Main Street, Willimantic, CT 06226; or fax to 860-456-9407; or email to conferenceoffice@eastconn.org <mailto:conferenceoffice@eastconn.org>.

You will receive written confirmation and directions by mail if your registration is accepted. You must be preregistered to attend this event.

Hosted by the Connecticut Family Literacy Initiative - A Project of The Connecticut State Department of Education

A message from Professor Ross E. Koning, PhD
Chapter President ECSU-AAUP
Biology Department - Goddard Hall
email: Koning@EasternCT.edu
http://Koning.EasternCT.edu/

Greetings ECSU-AAUP Faculty,

I am pleased to announce that our on-line (html) version
of the 2002-2006 CSU AAUP-BOT Collective Bargaining
Agreement is on-line at the usual URL:

http://www.easternct.edu/aaup/cba.html

This version is, of course, unofficial...but we have worked
hard to make it identical with the printed version in content,
and have hopefully corrected most of the printed version's
flaws.

We encourage you to try it out. All internal and some external
references are linked so navigation is better than in the print
version. You can also use the find and find-again feature of
your browser to search for words in the contract...so finding
items is perhaps easier. On the down-side, the contract is now
in a single file that is sometimes slow to open if you are on a
modem connection...but we think your patience will be rewarded.

I also encourage you to right-click (PC USERS) or click-hold-drag
(Mac USERS) on the CBA link on the home page to DOWNLOAD
the contract to your hard-drive for improved loading times. Our
home-page is:

http://www.easternct.edu/aaup

Best wishes for the fall semester.

ross

Professor Ross E. Koning, PhD
Chapter President ECSU-AAUP
Biology Department - Goddard Hall

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Call for Graduating Senior Information

A request from Institutional Research -

Please share news about the plans of graduating seniors.

If they are going on to graduate school, please provide the graduate's name, undergraduate major,
graduate university, location (city, state), field of study and degree program sought, and any information
on scholarships and/or fellowships.

If they have been accepted for employment positions, please provide the graduate's name,
undergraduate major, company, location (city, state), position, salary.

Please email the information to David, who will compile it for the department. Thanks.

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Other Events

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ECSU - ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers Projects

Faculty members and students from Eastern Connecticut State University are participating in a US Department of Education grant to Prepare Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology with ThinkQuest
[ http://www.preservice.org/] and 13 other universities throughout the US. This project's homepage may be at http://www.preservice.org/ecsu/ .

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Long Term Announcements

Alumni news may be found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/alumninews.html.

Planning
back to top

Past surveys of our graduates are available on the WWW -

an analysis of the survey of teacher education program graduates 1996-98
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/survey9698.htm

results of the survey of teacher education program graduates - 1996-1998 -
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/surveyresults9698.htm, and

results of the survey of teacher education program graduates - 1998-2000 -
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradsurvey2001.htm

survey of interests in graduate programs -1999,
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradinterestsurvey1999.htm

survey of interests in graduate programs - 2001
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/assessment/gradinterestsurvey2001.htm

Planning forms for field experiences and student teaching for Spring 2003 are now posted at

http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/stinfo.doc

and

http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/stpreferencefall2003.doc

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Research and Creativity Activities
chronicling the ongoing progress of the Education Department at Eastern Connecticut State University
also found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/rca.html

Seventh Report - November 15, 2002

During Career Day at Putnam High School, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002, David Stoloff met with 41 students to discuss their interests in teacher education. Of this group, 12 were interested in Secondary Education, 8 in Elementary Education, 7 in Early Childhood Education, 1 Elem/ECE, 6 in Special Education, 2 in HPE, 1 in Music, 1 in Art, and 3 were undecided.

Sixth Report
October 20, 2002

Results of the Open House – Sunday, October 20, 2002

Leslie Ricklin, Richard Reynolds, Delar Singh, Cathy Tannahill, and Ingrid Enniss and David Stoloff met over 121 students interested in coming to Eastern for teacher certification on Sunday, October 20, 2002 at the Fall 2002 University Open House.

The majority expressing interest in elementary education (68), early childhood education (17), secondary education (24), special education (3), and middle level (2), with the remainder uncertain.

Another 15 students/family may not have signed in but received information about the programs. The information sheet at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/dept/questions.html was distributed.

Searches
back to top

searches pending approval - we had request an additional faculty member in Elementary Education.

Jamie Hendricks shared this link to the Mansfield Schools employment website -
http://www.mansfieldct.org/MBOE/Employ/docs/Web%20Posting%206.02B.doc

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Recently acquired media - in the Chair's Office or on the Web

Kushner, Harold S. (2001) Living a life that matters. New York: Anchor Books. [holiday gift from the Education Department]

Rothermel, Dan (1996).Starting points: How to set up and run a writing workshop - and much more! Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association. ISBN 1-56090-109-8

Wynn, Charles M. & Wiggins, Arthur W. (1997).The five biggest ideas in science. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-13812-6.

Jacobik, Gray (2002). Brave disguises. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5788-4

Mama, Raouf & Romney, Mary (2001).Pearls of wisdom. Brattleboro, VT: Pro Lingua Associates. ISBN 0-86647-134-0

Folios from the NCATE Professional Development Workshops, sponsored by CT State Dept of Ed. – Fall 2003

Connections between K-12 Student Standards and Teacher Preparation Standards.

CAPT Test handbooks in Science, Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum, and Mathematics.

Graduate Elementary Education Program Self-Study for NCATE visit.

Teaching Our Youngest: A Guide for Preschool Teachers and Child-Care and Family Providers. (2002) Early Childhood-Head Start Task Force, US Dept. of Education and US Dept. of Health and Human Services.

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2002. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.

Notes from the 2002 Creative Advance - "Creativity Through Diversity" - Thursday, August 22, 2002, Eastern Connecticut State University.

Evaluator's Report on the May State On-Site Review of ECSU's Teacher Education Programs. Received May 31, 2002.

Institutional Overview and Response to Standards, Self-examination report on Teacher Preparation
Programs at ECSU, March 2002.

Portfolio Responses for BEST program, 2001-2002.

Precondition Report for the Education Unit - April 2002, NCATE document

General Education Committee's General Education Program Proposal

Wednesdays - A Compilation of Short Stories written by Eastern Connecticut State University
Graduate Students

Faculty Handbook.

Our Reading/Language Arts room, Webb Hall 113, has been enriched with past issues of Phi Delta Kappan, Academe, Syllabus, Converge, Governmental Technology, Journal of Teacher Education, and other resources. Please feel free to use and encourage your students to use these materials.

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Please contact David Stoloff at (860) 465-5501, email: stoloffd@easternct.edu if you have any questions or comments on this newsletter. Please invite others to receive this newsletter and be added
to the Education Department e-mailing list by contacting David Stoloff.

Words of Inspiration the collection appears at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words.html

Announcements

Research and Creativity Activities chronicling the ongoing progress of the Education Department at Eastern Connecticut State University also found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/rca.html

Recently acquired media - in the Chair's Office or on the Web

Words of Inspiration
the collection appears at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words.html

Research and Creativity Activities
chronicling the ongoing progress of the Education Department at Eastern Connecticut State University
also found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/rca.html