by
David Hough, Acting Dean
Friday, 22 August 2003
Good morning, and welcome to the Fourth Annual State of the College Address and Breakfast. On behalf of the College of Education at Missouri State, I invite you to enjoy a hearty breakfast, to sit back, relax, catch up on news with friends and colleagues and contemplate a new school year in 2003 – 2004. We are pleased to host this event for faculty and staff across the Professional Education Unit, as well as for our colleagues throughout southwest Missouri and the state, our alumni, emeritus faculty, and community supporters from the Downtown Springfield Association, Community Improvement District, Urban Districts Alliance, the Chamber of Commerce, my Community Advisory Council, and other organizations. Thanks for taking time to be with us today.
I want to thank the PEU secretary, Ms. Vicki Simons, COE graduate assistants Susan Reid and Bethany Black, and Ashley Kennard, one of our many very fine student workers for making all the arrangements for today’s breakfast.
Last year I discussed ways in which the College of Education was “creating a legacy of learning.” This year, I’d like to discuss how we are documenting that legacy of learning.
Since 18 individuals will be on our campus October 11 – 15 to examine the degree to which our work addresses Standards as set forth by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Missouri Standards for Teacher Education (Misstep) as approved by the Missouri State Board of Education and entrusted to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), I find it fitting at this time to share with you our efforts in preparation for these accreditation reviews. I hold in my hand a hard copy of the electronic version of our web-based Institutional Report. No, I’m not going to read it to you, but I am going to use the IR as the basis for my remarks this morning. And I do have to warn you up front that my capacity to talk about this report and its 200+ electronic links to documents across the University is far greater than your capacity to listen. Therefore, I’m merely going to highlight a few facts from each section of our report.
The first part of our IR provides an orientation to southwest Missouri, Missouri State, the COE, and our PEU and it highlights just a few noteworthy initiatives.
If you attended President Keiser’s State of the University Address yesterday, or listened to the broadcast, or perhaps read his speech, you might recall that he reiterated a few facts, such as the fact that southwest Missouri is the fastest growing area in the State, and (I might add parenthetically) one of the fasted growing regions in the nation, according to the 2000 census? That the Missouri State main campus occupies 225 acres in Springfield and contributes an estimated $665 million to the local economy. That Missouri State is one of two Universities in Missouri that enrolls students from every county in the State. Approximately 6% of Missouri State students come from 46 of the 50 states and roughly 3% are international students from 91 different countries. Last year’s fall enrollment was 20,497. And if you don’t know or haven’t heard yet, you will very soon begin to learn about the year-long series of activities planned to celebrate our centennial. Founded in 1905 as the State’s Normal school, surely some time in the future, “THE” Missouri State University will look back with “bear pride” on the Missouri State centennial we will commemorate beginning next summer.
The College of Education houses three academic units and three support units. The academic departments include the Department of Counseling, the Department of Educational Administration, and the School of Teacher Education. The post-baccalaureate Library Science certification program is housed in the Department of Library Science, Meyer Library. The four support units are: The Institute for School Improvement, Student Services and Academic Outreach, and the Greenwood Laboratory School.
The PEU at Missouri State is a unique organizational structured designed to bring back the University-wide collaborative first established in 1905 to prepare teachers, counselors, school administrators, librarians, and all sorts of curriculum specialists and other special personnel. As one of the University’s five themes, Professional Education has now become institutionalized through the PEU and its membership of 314 faculty, staff and administrators. Last spring 229 of these completed the Professional Education Activity Report (PEAR), providing data that document their exceedingly active work to prepare our students to become professional educators. While 47% of these individuals reside within the COE, almost 19% are in the College of Health and Human Services; another 18% reside in Arts and Letters, 14% in CNAS, and the remainder in Humanities and Public Affairs and Business Administration.
Our PEU structure distinguishes the Missouri State commitment to professional education from other IHEs still struggling to find ways to bring faculties in the arts and sciences to the table with those in education. Our K-12 laboratory school is the only one of its kind in the State and has become distinctive for our eMINTS classrooms (Enhancing Missouri’s Networked Teaching Strategies) in grades 2 – 6. No other school has adopted eMINTS throughout these grade spans. No other COE in any other IHE in the State has a Beginning Educator Assistance, Support, and Renewal program that sticks with its graduates throughout their entire professional careers, with intensive supports throughout the first three years. Now in its third year of operation, BEARS is addressing the teacher shortage, attrition and retention dilemma that has been griping our State as well as the rest of the country at a alarmingly increasing rates over the past few years.
Depending on which national study you choose to examine, approximately 35% to 54% of teachers are leaving the occupation within the first five years. Missouri tends to be at the lower end of this range.
Beginning in 2000 in response to System Performance Measure #24 in Countdown to the Missouri State Centennial: A Long-Range Vision and Six-Year Plan (2000 – 2006) the College of Education developed and implemented BEARS. The goal, per Countdown, is to achieve a 75% retention rate by the year 2006 for our teacher graduates employed in K-12 schools.
Current data from BEARS indicate that, approximately 60% of Missouri State teacher education graduates who began their teaching careers prior to the fall of 2000 were still teaching. Of the 2001 and 2002 cohorts of Missouri State teacher education graduates who were gainfully employed as classroom teachers after 2000, approximately 74% are currently in the classroom, and overall retention has increased to approximately 68% over the past five years.
Using Dr. Henry Levin’s models of cost-benefit analyses to calculate the economic impact of teacher attrition, one could estimate that each time Missouri State prepares a teacher to become fully certified, that cost results in a corresponding economic impact to the teacher, the University, the school district, and the community (or State). In terms of cost-benefit to the State, we estimate that each time a teacher exits the occupation and a replacement is hired, the cost is approximately $30,000.
By improving our teacher retention rate by 8% over the past two years since BEARS was implemented, we estimate the potential savings to the State to be approximately $1.2 million.
With over 1,500 majors, the COE School of Teacher Education is the second largest department on campus, and Dr. Frank Einhelling (along with the rest of his staff in the Graduate College) understand full well the impact education graduate students have on our ever-growing graduate programs. Our Dept. of Counseling and Dept. of Educational Administration house graduate programs only, and have recently been touted by area professionals and national organizations as high quality programs.
Conceptual Framework
The second part of our IR addresses our Conceptual Framework that guides professional education preparation programs. While the central theme of the Reflective Practitioner remains the cornerstone of our CF, the PEU CF has undergone revision that began back in January of 2001. The Conceptual Framework Committee, as subcommittee of the PEC recommended changes that were approved by the PEC in May 2001. The revised PEU Conceptual Framework now more accurately reflects coherence, professional commitment and dispositions, commitment to diversity, commitment to technology, and candidate proficiencies aligned with professional and State Standards through its 10 general learning outcomes. Those outcomes are:
(1) Foundation – knowledge of the historical development of the profession and foundational issues and arguments underlying its practices, as well as understanding of the importance of integrated learning across disciplines.
(2) Subject Matter – knowledge of subject matter discipline content and the ability to integrate content with pedagogy appropriate to the candidate’s field of study.
(3) Learning & Development – knowledge of human development and motivation, theories of learning, pedagogy and assessment.
(4) Reflective Skills – communication skills, critical and creative thinking abilities and other skills crucial to decision making.
(5) Technology – knowledge and skills in the use of technology appropriate to the candidate’s field of study.
(6) Professional Skills – the practical abilities to implement the skills, techniques and strategies associated with student learning and development in the educational context in which they practice.
(7) Assessment Skills – the skills to conduct valid and reliable assessments of their students’ learning and use that assessment to improve learning and development for their students.
(8) Dispositions – the intellectual, social, ethical and other personal attributes and beliefs previously ascribed to reflective decision makers in a variety of professional settings, including a commitment to their own lifelong learning and professional development.
(9) Diversity – the ability to skillfully facilitate and promote the learning of all students, including those from diverse cultural, racial and economic backgrounds, and those with disabilities.
(10) Collaboration & Leadership – the ability and skills to foster and maintain collaborative, empowering relationships with other professionals within schools and the community.
An Missouri State teacher education graduate staffs about one in every eight classrooms throughout the State of Missouri. Last year Missouri employed 65,090 teachers, 8,472 of whom were Missouri State graduates – that’s about 12% or 13%, statewide.
The average ACT for our students is 23.04; composite GPA 3.30, and average CBASE 317.87. Only one other IHE in Missouri requires a higher CBASE score than the State minimum of 235 for its teacher candidates, and none is higher than our 265 requirement on all portions of the exam. Considering all programs together, Praxis II pass rates have averaged 97% since 1997, ranging from 96% to 99%. Many subject areas can document 100% pass rates for their students.
This past year’s Graduate Follow-up Study completed by the Institute for School Improvement found that employers rated almost 94% of our graduates competent to highly competent, an 11% increase over the previous year.
The Institute’s study found that approximately 40% of Missouri State teacher education graduates who are practicing teachers are teaching in elementary classrooms; 20% are in middle level schools, 26% are in high schools, and 7% teach children in grades K – 12 collectively.
Approximately one of every two practicing classroom teachers who completed their undergraduate education program at Missouri State return to enroll in a graduate level program.
About 50% of our professional educators currently in K-12 settings hold multiple certifications.
Missouri State graduates who are currently teaching in P-12 classrooms rate the quality of their teacher preparation program as “Competent” (or higher). On average, teachers who hold both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Missouri State rate their programs higher and teacher who have completed the undergraduate program only.
When identified individually for them, most Missouri State teacher education graduates currently teaching in Missouri classrooms believe they understand each component and apply the basic principle at some level in their teaching.
Practicing teachers who graduated from Missouri State after 2000 rate their understanding of the Conceptual Framework and the Missouri Standard for Education Professionals (MoSTEP) much higher than those who graduated before May 2000.
The highest rated Conceptual Framework component is “Knowledge of subject matter” M=4.2, followed by “Dispositions” M=4.06, “Learning and Development” M=3.77 and “Professional Skills” M=3.77.
The highest rated MoSTEP component was “Reflection as a professional” M = 4.0.
With almost 2,500 majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the College of Education at Missouri State remains a leader in the State, and is the only IHE that offers a Master of Arts in Teaching post-baccalaureate degree.
The MAT has 7 goals:
(1) to prepare teachers to meet needs in critical shortage content areas and geographic locations
(2) to provide support for mid-career transition into the teaching profession
(3) to provide and understanding of classroom demands / rewards
(4) to nurture future teacher educators
(5) to establish and sustain school – university partnerships
(6) to reduce teacher turnover
(7) to provide professional development for beginning MAT teachers
Our first cohort was a pilot group of eight MAT students during the 2001 – 2002 academic school year. The second cohort consisted of 37 MAT students during last year’s 2002-2003 school year. The third cohort consists of 32 MAT students who just completed their 8-week summer program. These 77 MAT students were selected from over 114 applicants who underwent intensive screening, interviews, and transcript analyses.
Of the 77 applicants selected to participate in the MAT since 2001, 18 (26%) pursued business, 16 (23%) pursued science, 10 (14%) pursued English, 9 (13%) pursued social science, 4(6%) chose mathematics, 4(6%) chose foreign language, 3(4%) chose art, 2(3%) family and consumer science, 2(3%) chose elementary education, and 1(2%) chose music education. While some qualified for Federal assistance per our Title II grant, all met the selection criteria, and all filled a need either in a content area or in a rural geographic location in need of teachers.
It is important that we continually assess our programs and use those assessment data to make changes, when appropriate. This strengthens our programs, the way in which we teach competencies to our students, and in turn, the way in which our students perform on the job.
Our formula for assessment is on going, systemic, comprehensive, and performance-based. It looks like this:
RIPE + Graduate Follow-up Studies + Employer Surveys + Course Evaluations + Internal Program Reviews + External Program Reviews + AAPEU + PEU + PEC + Portfolios + Student Advisory Council + Faculty Advisory Council + Community Advisory Council = CHANGE (or) Reinforcement Please allow me to explain the formula, just a bit:
RIPE = ReInventing Professional Education – Summer 2000
Graduate Follow-up Studies 2000 2001 2002 2003
Employer Surveys – Martha Kirker and Grad. Follow-up
Course Evaluations – All faculty in every course
Internal Program Reviews – PEC’s subcommittee = Program Review Committee
External Program Reviews – SPAs = Specialty Professional Association
American Association for Health Education
National Council for the Social Studies
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of English
National Science Teachers Association
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Middle School Association
English as a Second Language
Educational Leadership Constituent Council
Association for Childhood Education International
Association of Educational Communication and Instructional Technologies
American Library Association
American Association of School Librarians
International Reading Association
Council for Exceptional Children
AAPEU = VPAA Schmidt Dean Belcher now Larry Banks
PEU = 314 faculty, staff, administrators across campus, including VP Schmidt
PEC = elected body from the PEU
Portfolios = Checkpoint 1
Checkpoint 2
Checkpoint 3
Student Advisory Council = 9/11 remembrance / eliminate a course from the program / revise certain course content / earlier and more field experiences prior to student teaching
Faculty Advisory Council = homecoming reception in Hill Hall / reception for COE Students at graduation / Weekly updates from the dean
Community Advisory Council = MAT / Forte / Help area schools – e.g., Niangua
CHANGE (or) Reinforcement = “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken”
By my count this formula has a baker’s dozen independent endogenous variables and two dependent variables. No telling how many exogenous variables. One would have to rotate the factor matrix using verimax techniques, perhaps principal component analysis of the Eigenvalues to produce orthogonal factors extracted by way of the maximum likelihood method before one could determine the fully saturated model.
The Office of Student Services under the direction of Dr. David Brown is our “umbrella” for three interconnected supports (1) Student teaching placements (Sharon Terry + 10 full-time staff / supervisors (2) Academic Advisement = Stephanie Marinec, coordinator; Antoinette Sterling, and Evelyn Maxwell (3) Certification = Scott Fiedler
Our cooperating teachers and our University supervisors both tend to give high marks to most of our student teachers. Each year we place almost 500 students in K-12 classrooms across southwest Missouri, and sometimes in other parts of the State. Alaska and Arizona
Student Teaching Academy – Last year you may remember a clip we showed of KOLR 10’s coverage of our Teaching Academies, during two separate newscasts
Academic Advisement = competent staff who work in the students’ behalves but neither neither break nor bend the rules – they ask me to. . . .
Certification = Mr. Fielder has done a tremendous job of cleaning up over 3,000 files in various status stages; attends MAACE meetings in my behalf, works with both post-bac and MAT students and keeps us apprised of such things as HB1117 and Rule 5 – I won’t go into detail about all that at this time, but I will defend myself against the editorials you might have read in the paper the summer. I took a stand! Here’s the story: reporter, DESE/UMSL TTT program. Alternative routes to cert. Walter Cronkite
Our now very distinctive GLS under very effective leadership is a place where our students attend classes, complete practica, student teaching, and internships.
Two of our students in the first MAT cohort taught at the lab school and provided us with valuable information about the types of supports needed to be successful in the classroom. These two case studies enabled us to revise future placements and provide different types of supports for last year’s and this year’s students, all 69 of them!
Sharon Terry works very hard to try to place our students in the types of classrooms that are most appropriate for enhancing their learning and experiencing the “real world.” Dr. David Brown’s efforts with our site-based teacher preparation programs is to be commended. As the table you’re viewing indicates, many of our students are, in fact, placed in schools with high percentages of children on free and reduced lunches and in setting that are more ethnically diverse than most southwest Missouri schools. Coupled with the close ties we maintain with rural schools and a variety of “hubs” of culturally diverse geographic areas, I believe we have made monumental strides over the past three years.
Our PEU faculty represent only about 8% diversity; however, this is almost 3 times that of the southwest Missouri community, and as I showed you in the last table, we do provide our students with opportunities to work in diverse settings. NCATE now defines diversity more broadly than it has in the past. The NCATE definition now encompasses the full spectrum of differences and exceptionalities and asks us to document how we prepare our students to teach diverse learners. So, in addition to learning from the 8% of our faculty who identify themselves as being a part of an ethnic / cultural minority and in addition to the competencies outlined in many course syllabi, let me briefly mention 6 initiatives the COE has begun to provide more opportunities for our students:
(1) Mexico Teacher Exchange – 3 last year and Judith Martinez GA in MAT this fall
(2) Monet = Candidates have traveled 45 minutes to Monett, Missouri, to work as tutors of Hispanic children and youth during school and as part of after school programs. Several meetings occurred among PEU faculty, candidates, and teachers and administrators in the Monett Public Schools to develop a program, which has become mutually beneficial. High school Hispanic youth have traveled to the Missouri State Springfield campus to meet with mentors – our students enrolled in teacher preparation classes. The program was facilitated by one of last year’s Teachers in Residence, Ms. Reginia Cowan who speaks fluent Spanish. Dr. Robert Norton from the Dept. of Modern and Classical Languages has connected the COE with the Migrant Education Center in Monett and Barry County.
(3) Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
(4) Russian Community near West Plains
(5) Niangua Schools
(6) Father Moses in Ash Grove, per Ozarks Watch (President Keiser, Jim Baker)
We are reaching out, we are working hard, and we are providing our students with a variety of opportunities to learn to teach children from diverse backgrounds, and we are doing it because it’s the right thing to do.
The 313 PEU faculty across the six academic colleges represent a wide range of ranks, as this table indicates. Moreover, these faculty are exceedingly active as scholars as Table 5.3.1 indicates.
Over a three-year period since 2000 the COE level of externally-funded grants and contracts has increased from approximately $1.3 million to almost $3 million in 2002, with the ISI accounting for $1.65 million last year alone. If you look to the far right on this bar chart, you will see that COE (the bottom, blue part of the bar) accounted for almost one third of the total amount of University awards. When the rest of the PEU membership is added, this climbs to 48%, almost half the total.
The triumvirate of expectations, Teaching, Research and Service, serve to set high standards for our faculty. Standards that we expect experienced faculty to demonstrate and nurture in our newest colleagues. At this time I would like to introduce these new colleagues and ask them to stand and remain standing until all have been introduced.
7. Ms. Cindy McMeley comes to us from the Springfield Public Schools as one of our Teachers in Residence and will be teaching early childhood classes at Missouri State. She received her masters degree in Reading from Missouri State in 1995 and has taught early childhood for several years for Springfield Schools
This year, for the first time in the history of the GLS, as far as I’ve been able to discern, we have created two new positions that are joint appointments between the lab school and the College of Health and Human Services. Both positions include half time teaching assignments in the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and at Greenwood for the COE. One includes coaching girl’s basketball; one includes coaching boy’s basketball.
Darren Taylor in a new Greenwood Wellness /Health, PE & Recreation faculty member. He will also be the head coach for boys’ basketball and the athletic director. He comes from Mansfield High School and has been in education since 1987. He received both his bachelors and masters degrees from Missouri State.
Kent Hedgpeth if a new Greenwood Wellness/Health, PE & Recreation faculty member and will be the head coach for the girls basketball team and the tournament director. He was most recently in the Republic and Strafford school districts and has over 20 years experience. He received his master’s degree from Drury and his bachelor’s degree from Missouri State and did his student teaching at Greenwood in 1978.
David Davison is a new science teacher at Greenwood He has 28 years teaching experience most of that at Hillcrest High School. He has a MS in Genetics from Pittsburgh State University and has been in a post graduate studies program at Missouri State in Science and Counseling
I’d also like to introduce one of our several new staff members, Ms. Amy Gossett, the new Director of Research and Special Programs for the Institute for School Improvement. Amy is finishing her doctorate degree in political science at Indiana University. Although she was most recently teaching in Louisiana, she taught for four years in the political science department at Missouri State.
It seems to me like we sometime reach out to our new faculty and staff with one hand to welcome them and then quickly slap them on the back the other and say, “Get to work.” There is some sense to this seemingly paradoxical greeting, however, and I think it serves to demonstrate a sense of urgency and business, not unlike Harry Wong’s approach to the first day of school when he stand at the door way to greet each student as she or he arrives and then says, “your desk is right over there with your assignment waiting. Please get to work, and I’ll be right with you as soon as everyone has arrived.”
Thus, I’d now like to acknowledge this year’s recipients of College awards. To make the presentations, I’d like Dr. Bruno Schmidt, VPAA, to make his way to the podium, and Dr. Schmidt, after you have completed the last award, would you be so kind as to take a few minutes to address this assemblage.
As I read the names of our 2001-2002 award winners, please make your way to the podium to receive your award.
College of Education Award Recipients
Doris Grevillius, COE Service Award– Doris is an assistant professor at Greenwood and Wellness instructor and has been at Missouri State since 1980. Doris received her master’s degree from Pittsburgh State University in 1972.
Cheryl Shae Johnson, COE Service Award – Shae is an assistant professor at Greenwood teaching fourth grade and has been at Missouri State since 1984. Shae received her master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1983.
Dr. Susan Jones-COE Teaching Award- Susan is an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education in Technology and has been at Missouri State since 2000. She received her PhD from New Mexico State University in 1999.
Dr. Tamara Arthaud – COE Teaching Award - Tamara is an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education in Special Education and has been at Missouri State since 2000. She received her PhD from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1998.
Dr. Gay Ragan – COE Research Award – Gay is an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education in Educational Research and Mathematics and has been at Missouri State since 2000. She received her PhD from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 2000.
Dr. Linda Garrison-Kane – COE Service Award –Linda is an associate professor in the School of Teacher Education in Special Education and has been at Missouri State since 1994. She received her PhD from the University of Kansas.
Betty Thomas – COE Teaching Award – Betty is a Lecturer of Developmental Reading and Study Skills in the University College and has been at Missouri State since 1997. She received her MS in Education from Missouri State in 1991.
At this time I’d like Ms. Karen Horny, Dean of Library Services to make the college award presentations to her faculty and to introduce their newest faculty members, as well. Ms. Horny.
(beginning of Dean Horny’s presentations)
Roberta Aram, University Award Winner in Teaching, is an associate professor in the STE and has been at Missouri State since 1998. She received her PhD from University of MO-Columbia in 1996 in Science Education and has over 20 years teaching experience (1981).
Cindy Wilson, University Award Winner in Research, is an associate professor in the STE, and has been at Missouri State since 1996. She received her PHD from University of Arkansas- Fayetteville in Education-Reading/Technology in 1996 and has over 20 years teaching experience (1973).
Sue (Bryde) George, University Award Winner in Service, is a professor of Early Childhood Education and has been at Missouri State since 1992. She received her PhD from Temple University in Philosophy and Special Education in 1988 and has over 20 years teaching experience (1975).
I might mention parenthetically that some of the award recipients just recognized are already listed, even multiple times, on the plaques hanging in Hill Hall.
Dr. Schmidt, I now yield the platform to you. But, just before I do, I’d like to mention that we have many, many fine faculty who go about doing great things even in the absence of recognition. For example, Springfield just received an $8.3 million grant for the Safe Schools / Healthy Students Initiative. This is a collaborative among Spfd. R-12 Public Schools, local mental health, the Burrell Center, local law enforcement, including the Springfield Police Department, and Missouri State. The lead writer on this initiative is here with us today, Dr. Joe Hulgus, Dept. of Counseling. Joe, please stand and be recognized.
In NCATE’s lexicon, the word “unit” is used to denote a department, college, school, or other administrative structure that is charged with the oversight and supervision of all professional education programs. In Missouri State’s lexicon, the word “unit” is synonomous with the PEU – an organizational structure I referred to at the outset that has evolved from a loosely coupled ideal in 1994 to a collaborative reality in 2003. Again, the PEU at Missouri State spans the entire University. It’s elected governing body is the PEC, led this year by chair, Dr. Lynda Plymate. The PEC and its several sub-committees have department level status to initiate program changes and make recommendations to the Head of the PEU. The dean, COE is that designated head.
In case you’re wondering, all this means is I get to do more work for less pay. Actually, what it really means is all the deans are forced by VPAA to meet monthly to discuss education issues at the AAPEU and leave in one accord. This is Dr. Schmidt’s concept of consensus building. And it works!
Every Monday morning President Keiser meets with his administrative team of VPs. Later that same day Dr. Schmidt meets with all the deans. Tuesday morning, I meet with my department heads at 9:30 for the COE Administrative Council. Then, the various department heads hold faculty meetings at some later date. This routine is how information is disseminated and communication is ongoing.
Despite recent State budget shortfalls, professional education at Missouri State continues to move forward, receiving substantial and on-going support to pursue a number of important initiatives, including State and National accreditation. Our level of support, both in finances and personnel, is remarkable, given these tough financial times. The total FY04 budget for the College of Education to support our 3,500+ students and 77 faculty is $7,549,220.00. This represents an increase of approximately 8% over the past three years and includes all academic units, Advisement, Field Experiences, Certification, the Greenwood Laboratory School, and our West Plains program. When the entire PEU membership across all six academic colleges is included in these calculations, the University’s support of professional education exceeds $12 million annually. One of our support units, the Institute for School Improvement, has generated another $1.6 million in grants and contracts each year since 2000, and three federal grants have added over $4.5 million since 2000 to support a number of vital outreach and partnership projects with area schools. Direct University support for our accreditation efforts has averaged approximately $30,000 a year since 2000. Coupled with two new positions in the College of Education to support this work, one in 2001 and another in 2002, our current level of support for continuing accreditation has already exceeded $110,000 since July 2002.
Professional Education Unit travel funds and other professional development activities for FY04 total approximately $214,000. Individual support from academic departments and colleges across campus that are members of the PEU accounts for over $11 million in faculty, staff, and administrator salaries and an additional $720,000 in operating expenses. In the College of Education alone, $110, 649 is budgeted in FY04 to support graduate assistants, $38,500 for faculty travel, $365,841 for summer programs, and over $500,000 in technology related budgets.
Our new College of Education long-range vision and six-year plan, “Creating a Legacy of Learning,” details our mission and goals.
“The mission of the College of Education is to help all children learn and succeed in school; to become productive, caring citizens and active community participants.”
Our five goals are:
(1) Faculty recruitment, retention, and professional development
(2) Student recruitment, induction, and support
(3) The development of programs that are proactive and responsive to K-12 settings
(4) College development and advancement through community outreach
(5) Technology integration into the curriculum
Our College plan was developed over a two-year period, beginning in 2000 and is modeled after the University’s long-range plan, “Countdown to the Missouri State Centennial,” Dr. Bill Agnew, Head, Department of Educational Administration, facilitated the plan’s development by meeting numerous times with faculty, administrators, and staff in each of our three academic departments and support units. Copies of “Creating a Legacy of Learning” will be sent to every unit on campus and to each of our 524 school districts in Missouri. Please take a copy with you today from those made available on the tables in front of the doors where you will exit.
In sum, the plan articulates a number of proposed initiatives and it documents the legacy we continue to create. It outlines important initiatives we’ve already begun such as the MAT, BEARS, the Teaching Academy, our Capital Campaign, the one-room school house we hope to relocate to campus next summer, our 9/11 tree planting ceremonies with area schools, Culture Exchanges and other Diversity Initiatives. And it sets forth our commitment to reach out to our K-12 partners, not only in the preparation of teachers, counselors, administrators, school librarians and media specialist as well as other personnel – our traditional mission – but also to support schools in their efforts to improve student learning. As I have reminded us in each of my previous State of the College Addresses, the students that graduate from high school enter Missouri State as freshman to receive the highest quality education we can provide. Four years later, many of these students return to K-12 schools to teach. The children they teach, then become our students, and the cycle repeats. It has repeated for almost 100 years, now, and it is our responsibility to ensure that each generation progresses to the highest level possible. It is in everyone’s interest to support education, to contribute to “producing educated persons,” be they citizen teachers, citizen counselors, citizen principals, citizen school librarians, citizen superintendents, citizen library media specialists, or citizen school resource personnel. Documenting this legacy of learning has been a privilege for me, and as President Keiser reminds us each year, “It’s a privilege to be a bear.” Thank you and have the best academic school year ever beginning in 2003.
David Hough, acting dean
College of Education
August 22, 2003