The interim dean of the School of Education at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff has put forth a proposal aimed at increasing the graduation rates of education student who want to teach school in Arkansas.
"We're trying to systematically make changes in our Education Preparatory Program to ensure that students that come to the university and self-declared as education majors, they graduate in four years in education," said Wanda Newell. "What we have found is we have many children that come in saying they want to be educators, but in four years they have changed their major or haven't met the qualifications to be a teacher."
According to Newell, less than a third of Arkansas students who declare education as their major at the time of college entry are successful in entering the education program, graduating and receiving an Arkansas standard teacher license.
"This data point is also factual for UAPB [education program] candidates," said Newell. "In 2015, 70 UAPB students declared education as their major and in 2019, just 15 candidates completed the program."
[Video not showing up above? Click here to view » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tyI5JIEm5c]
Looking critically into the weaknesses of the program, Newell said it was time to discover the truth.
"I didn't want to put a Band-Aid on it," said Newell. "I really wanted to do the dirty hard work, so I wrote a proposal to systematically look at what we do."
The proposal suggests the establishment of a nine-month Visiting Professor Chair for the Innovation of the UAPB program. An amount of $55,000 was requested to fund that position. The visiting professor chair will aid in making systemic improvement to the current education curriculum and how content is delivered tocandidates.
"I want someone to look at five years of data of our performance so we can key in and see where are our weaknesses," said Newell. "I want that person to look at our syllabus to see if what we are teaching is actually what the students ... see when they take their test."
Newell also wants the way courses are being presented to the students to be evaluated. She said there tends to be big gaps between the courses from the student's freshman year to the senior year.
The visiting chair for 2020-2021 will focus specifically on the Praxis exam, the primary qualifying mechanism needed to receive an Arkansas teacher License.
"We wanted to do the comprehensive research necessary to come up with a plan that will guarantee that our students take that exam and pass it on the first try," said Newell.
Go Forward Pine Bluff CEO Ryan Watley said the organization supports the initiative, and he presented a check in the amount of $55,000 Monday afternoon to Newell along with Celeste Alexander, Robert Z. Carr Jr., Vera Lang-Brown, UAPB Chancellor Laurence Alexander, Mildred Franco and Mary Liddell.
"You're doing a really great job for the School of Education," said Watley as he presented the check.
Watley commended Newell for her take-charge approach and said Go Forward Pine Bluff wanted to assist.
"This donation is part of a three-tier education program in the School of Education," said Watley. "This is to help fund a position which will work to reorganize the department."
Lang-Brown is the associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UAPB, which houses the education-preparatory program. Lang-Brown said the process in the past allowed students to decide when they wanted to take their test and they wait a long time before they are admitted to the School of Education, which is the first admission.
According to Lang-Brown, the program redesign would reach out to those students who have indicated very early that they are interested in teaching, even as freshman students.
"When they write down on their admissions form, I'm interested in teaching, we get the data that tells us who those students are and we look at their ACT scores," said Lang-Brown. "If they have at least two of the scores, we will invite them to a meeting and tell them about the teacher education program and then provide an opportunity to interview them individually about their interest and begin a cohort of students so that we can nurture them and make sure that they are moving through the program in a structured manner."
Students must have a score of 20 in math and reading as well as at least a 7 in writing. If students have at least two of those scores, they are recruited into the program.
"That's the beginning of the [program] redesign and throughout their matriculation, we have activities that we have identified and professional development to keep them mentally thinking," said Lang-Brown.
Lang-Brown said that by the sophomore or junior year, the student should have completed the practice exam. By making that extra effort by seeking incoming freshmen, the program can provide them with guidance right away.
"We don't want all those tests to pile up at the end," said Lang-Brown. "We're giving them a bit more structure and a timeline for doing the things they need to do to successfully move on to do the student teaching."
The visiting-professor chair for Innovation in Educator Preparatory at UAPB will generate national- and state-based Praxis data, conduct an extensive analysis of UAPB current education-program curriculum, collaborate with UAPB faculty members identifying gaps in the program, mentor and assist students with Praxis Preparation and produce and lead public-facing research.
The program will continue to develop infusing simulation technology that, Newell states, will create continuity and resiliency in the way the program does instruction. Newell's vision is to spark new energy within UAPB's education-major programs.
"Innovation should be the rule rather than the exception in higher education; however, programmatic cuts and streamlining of faculty has made it difficult for faculty to explore innovative approaches to improve graduation rates of [program] candidates," said Newell. "As a result, aged practices have resulted in a lack of progress within the university's two [education-preparatory programs]."
"We are going to pull those students together and begin to rigorously work with them to make sure they stay the track because we want to make sure they finish the program," added Lang-Brown. "They came in with an interest and we want them to finish."