CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
FOR
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
For more than 100 years, Jacksonville State
University (JSU) has served the region and state with a proud tradition in
teaching, research, and service. The
College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) at JSU boasts a
strong legacy in teacher education that dates back to our
very beginning in 1883 as a state teacher's college. Today,
teacher education at JSU has grown to encompass comprehensive
undergraduate and graduate offerings leading to Bachelor of Science in
Education (B.S.Ed.), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Master of Science in
Education (M.S.Ed.), Master of Arts (M.A.), and Educational Specialist
(Ed.S.) degrees. Teacher education degree programs offered at the
baccalaureate level include B.S.Ed. degrees in the following areas:
Bachelor of Science
in Education (B.S.Ed.)
·
Early
Childhood Education
·
Elementary
Education
·
Special Education/Collaborative Teacher
(K-6)
·
Special Education/Collaborative Teacher
(6-12)
·
Middle School certification:
o
Biology
o
English Language Arts
o
General Science
o
History
o
Mathematics
o
Social Science
·
Secondary certification:
o
Biology
o
Business
o
English Language Arts
o
General Science
o
Geography
o
Health
o
History
o
Social Science
o
Technology
o
Mathematics
o
Family and Consumer Sciences
·
Physical Education
·
Reading Specialist
·
French
·
Spanish
·
Music (Instrumental & Vocal/Choral)
Master’s level
programs in the College include the following degrees:
Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.)
·
Early Childhood Education
·
Early
Childhood Education - Tech Option
·
Early
Childhood Special Education
·
Educational
Administration
·
Elementary
Education
·
Elementary
Education - Tech Option
·
Library
Media
·
Library
Media - Tech Option
·
Physical
Education
·
Reading Specialist
·
Secondary Education Subject Matter
o
Biology
o
Biology
- Tech Option
o
English
Language Arts
o
English
Language Arts - Tech Option
o
General
Science
o
General
Science - Tech Option
o
History
o
History
- Tech Option
o
Mathematics
o
Mathematics
- Tech Option
o
Social
Science
o
Social
Science - Tech Option
·
Special
Education/Collaborative Teacher (K-6)
·
Special
Education/Collaborative Teacher (6-12)
Master of Arts (M.A.)
·
Music
Education/Instrumental
·
Music
Education Vocal-Choral
·
School
Counseling
·
Community
Agency Counseling
Educational
Specialist level programs in the College include:
Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) with
concentrations in these areas:
·
Community
Agency Counseling
·
Early
Childhood Education
·
Educational
Administration
·
Elementary
Education
·
Physical
Education
·
School
Counseling
·
Secondary
Education
o
Biology
o
English
Language Arts
o
General
Science
o
History
o
Mathematics
o
Social
Science
·
Special
Education/Collaborative Teacher (K -6)
·
Special Education/Collaborative Teacher (6-12)
University Mission
Jacksonville State University is a public, comprehensive teaching institution
that provides educational, cultural, and social experiences for a diverse
undergraduate and graduate student population. As a student-centered university, Jacksonville State University strives to balance academic challenges with a
range of support services for students’ academic, career, and personal
goals. As an academic institution, Jacksonville State University seeks to produce broadly educated graduates
with skills for employment, citizenship, and life-long learning. As a comprehensive university, Jacksonville State University supports scholarly and service activities
consistent with its academic and professional strengths.
College Mission
The mission of the College
of Education and Professional
Studies (CEPS) is to prepare students for successful careers in a variety
of professions. Programs in the
college enable graduates to become creative decision makers who can
effectively solve problems using concepts and practices appropriate for
each discipline. The College meets
the changing needs of the region, state, and nation through wide-ranging
service and research activities.
These activities develop problem-solving strategies and assist in
social, educational, and economic development.
The College’s uniqueness is reflected through
its diversity of programs and services.
Programs in Education, Nutrition and Food Merchandising, Exercise
Science and Wellness, Recreation Leadership, Counseling, Technology and
Engineering, and Mass Communication are designed to enable graduates to
solve problems effectively by using concepts and practices appropriate for
each discipline in a creative decision-making process.
The College
serves through outreach and partnership activities to schools and
businesses related to its programs within and surrounding the Jacksonville
State University
service area. We believe that strong affiliations with constituency groups
(e.g., superintendents, principals, and teachers) serve to benefit our
candidates through supervision of practical experiences and as members of
college advisory committees dealing with program development. The ultimate goal of the College mission
is to assure that its graduates are effective, highly performing employees.
The Creative Decision Maker
The College of Education and Professional Studies at JSU constructed its
conceptual framework for teacher preparation focused on the concept of the
educational professional as a Creative Decision Maker. This concept stems from a common belief
within the CEPS that effective teachers and other professional school
personnel are equipped with the knowledge, skills and dispositions
necessary to provide a rich, productive learning environment for all
students they serve through creative decision-making practices. This is achieved through practices
implemented by the Creative Decision Maker based on knowledge of
accrediting standards and educational theory and research.
Societal issues
such as economics, vulnerability to international dangers, the Internet,
the proliferation of computers in daily living, violence in schools,
diverse populations and cultures, and the worldwide visual network have all
contributed to broadening the College’s focus from a local to a global
perspective and have had a significant impact on the classroom (Bagin &
Gallagher, 2001). Given these societal influences on education, the
effective Creative Decision Maker is prepared to adjust to ever
changing circumstances that can affect the quality of the educational
process for students.
The fundamental components of the educational
process include the selection of course content, teaching strategies,
effective communication skills and professional development. The Creative Decision Maker
understands that implementation of appropriate content or subject matter is
dependent upon the characteristics of the learner and the educational
context or circumstances under which the teaching-learning process takes
place. He or she understands
effective choices in the selection of teaching strategies and techniques
that will appropriately meet the students’ learning needs. The Creative
Decision Maker understands the importance and the effectiveness of the
educator’s communication skills and professionalism in dealing with
students, parents, colleagues, and P-12 community members. Finally, the effective Creative
Decision Maker will make choices with regard to professional
development activities that will enhance the teaching-learning process.
Ultimately, the
Conceptual Framework of the CEPS at JSU provides developing educational
professionals with a frame of reference by which they may learn to make
creatively appropriate decisions succinctly, consistently, and
purposefully. To achieve this
objective, initial candidates are guided through five levels of
experience ranging from the academic classroom to a genuine classroom
instructional setting, with each experience serving to hone their creative
decision-making skills along the way.
Advanced candidates continue their lifelong learning
experience through higher-level best practices that assist them in
achieving their full potential as creative decision makers.
Evidence of the Conceptual
Framework through the NCATE Elements
Shared Vision: The
conceptual framework describes the vision and purpose of the CEPS toward
preparing the professional educator to work in the schools. The emphasis is on the education
professional as a Creative Decision Maker and is reflected in each
undergraduate and graduate program. The conceptual framework has been
widely disseminated to candidates, faculty, and P-12 partners to ensure
alignment with curriculum, instruction, field experiences, and clinical
experience. The collective vision of
the faculty in the CEPS, the P-12 community, and public school partners is
to prepare educators with broad-based, in-depth content knowledge that can
be directly applied to address the diverse needs of all learners. The conceptual framework is well
articulated and knowledge-based.
Coherence: The unit’s conceptual framework provides a
system for ensuring coherence among curriculum, instruction, field
experiences, clinical practice, and assessment throughout each candidate’s
program. This is accomplished
through careful infusion of the goals and dispositions of the eight
learning outcomes of the Creative Decision Maker into each
program.
Professional Commitments and
Dispositions: The unit’s conceptual
framework clearly articulates its professional commitment to knowledge,
teaching competence, and student learning.
It has outlined the dispositions that faculty value in teachers and
other professional school personnel, including evidence of caring about
students, a belief that all students can learn, sensitivity about
diversity, and multicultural awareness. These qualities are sought at the
point of application to Teacher Education and continue throughout
coursework, field experiences and clinical practice. In addition, the unit recognizes the
dispositions associated with the INTASC standards. These dispositions,
woven throughout the Conceptual Framework, are used in the candidates’
evaluation process at various checkpoints within the various programs.
Commitment to Diversity:
The unit’s conceptual framework emphasizes the significance of preparing
candidates in each teacher education program to work and live in a more
diverse society. Clearly, as
demographics change over the next two decades, the creative decision maker
will play a vital role in educating the youth of our society to understand
and accept others, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or
socioeconomic status.
Commitment to Technology: A vital component of the Creative Decision
Maker’s conceptual framework is the importance placed on educational
technology. To be effective Creative
Decision Makers, teachers and other school personnel must develop
knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to integrate technology into
the classroom, field experiences, clinical practice, assessments, and
evaluations.
Candidate Proficiencies
Aligned with Professional and State Standards: The conceptual framework provides the context for developing and
assessing proficiencies throughout the candidates’ educational
experiences. The assessed
proficiencies are based on professional, state, and institutional standards
appropriate to each certification area.
The JSU Model
According to
Shulman (1987, 1998), the knowledge base for teacher education should
encompass these categories: content
pedagogy; knowledge of learners and their characteristics; knowledge of
educational contexts; knowledge of educational ends, purposes, and values,
including their philosophical and historical grounds. The sources of this knowledge base
include scholarship in the content disciplines; materials of the
institutionalized process; research in schooling, social organizations,
human learning, teaching, development and other applicable phenomena; and
the wisdom gained from practice. The
model of the CEPS incorporates many of these concepts and places them
within the context of creative decision making as they apply to the INTASC
Standards.
The candidates in the CEPS’
teacher education program at JSU are viewed as developing education
professionals who
will mature into creative decision makers. The term Developing reflects the
CEPS’ perspective that effective education professionals continue to gain
knowledge in field throughout their professional career, with formal
education being the first step in a lifelong process of professional
growth. Given that the world is
constantly changing, continuing to search and improve the knowledge base is
vital for educators to be equipped to meet society’s needs during the new
millennium. Education
Professional indicates the fact that the CEPS prepares not only
classroom teachers, but others who also impact the education process. These school personnel include
administrators, counselors, and media specialists. Creative implies that the
education professional goes beyond the acquisition of basic knowledge of
facts to produce new and imaginative experiences and environments through
which learning can take place. To
foster the creative process in its candidates, the CEPS places emphasis on
involving the future decision maker in field-based, authentic experiences
throughout the educational process. Decision
Maker denotes the education professional’s ability to make choices,
draw conclusions, resolve issues, assess knowledge and skills, evaluate the
results, and use these results to make judgments regarding the educational
process. It is our contention that
when creative decision-making in candidates begins early and is continued
throughout the academic experience, candidates will continue the process
throughout their teaching career.
Effective teachers use their
knowledge base concerning theory, the learner, content, and teaching
techniques in conjunction with reflection and a problem solving orientation
to provide the best learning conditions for students (Parkay &
Stanford, 1988). Reflection and
problem solving orientation are components of the creative decision-making
process.
Teaching is an endeavor that
involves creative decision-making over a broad spectrum of student-centered
education (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 1998). Based on their knowledge of educational
theory and research, creative decision makers make informed
decisions regarding the content or subject matter they are to teach. To be maximally effective, these
education professionals consider all of the characteristics of the learner
and the educational context or circumstances under which the
teaching-learning process takes place.
Furthermore, they choose from their knowledge of teaching strategies
and techniques the approaches that will most appropriately meet students’
learning needs. The creative
decision making philosophy influences the effectiveness of teachers’ communication
skills and professionalism in dealing with students, parents, and other
community members. Finally, the
effective educator makes decisions with regard to professional development
in selecting activities that will enhance the teaching-learning process.
Teachers strengthen the
decision-making processes involved in teaching through practice. Duffy (1992) observed, “effective
teaching is associated with being empowered to combine tenets of various
positions in order to arrive at instructional decisions that make sense in
a particular instructional situation” (p. 444). The ability to present various
content-related matters to specific individuals through particular styles
develops in context-specific environments (Post & Cramer, 1989;
McDiarmid, Ball & Anderson 1989).
Learning to apply specific teaching techniques does not occur
spontaneously and the literature does not always provide enough specificity
to guide learners in deciding about application. The extant literature contains little
knowledge of what techniques work in what situations (Doyle, 1986,
1997). The effective teacher must
make instructional decisions, but must do so in authentic situations.
Shavelson (1973) argued, “any
teaching is the result of a decision, whether conscious, that the teacher
makes after the complex cognitive processing of available information” (p.
149). Decision making, then, is THE
basic teaching skill. Shavelson
offered a process for teaching students to make educational decisions. Noller (1977), Chapin and Messick (1992,
2002), Clark and Clark (2002), and Kindsvatter, Wilen, and Ishler (1992,
2000), among others, proposed models for decision making from which all
teachers would benefit.
According to Pasch, Sparks-Langer, Gardner,
Starko, and Moody (1991), teachers make decisions in the following areas:
·
Decisions about teaching: Planning for
action;
·
Decisions during teaching: Action,
observation, and modification; and
·
Decisions after teaching: Reflection,
prediction, redesign.
Since decision making is a learned process, we
must teach it directly and specifically to developing education
professionals. If not taught and
supported through practice, decisions to apply certain techniques are
vulnerable to several adverse influences.
Etheridge (1989) found the diversity of instructional strategies
used decreased over time as teachers faced time constraints, assignments
for which they were unprepared, and insufficient planning time, among other
realities. Browne and Hoover
(1990) found that student teachers used fewer than 60% of the teaching
strategies valued by university professors.
New teachers and student teachers were more likely to give
ideological and methodological allegiance to their cooperating teachers
than to their professional education faculty (Diatopo, 1980). Goodlad (1990) found that student
teachers opted for methods formally specified by the cooperating schools
over the techniques they learned on campus.
He said both students and professors were mistaken in believing that
new teachers would return to best practices, once in charge of their own
classrooms. Understanding that these
detrimental circumstances exist and working to meet these realities in
supportive environments are vital to effective teaching practices. Furthermore, effective teachers need to
know what does not work, as well as what does, and why, so they do not
abandon promising practices that failed in one context without considering
use of them in another.
Finally, Koehler (1985) found both
inexperienced and experienced teachers felt their programs did not prepare
them well to teach. Given the
pressures which bear upon professed teaching practices, preparation
programs ought to become more field-based and direct in nurturing the
application of knowledge and decision making skills in developing education
professionals.
Goal of
the Model
The
goal in continuing the Creative Decision Maker as a metaphor for the
developing education professional is to provide teacher candidates and
other professional school personnel with a frame of reference by which they
may focus on learning to make decisions quickly, continuously, and
purposefully. The creativity in
teaching comes from the ability to make decisions based on knowledge,
skills, and dispositions.
The
Developing Education Professional as a Creative Decision Maker
is knowledgeable of the technical, scientific aspects of truth,
experiential aspects of teaching, the planning of curriculum content, and
the characteristics of students from diverse backgrounds. The scientific domains of the field of
education provide teachers with the theoretical and research base for
“better tools from… which teachers can use their heads” (Eisner, 1983 p.10). Applying this factual base with
imagination to create new realities for students in the classroom and
beyond is imperative for teachers and other professional school
personnel.
Learning Outcomes of the Model
To develop Creative Decision Makers of
superior quality, each program strives to meet the qualifications set forth
by its learned society. The faculty reassesses programs periodically
through various formal and informal strategies.
As developing Creative Decision Makers,
graduates from the teacher education programs possess a knowledge base
rooted in educational theory and research.
They are knowledgeable about the content, as well as the processes
that lead to acquiring the facts, concepts, and structures of the
discipline. They understand critical
attributes of their learners in order to match their teaching to the proper
extrinsic and intrinsic sources of motivation, as well as take into account
the learner’s readiness for instruction in terms of prerequisite skills and
cultural and societal experiences.
Creative
Decision Makers plan their teaching using strategies and techniques
that accelerate student learning.
Teachers can accomplish this by modifying instruction to address the
current level, as well as the necessary future levels of learning mastery. They present themselves professionally by
modeling proper speaking and writing skills, understanding the school as a
part of society, using successful interpersonal skills with colleagues,
implementing emerging methodologies, such as effective schools and
outcomes-based education, and continued development as educational
professionals throughout their careers.
Creative
Decision Makers provide a positive context for learning that includes
expectations that maximize student potential. To accomplish this, teachers provide
clear instructions and effective classroom management, while developing an
atmosphere of equity, cooperation, and self-discipline. They effectively integrate instructional
technology effectively into their classrooms by their ability to navigate
the Internet, web quests, simulations, tutorials, e-mail, information
research, data gathering, and using multimedia formats for presentation.
The conceptual framework for all programs
focuses on the theme that the Developing Educational Professional is
a Creative Decision Maker.
Teachers and other school personnel make daily decisions
related to each of the eight identified outcomes. Although some debate the degree to which
teachers arrive at their skills “naturally”, it is a basic tenet of
education that these decisions must be deliberate and planned (Orlich,
Harder, Callahan & Gibson, 1998).
Teaching is more than providing an entertaining presence. It is taking responsibility for the
myriad of decisions that a teacher must make in order to maximize the
growth of the learners involved.
These decisions are discussed more fully in the following section.
Goals and Dispositions of the
Learning Outcomes
I.
Creative Decision Makers reflect
understanding of educational theory and research by their ability to
1.1 Develop learning experiences appropriate for
curriculum goals based on principles of effective teaching.
1.2 Plan for learning opportunities that accommodate
a variety of learning styles.
1.3 Create lessons and activities at different
developmental levels to meet the needs of diverse learners.
1.4 Create
short- and long-range plans linked to student needs and performance, and
develop plans to ensure student progress and motivation.
1.5 Respond
to unanticipated needs of the learner with adjustments to plans that will
meet the needs of the student and enhance learning.
Dispositions
associated with this goal:
1.6
The Creative Decision-Maker values
both long term and short term planning.
1.7
The Creative Decision-Maker believes
that plans must always be open to continuous assessment and modifications
based on student needs.
Reference: INTASC Principle 7 – Planning
Creative Decision Makers reflect their understanding of educational
theory and research by their ability to recognize individual learner
characteristics and plan developmentally appropriate experiences that match
instructional strengths and weaknesses of their students (Bredekampt,
1997). Teachers plan with an understanding of varying traits associated
with elementary, middle, and high school students, along with the principle
of individualization for specific students (Gemelli, 1996).
Teachers select
appropriate content and processes for acquiring content that enhances
understanding and self-direction, and they choose teaching methods that
address learner characteristics and needs.
Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are applied for learning.
Creative
Decision Makers implement characteristics of effective teaching,
including the following:
·
Having high expectations for P-12 student
achievement.
·
Adapting instruction and anticipating P-12
student misconceptions.
·
Using meta-cognitive strategies.
·
Addressing all levels of academic subjects.
·
Integrating instruction across subject
matter.
·
Reflecting on their actual teaching
practices.
·
Being an active teacher.
·
Maintaining a supportive environment.
Effective Schools are
identified as having the following correlates (Kelly, 1991):
·
Positive school climate.
·
Collaborative planning process.
·
Clearly defined academic goals.
·
Clearly defined instructional goals and
objectives.
·
Monitoring of student progress.
·
Concern for improvement of teacher and staff
effectiveness.
·
Administrative leadership.
·
Parent and family involvement.
·
Opportunities for student responsibility and
participation.
·
Rewards and incentives.
·
Order and discipline.
II.
Creative Decision Makers reflect
understanding of content pedagogy by their ability to
2.1 Effectively use multiple explanations of central
concepts and link them to students' prior knowledge of learning.
2.2 Represent and implement various tools of inquiry
in teaching.
2.3 Assess teaching resources for their
comprehensiveness, accuracy, and effectiveness as part of the curriculum.
2.4 Develop curricula that encourage students to
identify and evaluate ideas from diverse perspectives.
2.5 Create interdisciplinary learning experiences
that allow students to integrate knowledge and skills.
Dispositions
associated with this goal:
2.6 The Creative Decision Maker realizes that
content knowledge is not a fixed body of facts, but is complex and dynamic.
2.7 The Creative Decision Maker values
multiple perspectives and conveys to students how content knowledge is
developed.
2.8 | 