College of Saint Benedict | Saint John's University

III. Evidence

Standard 5: Faculty Qualifications, Performance, and Development

Faculty are qualified and model best professional practices in scholarship, service, and teaching, including the assessment of their own effectiveness as related to candidate performance; they also collaborate with colleagues in the disciplines and schools. The unit systematically evaluates faculty and facilitates professional development.

Element 1: Qualified Faculty

The Education Department faculty members are exceedingly qualified to teach the courses assigned to them by virtue of their earned doctorates or exceptional expertise. Over 58% of all Education courses are taught by faculty members who have earned doctorates.

The following table identifies the academic credentials of our faculty from 2004-2005. “Head count” refers to the number and percentage of faculty members holding each degree type.  “FTE” refers to the numbers and percentage of full-time equivalency for each degree type based upon the number of credit hours taught by faculty members. “Student Credit Hours produced” refers to the numbers of students taught multiplied by the number of credit hours earned by students in courses taught by faculty members of each degree type.  Supervising teachers and clinical faculty are excluded from this table.

Table III.5.1 Academic Qualifications of Faculty Teaching Education Courses

All of the faculty members included in Table III.5.1 teach either foundations or pedagogy courses in the Education Department. Of the nine faculty members with a Master’s degree, five are concurrent master teachers in P-12 schools. One is currently on leave from the Minneapolis School Public School system. Three have strong teaching or clinical backgrounds in working with children/youth in the areas in which they teach. Another, the instructor for the unit’s “Drug Use and Abuse” course, is a youth counselor in a local drug rehabilitation center. One of the faculty members listed as an “Earned Doctorate” is at present “ABD” and will defend his dissertation in fall 2005. A second faculty member is beginning his Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota (Education; Second Languages and Cultures major and Mathematics Education minor) beginning in fall of 2005. He came to the unit with more than seven years of experience as a bilingual/immersion educator with a highly diverse student population in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

These faculty members have many of years of teaching experience in P-12 schools. They also have contemporary professional experiences in school settings at the levels they supervise. In the past three years they have…

• Facilitated diversity workshops for our partner schools and unit faculty
• Participated in a collaboration project with a local Catholic High School
• Judged science fairs for several area schools;
• Presented a diversity in-service for local Catholic school;
• Provided staff development in Balanced Literacy Instruction for K-12 schools;
• Participated in Read-A-Thons at area schools;
• Contributed to the external program evaluation of a partner school district’s “Safe Schools/Healthy Kids” federal program;
• Served as external evaluator for a partner school district’s “Transition to Teaching” alternative licensure program;
• Designed and facilitated a strategic planning workshop for the Local Educational Activities Foundation (LEAF) board of directors;
• Traded positions with middle school teacher for part of a day;
• Served as speech judge for area middle and high school speech contests;
• Taught in Minneapolis Public Schools (immersion experience).

The full-time professional education faculty members are also engaged in meaningful Teacher Education and school- related scholarship. Examples of recent faculty scholarship include…

• Dr. Art Spring’s several book reviews in Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Technology, Philosophy, History and Science.
• Brother Doug Mullin’s presentation of his work with dispositions in his January 2003 AACTE presentation, “A Framework for Assessing Teacher Candidate Dispositions.” He also shared the results of this research with teacher educators attending the Minnesota Teacher Education Congress in Minneapolis during February of that same year.
• Dr. Edmund Sass’s web pages providing lesson plans for teachers (see http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edres.htm for an index). These resources include original materials that he has developed. Recent examples of his work include “American Educational History: A Hypertext Timeline” at (http://www.cloudnet.com/%7Eedrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html), The Polio History Pages (http://www.cloudnet.com/%7Eedrbsass/poliohistorypage.htm and the Learning Styles Jigsaw Activity at (http://www.cloudnet.com/%7Eedrbsass/learningstylesjigsaw.html). These internet resources average about 300,000 page views a month (10,000 per day).
• Sass’s lesson plan “Mental Retardation: Definitions and Terminology” (#:AELP-CHR0201) http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Health/Chronic­Conditions/CHR0201.html  is included in The Educator’s Reference Desk, formerly “Ask ERIC.”
• Dr. Art Spring’s presentation at Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conference.
• Sister Lois Wedl’s article in A Way of Life, A Way of Faith: Benedictines in Central Minnesota published by SJU Vocations Project.
• Mr. Michael Borka’s presentation at MCTE State Conference on the topic of Guided Reading (2005) and his reviews for the University of MN publication of “New Books for Young Readers.”
• Dr. Deanna Lamb’s personal and course websites at http://employees.csbsju.edu/dlamb/Default.htm. 
• Dr. Lynn Moore’s presentation, with six of the unit’s elementary candidates, before the Central Minnesota Reading Association at its January, 2005 conference.
• Dr. Deanna Lamb’s collection of Tanzanian stories prepared with S. Tarsisia Ponera. The collection includes 14 stories written first in English and then in Swahili.
• Dr. Dee Lamb and Ann Marie Biermaier OSB described the urban immersion experience incorporated in the unit’s diversity plan at the 2004 AACTE meeting in Chicago.
• Dr. Deanna Lamb’s class at Ghost Ranch, Abiqui, New Mexico in July 2004 resulting in personal poetry and several readers theatre scripts for her Children’s Literature course.
• Mr. Jake Knaus participation in a Faculty Development trip to El Paso and Cuidad Juarez in May 2004 as part of his work with the Latino/Latin America Study Group at CSB/SJU. This experience directly supports the multicultural and diversity education themes of the courses he teaches.
• Knaus is also working on an article for submission to the NCTM journals about how to develop empathy and understanding in pre-service teacher of mathematics for students who are learning English and students who have Learning Disabilities and differences. He will also be beginning the PhD program at the University of Minnesota in Fall 2004
• Dr. Bruce Dickau presented his analysis of TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) in a paper given at Notre Dame University, Fremantle, Australia in the fall of 2005. Dr. Dickau also completed a three year study of recently licensed science teachers instructional practices as part of Sci-Math Minnesota’s Teacher Resource Network

All clinical faculty are highly qualified with academic preparation and successful teaching experience in the areas that they supervise. School faculty all hold current teaching licenses and are recommended and approved by their principal for working with student teachers. College student teaching supervisors hold teaching licenses (current or expired) at the levels they supervise. In cases where the college supervisor does not have licensure in the specific discipline of a candidate’s student teaching experience, a college faculty member from that discipline also observes and evaluates the candidate’s use of content knowledge in teaching. Clinical faculty members have letters of recommendation on file confirming their service as master teachers who are also recognized for their ability to work with candidates in P-12 settings. All full-time Education Department faculty members have annual reviews with the unit chairperson confirming their teaching competence.

Element 2: Modeling Best Professional Practices in Teaching

All Education Department faculty members have an in-depth understanding of the fields in which they teach. Beyond holding academic qualifications appropriate for their area of teaching, faculty continue in-depth study to enhance their teaching. Evidence of their understanding takes a variety of forms, including…

• Research-based bibliographies included in all their course syllabi.
• Required field experiences with service learning and teaching practicum requirements that give faculty prime opportunities to see what’s working and what’s required in local P-12 classrooms.
• Syllabi, which reveal through assignments, organization, and the content of their courses the results of in-depth study and thought about the pedagogy of their field, multicultural dimensions, and diversity education.
• Professional presentations on the local, regional, state, national level.
• Participation in professional development activities.
• Consulting work done by faculty for area schools and educational organizations.
• Published articles and poetry.
• Internet “web” pages that reveal both contemporary and in-depth knowledge of one’s academic area and beyond.
• Positions of leadership held within professional associations.
• Work on a brochure promoting reading aloud to children from birth to school age
• Student evaluations of faculty performance.

Education Department faculty members are teacher-scholars who integrate what is known about their content fields, teaching, and learning into their own practice. They…

• Read current literature about developments in their respective fields that they reference in their classes.
• Teach students how to make effective decisions regarding the books they introduce to their prospective pupils and the ways they might present them.
• Model uses of constructivist learning activities by focusing on concepts as opposed to procedures or modeling ways to interpret and evaluate literature.
• Utilize cooperative learning structures, such as discussion based activities, simulations, jigsaw activities, and cooperative learning strategies that…
  • Integrate what one has learned about brain research into courses;
  • Utilize standards based performance assessments;
  • Engage students in personal decision-making and reflection about their own experiences and learning processes;
  • Teach students how to ask higher level questions to prompt thoughtful discussion;
    o Teaching candidates how to write effective lesson plans.

Education Department faculty members exhibit intellectual vitality in their sensitivity to critical issues. The Department as a whole recognizes diversity, technology, and assessment as critical issues for all educators. Each is embedded and inter-woven throughout the unit’s curriculum. All full-time Education faculty members consider and address diversity, technology and assessment as critical issues for education as evidenced by…

• Work with licensure standards related to diversity (MSEPT 3) in unit courses that explore
  • Bilingual and immersion education (teaching content to non-native speakers of English);
  • Conditions influencing attainment of “Average Yearly Progress” (AYP) levels.
  • Relationships between brain development and instruction in drawing.
• Engagement of all full-time Education faculty members in the Diversity Plan;
• Efforts to be informed about literature by and about oppressed groups to provide students with criteria and opportunities to evaluate that body of literature.
• Engagement of all full-time Education faculty members and many partner school members in annual diversity training workshops.
• Engagement of Education Department faculty in the Technology Plan and relevant training sessions that help them incorporate technology into their teaching, including
  • GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and its impact on the social sciences.
• Engagement of all full-time Education Department faculty members in developing appropriate standards-based assessment activities.
  

Education Department faculty members reflect the Teacher as Decision-Maker conceptual framework in their teaching.

• All Education Department syllabi are aligned with the conceptual framework;
  • The unit’s model is “front and center” in most syllabi, and
  • The learning outcomes of the course syllabi are integrated with unit and state licensure standards (MSEPT).
• Student assignments reflect decision-making in planning and execution of lessons.
  • Lesson plans reflect decisions teacher candidates make about their students, their content, and their pedagogy. These decisions are guided by the pedagogical (MSEPT), content, and professional standards.
    • In Children’s Literature (Education 215) candidates are taught how to apply their emerging knowledge of literary elements/standards, specific genres, lesson planning, questions/question sets, discussion and censorship/selection to specific books and to make decisions regarding the suitability of those books for classroom use.
  • Performance-based assessments used by faculty members throughout the program reflect standards and outcomes from the conceptual framework.
  • Modeling the steps on which classroom decisions would be based.

  Education Department faculty incorporate appropriate performance assessments in their courses. Approval of the unit’s licensure programs by the Minnesota’s Board of Teaching affirms the role of performance-based assessments for relevant state standards.

  • All of the CSB/SJU Education Department teacher education programs are currently approved.
  • Key course assignments are anchored in explicit rubrics and performance criteria to help candidates know what is expected of them.
  • Standards-based performance assessments take a variety of formats, including,
    • Oral presentations, literary discussions, clinical experience, creation of web pages, creation of brochures, field notes, units, micro teaching, management plan that integrates one’s philosophy of education with knowledge about the setting in which one’s student teaching will occur (school demographics) and the demands of the subject one will be teaching, final portfolios organized by MSEPT and professional association standards

    Education Department faculty members integrate diversity into coursework, field experiences and clinical practices of candidates. Course syllabi document the integration of the Minnesota Board of Teaching’s diversity standard (MSEPT 3) into nearly all courses. Examples of diversity integration include…

    • Completing a cultural autobiography.
    • Using multicultural literature and other literature that addresses diversity issues of a number of perspectives (ethnicity, disabilities, gender, and poverty).
    • Inviting specialists (physical disability, multiple intelligences) to present in courses.
    • Focusing on equity as a goal in addressing diversity.
    • Incorporating pedagogical strategies for addressing diverse learning needs related to linguistic diversity, cultural diversity, gender differences, and learning differences.
    • Working in schools with diverse (racial, ethnic, socio economic) populations.
    • Incorporating videos and literature (i.e. A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne) addressing issues of diversity, including gender, racial, ethnic, linguistic, sexual orientation, learning abilities/differences, socioeconomic status.
    • Reviewing professional literature to get a sense of what researchers and practitioners in the field believe and do about teaching students with exceptionalities (including gifted and talented) as well as students who are linguistic and/or racial/ethnic minorities
    • Problem solving exercises on how to support readers and writers of all abilities, ethnicities, and languages.

    Education Department faculty members integrate technology into coursework, field experiences and clinical practices of candidates. Examples of use of technology in coursework and in the classroom include…

    • Creating personal websites.
    • Developing PowerPoint presentations for group instruction.
    • Using Real Time movies of effective (and ineffective) instruction, videos of gender bias and diversity, music and examples of spoken language of other cultures.
    • Incorporating useful Internet sites into instruction.
    • Using now “traditional” technologies of email, overheads, DVD, slides, and audio recordings more effectively.
    • Using public folders for posting responses to assignments and critiques.
    • Communicating among class members using distribution lists.
    • Connecting with professional association websites.
    • Distributing instructional materials (student teacher handbooks) and accepting assignments via email.
    • Using email to communicate with students, faculty, staff, partner schools.
    • Requiring evidence of research using the internet and library databases.
    • Evaluating a variety of software packages and Internet-based lesson plans.
    • Using Front Page, Hyper Studio, and the Minnesota Environmental Atlas in course assignments and instruction.

    Education Department faculty members value candidates’ learning and adjust their instruction appropriately to enhance candidates’ learning. Faculty members use a variety of informal assessment techniques to determine the effectiveness of instructional strategies and make appropriate modifications to enhance student learning.  Examples of techniques used and modifications typically made include…

    • Using formally and informally collected student course evaluations to revise instruction.
    • Revising syllabi and course schedules to respond to students’ emerging needs and new disciplinary knowledge and practice.
    • Incorporating opportunities for candidates to choose learning tasks and assignments.
    • Seeking and listening to students’ perceptions of their course experiences.

    Education Department faculty members understand assessment technology. They utilize different technologies to assess candidate learning and knowledge through performance in…

    • Interviews,
    • Class discussions and activities,
    • Field work,
    • Class presentations,
    • Written papers,
    • Projects,
    • Paper/pencil tests,
    • Electronic portfolios, and
    • Observations of their performance in school settings.

    Education Department faculty members use multiple forms of assessment in determining their own effectiveness. Examples of such assessments include…

    • Class observations by colleagues.
    • Student evaluations as required by our colleges and designed by unit faculty.
    • Annual summaries of faculty performance prepared for review with the unit chairperson.
    • Personal reflections of one’s practice; make notes after each class about the effectiveness of the pedagogy for the day and possible changes for the following class session(s).
    • Requests for focused student feedback at critical points during the course, perhaps by seeking their perceptions of a “best” and “worst” class period during a semester.
    • Informal solicitation of student opinions.

    Education Department faculty members use data from these assessments to improve their own practice. As they prepare for their annual reviews with the unit chairperson, faculty members…

    • Analyze own course evaluations.
    • Reflect upon the implications of their analysis.
    • Incorporate helpful student suggestions when possible.
    • Adjust topics to reflect emerging concerns identified in evaluations.
    • Plan their continuing professional development to improve their teaching practice.

    Candidates and peers across campus and in P-12 schools recognize Education Department faculty members as outstanding teachers. Examples of such recognition include…

    • Dr. Donald Hoodecheck’s selection to lead the colleges’ Study Abroad program in South Africa during the spring semester of 2006.
    • Ms. Sandra Bot-Miller’s Faculty Development Grant to tour Chile in May of 2005.
    • Sister Ann Marie Biermaier’s Faculty Development Grant to tour India during the spring of 2005 (Delhi, Calcutta, and Bombay) to enhance her work on diversity.
    • Dr. Lynn Moore’s Undergraduate Research Grant enabling six of her elementary candidates to conduct school-based research and presenting their findings at the Central Minnesota Reading Association’s January, 2005 conference.
    • Mr. Jake Knaus’ 2004 Faculty Development Grant to tour El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
    • Mr. Delbert Brobst’s Paul Lawson Grant to pursue student teaching programs in Duisberg, Germany and Vienna, Austria, during the summer of 2004.
    • Dr. Bruce Dickau’s appointment as Study Abroad director for Australia in spring, 2004.
    • Dr. Lynn Moore’s selection to direct Study Abroad in Galway, Ireland in fall, 2003.
    • Dr, Art Spring’s direction of the Study Abroad Galway during the fall 2002 term.
    • Sister Ann Marie Biermaier’s Faculty Development Grant to visit Tanzania, East Africa in May and June of 2003 to enhance her work on diversity.
    • Brother Douglas Mullin’s Faculty Development Grant to tour China in fall of 2003.
    • Dr. Deanna Lamb was the first faculty member to receive the Sister Mary Grell Teacher of Distinction award in 1995.
    • Several faculty and staff have received awards for their work with students as academic advisors (Cofell, Lamb, Biermaier).
    • A P-12 District 742 teacher called recently to thank us for the quality teacher candidates we send to the St. Cloud Schools, expressing her desire to continue working with both our student teachers and our pre-admission candidates. She also thanked us for our faculty involvement in her school, as she “appreciated how often our faculty are in the school when the students are doing their field work.”

    Element 3: Modeling Best Professional Practices in Scholarship

    Education Department faculty members demonstrate scholarly work related to teaching, learning, and their fields of specialization as they engage in a wide range of inquiry. All faculty members document their individual scholarship endeavors on their vitae. In addition,

    • For the past five years, the Education Department faculty members have spent a significant amount of time and energy working on all aspects of diversity as it is related to teacher education. Faculty have researched the facets of diversity related to their field of teaching and incorporated them into their syllabi and course content
    • Unit faculty have invested significant effort in learning about new digital technologies so that they might integrate optimal technologies into their courses.
    • Dr. Arthur Spring is preparing a work on Kieran Egan’s mythic understanding in both teaching and learning.  Egan is convinced that we can enhance cognitive complexity in the classroom through what he calls mythic understanding.  Spring is also studying Bernard Lonergan’s contribution to educational philosophy and Jean Vanier’s knowledge of exceptionality
    • Dr. David Leitzman is exploring ways to enhance “curricular integration” as it relates to the field of social studies licensure. He is also working on conceptualizing a program review process that better reflects accreditation demands and on an exploration of “Communities of Practice” as an alternative to professional development schools. He is concluding his description of patterns of preparation used by prospective candidates as they prepare for the unit’s writing assessment. In recent years he has also helped many faculty in the colleges explore and improve their teaching.
    • Dr. Edmund Sass has been experimenting with the jigsaw cooperative learning strategy and using it to replace lecture in his classes.
    • Dr. Deanna Lamb has written several readers’ theatre scripts for classroom use and has assembled book lists for teacher practitioners that are listed on her web site. She has also intensified her efforts to teach students how to evaluate literature on the basis of its literary and curricular value and its developmental appropriateness as well as to teach them that they may sometimes have to provide appropriate and comparable alternatives to the book selections they might prefer.  Lamb has also taken leadership in the Education Department in developing the Diversity Plan 2000-2005. This has spurred quite a number of curricular changes in our programs.
    • F. Tom Andert has researched best practices in teaching second languages.
    • Ms. Sandy Bot-Miller has worked with a mentor for her own writing of poetry and for creating visuals for her poems.
    • During his sabbatical in 2004 Brother Doug Mullin interviewed master educators to discover their perceptions of characteristics revealed by novice teachers of promise.  He presented his findings from that study, “Identifying and Learning from Teachers of Promise,” to the graduate school students and faculty of Beijing Normal University.  He has submitted two proposals for presentations on this project at the 2006 AACTE conference.

    Element 4: Modeling Best Professional Practices in Service

    Education Department faculty members are actively engaged in dialogues about the design and delivery of instructional programs in both professional education and P-12 schools.

    • Through the unit’s Teacher Education Advisory Committee (TEAC), faculty members dialogue with colleagues in other disciplines as well as P-12 educators about instructional issues in Teacher Education. During the past two spring semesters Education faculty, CSB/SJU discipline specific faculty and P-12 colleagues met to focus on issues pertinent to their specified fields. Recent meeting explored…
      • Science K-8 licensure on May 11, 2005;
      • Social Science 9-12 on May 9, 2005;
      • K-6 “Literacy Cadre” on April 5, 2005 and Summer, 2004.
    • Unit and P-12 faculty shared workshops and dialogue on topics of diversity.
      • Summer 2004: ELL students in the mainstream classroom.
      • Summer 2005: Educating an indigenous population – Winona LaDuke.
    • Unit faculty spend time in informal and formal dialogue with P-12 educators in partner schools, CSB/SJU discipline area colleagues, and Education Department colleagues about educational issues pertaining to P-12 education.
    • Unit faculty who teach clinical and/or pedagogy courses regularly meet with P-12 educators in partner schools to dialogue about instructional and/or organizational issues connecting Teacher Education and P-12 schools
    • Brother Doug Mullin and Father Tom Andert worked in close cooperation with the CSB/SJU Service Learning Department in designing the unit’s service learning course (EDUC 108). Father Tom continued working with them as we revised our departmental curriculum (EDUC 111) incorporating the service learning component into the newly creating 4-credit course. He is in regular communication with our service-learning partners throughout the semester
    • Dr. David Leitzman is a member of the evaluation team for District 742’s “Safe Schools/Healthy Kids” program
    • Dr. Art Spring worked with Ken Pekarek, developer of the Minnesota Environmental Atlas (MEA), on the uses of the MEA to more effectively deliver work in the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Standards.

    Education Department faculty members work in P-12 schools with teachers as colleagues. Examples of such work include…

    • All faculty who teach methods classes work with P-12 teachers in their schools before, during, and after field experiences.
    • F. Tom Andert works closely with our service-learning partners for the EDUC 111 students as well as the P-12 schools and the teacher shadow program.
    • Dr. Art Spring and Dr. David Leitzman worked with Holy Family School, Albany, on developing “differentiated instruction” during the summer of 2004.
    • Dr. David Leitzman is a member of the evaluation team for St. Cloud School District’s “Safe Schools/Healthy Kids’ program, which has an influence on P-12 practice.
    • Ann Marie Biermaier OSB serves on the Saint John’s Preparatory School (7-12) Head of School Search Committee.
    • Ann Marie Biermaier OSB and Jeanne Cofell worked with Sandra Cordie, Director of the Saint Cloud Resource Training and Solutions, to plan the K-8 Young Authors and Young Artists Workshop which was held on May 18, 2005 for the Central Minnesota youth http://www.resourcetraining.com/education.aspx.
    • Mr. Michael Borka worked with several schools and/or school districts providing staff development on Balanced Literacy Instruction. He also traded places with a Ms. Andrea Telega, Language Arts colleague at South Junior High, for a morning.
    • Ms. Sandy Bot-Miller serves with teachers as a member of the Site Council at Apollo High School in St. Cloud. She also assists faculty at the St. Joseph Lab School who seek her advice on issues related to art. In Spring 2005 Sandy assisted one faculty member on a writing project.
    • Dr. Art Spring worked with the faculty and staff at St. John’s Prep School 7-12, on “Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning,” Spring, 2005.
    • Dr. Don Hoodecheck supervises 5-12 student teachers, works with cooperating teachers, and attends the TEAC discipline specific P-12 meetings dealing with P-12 and licensure issues.
    • Mr. Jake Knaus works in the Minneapolis Public Schools as an assessor for the Native Language Literacy program in Spanish at various school sites.
    • F. Tom Andert is sharing delivery models and content materials with World Language colleagues both in the P-12 schools and in the World Language Department at CSB/SJU.
    • Mr. Del Brobst and Ms. Melisa Dick represent the colleges and Education Department to the P-12 schools. In addition they offer training opportunities for our cooperating teachers and other opportunities for P-12 teachers to evaluate and contribute to our training program.

    Education Department faculty members provide leadership in the profession, schools and professional associations. All faculty have current and active affiliations with various professional associations. Leadership positions that have been held by Education Department faculty members include…

    • Ms. Melisa Dick, Delta Kappa Gamma (Chair of Scholarship Committee)
    • Dr. Don Hoodecheck, Minnesota Human Relations Association (Vice-President)
    • Dr. David Leitzman, Phi Delta Kappa, St. Cloud State Chapter (Secretary)
    • Dr. Lynn Moore, Central Minnesota Reading Association (Board of Directors)
    • S. Lois Wedl, American Counseling Association Foundation (Graduate Student Essay) and NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women’s Internship Grant (writer and mentor)
    • Lois Wedl OSB, Intercultural, Leadership, Education and Development Program; mentor for high school minority student who has been accepted to attend CSB/SJU in Fall 2005.

    Element 5: Collaboration

    Education Department faculty members are engaged as a community of learners regarding the conceptual framework and scholarship of the classroom.

    • Education Department faculty invested significant time during the 2003-2004 academic year reviewing the conceptual framework. Several faculty reviewed goal-related literature to update the unit’s knowledge base during summer and fall of 2004. Several TEC meeting discussions were held bringing the total full-time faculty to a common understanding of the knowledge base. Faculty use the knowledge base in their teaching.
    • Education Department faculty continuously updated their syllabi to align with the conceptual framework, MSEPT, and professional association standards. Several faculty were awarded college development grants to revise and/or create new courses to meet new departmental and or state standards.
    • The unit’s Diversity Committee has received four CSB/SJU Faculty Development and Research Grants for each of the past four years to facilitate Diversity Goal #5: Increase Education Department Faculty and Staff Knowledge about Minority Groups and their Cultures and Build Diversity Understandings with our Local Area and our Urban Partnership Schools (Minneapolis and St. Paul). Presentations over the past four years dealt with related topics;
      • June 10, 2002 Valeria Silva, “The New Faces of America.”
      • June 11, 2002 Donald Adderley, “Success for All.”
      • May 22, 2003 Chris Wheeler, Minnesota Center for Victims of Torture, and Somali educators, “Refugee and Immigrant Children in the Schools.”
      • May 17, 2004 Valeria Silva: “ELL Students in the Mainstream Classroom.”
      • June 14, 2005 Winona LaDuke “Education from an Indigenous Perspective.”

    Education Department faculty members develop relationships, programs, and projects with colleagues in P-12 schools and faculty in other units of the institution to develop and refine knowledge bases, conduct research, make presentations, publish materials, and improve the quality of education for all students.

    • Collaborative relationships are ongoing between members of the Education Department, the Admissions Department, the Social Work Department, Service Learning, Campus Ministry, and all academic departments offering standards-based licensure courses.
      • Participation in Faculty Development Study Tour Groups has given several Education Department faculty the opportunity to integrate knowledge gained from the experience (travel in China; El Paso, Texas and Cuidad Juraz, Mexico; Tanzania, East Africa; India; and Chile) into the courses taught in the education program.
    • Faculty members from the P-12 schools and the Education Department share resources and expertise in the context of planning clinical and field experiences.
    • Dr. Dee Lamb, founder of and mentor for the South African Pendla Project, and Dr. Ed Sass, faculty advisor of the Education Club, assist students with several projects each year relating to Pendla School and St. Agnes School, Chipole, Tanzania, East Africa.
      • Candidates purchase books using bonus points from the book sales run by the Education Club for the Pendla Primary School in Port Elizabeth S. Africa.
      • Students participating in the South Africa study abroad volunteer at Pendla.
      • The Education Club makes a monetary donation for students’ supplies at St. Agnes School.
    • Examples of faculty collaborations on projects over the past three years include:
      • Ann Marie Biermaier OSB’s collaboration with the Minnesota Catholic Education Conference assisted K-12 educators in identifying issues of concern to Catholic schools in the next millennium.
      • Dr. David Leitzman’s work as an evaluation consultant for Saint Cloud District 742’s Safe Schools/Healthy Kids (http://isd742.org/sshs/) program.
      • Dr. Lynn Moore’s work with CSB/SJU college students and Central Minnesota Reading Association in co-presenting at a Central Minnesota Reading meeting.
      • Dr. Edmund Sass’s evaluation work for Youth Frontiers, a not-for-profit organization that strives to enhance school climate and community for K-12 students throughout Minnesota (http://www.youthfrontiers.org/index.html).
      • Dr. Art Spring’s collaboration with CSB Elderhostel.
      • Dr. Art Spring’s presentations at the Minnesota Council for Social Studies, a presentation at the Catholic Social Thought Conference at the University of St. Thomas and on Jean Vanier’s Insight into Teaching and Learning plus several book reviews dealing with the social sciences.
      • May 2005 discussion among the colleges’ social science faculty, the unit’s Social Studies faculty, college supervisors, and 9-12 classroom teachers focused on ways to strengthen the preparation of social studies candidates as a prelude to further exploration of this licensure program.

      Element 6: Unit Evaluation of Professional Education Faculty Performance

      The Education Department’s systematic and comprehensive evaluation system includes regular and comprehensive reviews of the professional education faculty’s teaching, scholarship, service, collaboration with the professional community, and leadership in the institution and profession.

      • The unit’s department chair observes all full-time, tenure-track colleagues each semester. A review of each observation is given to the non-tenured faculty member.
      • The department chair and tenured faculty members observe and evaluate the teaching of colleagues who apply for tenure and/or promotion. Dr. Arthur Spring has just completed a successful tenure review.
      • All full-time faculty are expected to request student evaluations for their courses.
      • All full-time faculty are requested to complete a self-evaluation form at the end of each year. The self-evaluation addresses teaching, advising, service/leadership, and professional development.
        • All full-time faculty are asked to review at least one set of course evaluations and their self evaluation with the department chair at the end of each year and identify goals for the following year.

        Element 7: Unit Facilitation of Professional Development

        The Education Department has policies and practices that encourage all professional education faculty to be continuous learners. Experienced Education Department faculty members mentor new members, providing encouragement and support for developing scholarly work around teaching, inquiry, and service.

        • All full-time faculty have an individual plan for professional development which is addressed annually with the department chair.
        • Each year the colleges provide $500 in professional development travel funds to each full-time faculty member. These funds may accumulate to be used for national or international professional development opportunities.
        • Faculty members are encouraged to apply for additional professional development grants that are awarded by the Faculty Research and Development Committee or the Learning Enhancement Service.
        • Unit faculty engaged in discussions on books on diversity, including Anne Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: a Hmong Child, Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures” (2003) and works by Winona LaDuke in 2005.
        • Three full-time faculty have benefited from a donor’s gift for full funding for study tours to Tanzania, East Africa; El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; India; and Chile within the past two years.
        • Faculty who direct study abroad programs are funded beyond salary for their expenses while abroad. Three full-time faculty have directed a study abroad program within the past three years. One will direct a study abroad program in Spring 2006.
        • Several Education Department faculty have participated in the St. Cloud United Way, District 742 and other supporting agencies sponsored professional development opportunities;
          • June 29, 2005 “Privilege, Power, and Developing Inclusive Environments” as it relates to dynamics in the workplace, education and families with Peggy McIntosh on 29 June 2005.
          • Workshops exploring culture, values, and traditions of Native Americans, Vietnamese, Somalis, and Hispanics.
          • Workshops with Ruby Payne and her colleagues devoted to “Understanding Poverty” in 2003 and 2004.
        • All tenured members of the Education Department have had a professional development sabbatical in the past seven years or will have completed one by the end of this academic year.
        • The Directors of Elementary and Secondary/K-12 Student Teaching confer regularly regarding their programs. They seek assistance from the Department Chair and/or Director of Teacher Education as needed.
        • The Director of Teacher Education is available to mentor, guide, and meet with all who seek his direction regarding matters of licensure, course development, and/or course improvement.
        • Unit faculty share, formally and informally, their ideas concerning the content and pedagogy of their courses as well as trends and issues in education. The departmental climate is one of openness and on-going learning. Faculty are willing to help each other.
          • Faculty enjoy observing other faculty’s teaching. It is both affirming and a way to gain new ideas for teaching.
          • A culture of collegiality characterizes the Education Department that encourages faculty members to work with, share with, and learn from each other and from colleagues across the colleges.
          • All newly hired unit faculty are offered mentors from the Education Department as well as faculty mentors through the Learning Enhancement Service.
        • The Learning Enhancement Service provides a variety of opportunities to meet with colleagues from different disciplines to address pedagogical issues. The College of Saint Benedict, Saint John’s University and Saint Cloud State University bring many outstanding regional, national and international speakers to the campuses on a regular basis on a broad range of topics and interests.

        Revised 24 August 05