Education Department Admissions Committee

Yearly Report – 2002-2003

 

The Education Department Curriculum Committee for 2002-2003 was comprised of Joe Erickson, Mary Jacobson, and Ron Petrich. Throughout the year we addressed several issues related to goals set in the fall. The goals and our work are outlined below.

 

• Goal: Devise a workable process for graduate student admissions to the department. A process is now in place. Several special circumstances were reviewed.

 

• Goal: Devise a workable process for graduate students completing the degree program to be linked to an appropriate adviser. Specific faculty will advise graduate students.

 

• Goal: Review the expanded admission/retention/dismissal policy for impact on the work of the Admissions Committee: e.g., tracking student progress for those with low gpa.s. Cheryl Sticha will pull grades and advise the committee of borderline students.

 

• Goal: Revisit the technical standards. The committee spent considerable time pulling together standards from other programs and inquiring about national implementation of these standards. We submitted a tentative proposal to several national groups for feedback. The consensus is that we are on shaky legal ground. We are continuing to look at this issue using criteria developed by the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Wisconsin.

 

• Goal: Serve as the body that receives faculty concerns about low performing students in terms of retention/dismissal decisions made prior to student teaching. There weren’t any students in this category

 

• Goal: Review our process for students who don’t pass the PPST at admissions to the program. PPST prep. Students will be advised at admissions that PPST preparation materials are available on reserve in the library. The materials are:

 

Book with CD for practice test – Learning Express, The Complete Preparation Guide, PPST, Praxis I: Pre-professional Skills Test, 12 hours to a better score. ISBN – 1-57685-136-2 Cost $18.95. This book explains about how to take the test and has sample testis in it, along with the answers. It also has a mini-course. Cover is green and black stripes.

 

Other Book – No CD - Research and Education Association, The Best Test Preparation for the Praxis Series, Pre-Professional Skills Test. ISBN –0-87891-867-1 Cost - $21.95. This book explains how to take the test, detailed study guide for the sections, and practice tests. 600 plus pages – cover is bright pink.

 

Prep 2 teach on –line. Individuals can access this by going directly to the website at http://www.Prep2Teach.com There is also a demo at this site. Not available for Macintosh.

 

The Tutor Center has materials in green booklet– talk to Peggy Cerrito

 

Other goals: The committee reviewed several unique requests. Several certified teachers wanted to be admitted for a new certification but lacked the required GPA. Our policy is to admit the students with the stipulation that they maintain a minimum of 2.5 GPA in all of their classes in order to grant additional license recommendation. The committee also monitored all applications for admission to the department.

 

The admissions committee advises that it remain in place initially next year and that it address carry -over issues from this year especially the technical standards and provide support as needed to the NCATE/BOT review process. The committee will continue to review petitions regarding admissions and monitor student progress. The committee will also decide if there is an alternative structure to complete admissions work.