The unit designs, implements and evaluates curriculum and experiences for candidates to acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to help all students learn. These experiences include working with diverse higher education and school faculty, diverse candidates and diverse students in P-12 schools.
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Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences
Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty
Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates
Experiences Working with Diverse Students in P-12 Schools
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There are two factors that are significant about Augsburg College as related to diversity. First, it values access and provides opportunities for a variety of students who may not have such opportunities at other colleges, to be admitted and supported in their college career. Second, the college is located in the heart of Minneapolis, in the Minneapolis Public School District, and is situated in a neighborhood that is surrounded by communities of immigrants. Candidates are part of the urban community in their college life, and all candidates experience the urban classroom as part of their requirements for licensure.
The education unitÕs commitment to diversity is highlighted in the Conceptual Framework. Goals for candidates include understanding differences across communities, cultures, learning styles, abilities, special needs and lifestyles.
Expectations for candidates regarding diversity are discussed in class, learned through readings and experiences in settings that are diverse as well as supported by the formal policies of the program.
Candidates are part of an institution that values diversity and demonstrates that in the mission statement, policies, and message shared and discussed with students throughout their learning experience. Faculty and staff are encouraged to demonstrate respect to all students and each other and to be connected with college neighborhood. For example, college-wide service learning placements are generally in and around our neighborhood in order to reinforce AugsburgÕs role of good neighbor. Being immersed in an urban environment allows and encourages many opportunities to consider the impact of diversity on learning.
The College Diversity Committee sparks campus interest in and commitment to diversity by actively encouraging cultural and inter-cultural competencies of faculty, staff and students through training, social interaction, entertainment, and educational opportunities. It maximizes the effectiveness of such competencies by highlighting diversity work and rewarding diversity effectiveness. In this role, the Committee helps facilitate an intentionally diverse learning environment through the promotion of diversity awareness, acceptance and understanding.
Day program freshman begin their experience at Augsburg with a day of service in the community around campus as part of the AugSem. Content about diversity is developed in general education classes, specifically ENG 111, and continues in major/professional classes. As the College transitions to newly revised general education requirements, ÒinfusionÓ of diversity content and experiences throughout the College requirements is being planned. That is, students will encounter diversity throughout the curriculum, in majors as well as in general education.
Augsburg students have access to a variety of study abroad experiences through the Center for Global Education. Semester programs in five global locations, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Namibia and El Salvadore, as well as short-term travel experiences provide opportunities for students to experience being in a different culture, and viewed as Òthe otherÓ.
The unitÕs mission statement includes Òembracing diversityÓ as a key outcome in the preparation of teachers. To foster this outcome in the professional education program all students take EDC 210, a diversity course that emphasizes the study of values, of communication techniques, and of the major minority groups in Minnesota for the development of interpersonal relationship skills applicable to teaching. Candidates also take a course about MN American Indians: INS 105 Introduction to American Indian Studies, INS 260 Contemporary American Indians, or EDC 290, a new .5 course designed specifically for education majors to meet the standards for MN American Indians. A combined diversity and MN American Indians course, EDC 206/566, is also available, primarily for students at the graduate level.
Twenty hours of service learning in an urban setting are required in EDC 200/522 Orientation to Education in an Urban Setting; most candidates complete this requirement in the Minneapolis Public Schools. This requirement is in place to provide service to the urban schools and to ensure that all candidates have experience with learners from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as socioeconomic status.
Minneapolis Public Schools |
|
Student Demographics (2001-2002) |
|
African American 45% |
|
Asian American 14% |
|
Hispanic American 11% |
|
Native American 4% |
|
White 26% |
|
Qualify for free or reduced-price lunch 68% |
In EDC 200/522 candidates simultaneously read about diversity and its impact in schools, experience that impact, and then process the information through class activities and reflective written assignments. Assigned journal reflections ask candidates to consider the impact of diversity on student learning, classroom setting, and the role of the teacher. Also in EDC 200 candidates respond to a survey that asks them to evaluate themselves in terms of personal dispositions related to diversity.
Candidates are asked to consider diversity in every lesson plan, unit plan and classroom experience. The forms and assignments that require consideration of diversity guide faculty in the assessment of candidatesÕ abilities to integrate the diversity of their students with decisions about teaching and learning. Teachers in the Education Unit partner schools evaluate this ability in fieldwork assessment forms.
Specific examples of courses with assignments that are especially designed to require thinking about issues of diversity are:
The ability of pre-service teachers to reflect on their teaching practices is highly valued by the Education Unit. Because of this, candidates are asked frequently to consider the impact of diversity in the learning environment and on the decisions they make as a teacher. Those kinds of related questions and prompts begin in the first education class and continue through student teaching.
Links:
see lesson_plan_criteria_and_template (Word) (HTML)
see AugSem_syllabus (Word) (HTML)
see Eng_111_syllabus (Word) (HTML)
see description_diversity_infusion - www.augsburg.edu/cge
see EDC_210_syllabus (Word) (HTML)
see INS 105 (Word) (HTML), INS 260 (Word) (HTML), and EDC 206/566 syllabi (Word) (HTML)
see syllabus_for_EDC_200/522 (Word) (HTML)
see service_learning/field_work_evaluation_form (Word) (HTML)
see syllabus_EDC_410 (Word) (HTML)
The unitÕs full time faculty includes eleven women and three men; two African Americans and twelve European Americans. Our weekend college adjunct faculty includes four faculty of color at the present time. Hiring for full time faculty in the unit since the last visit has resulted in the hiring of one faculty person of color. The weekend college faculty varies from year to year from four faculty of color to six, depending upon who is available to teach.
All candidates are required to spend time working in an urban classroom, providing support to diverse groups. The majority of these service learning/field work hours are spent in Minneapolis Schools with diverse faculty, staff, administration, and, of course, students. EDC 200/522 requires an urban placement for all candidates. Most candidates have multiple experiences in urban schools.
All unit faculty have opportunities for professional development that continues to inform their thinking about diversity whether or not they themselves are racially or ethnically diverse. For example, Hamline University sponsors a diversity series each year that is offered at a variety of sites, and Augsburg often hosts one or two per year at which education faculty are present. Another example occurred with the unitÕs partner school, Cedar Riverside Community School. They wrote a state grant for professional development opportunities in the area of English Language Learners. Education unit faculty was invited to attend the initial ten-week class. Three to six faculty attended weekly.
Links:
Link to Hamline_urban_series
See Cedar_Riverside_grant_proposal (Word) (HTML)
Augsburg supports the recruitment of a diverse student body through the ethnic support service offices, the CLASS program and the proclaimed value of being accessible to a range of students. Augsburg has a history of reaching out to diverse communities within Minneapolis. The vision of the College for an intentionally diverse student body is demonstrated in the ways that outreach, recruitment and support is provided to students.
The following are some examples of programs available to all students at Augsburg, including those in education:
The College competed for and won a TRIO Student Support Services Program funded by the U.S. Department of Education that is committed to helping low-income, first-generation college students and students with disabilities achieve a bachelorÕs degree. The Summer Bridge four-week program assists students with their transition to Augsburg. During the year, students receive individual and group advising to foster positive study habits and academic success.
The College has a large and long standing program for students with disabilities, the CLASS program, which serves approximately 200 identified students. College faculty members are accustomed to making learning accommodations to meet the needs of an academically diverse student body.
The Step Up program supports students who have just completed treatment for chemical addictions, one of the first programs of its kind in the nation. These students are provided sober housing and work with a full-time support person as part of their college program.
Ethnic student support services are an integral part of the campus and the directors work to recruit students of color and support them in their collegiate experience.
Some examples of recruiting strategies:
The unit benefits from the efforts of the College. The Unit also has a history of seeking and supporting diverse candidates through additional channels.
The REACH (Realizing Educational Alternatives and Challenges) Program was a tuition support program for Minneapolis Public School educational assistants and other permanent employees of the district. co-sponsored by Augsburg College, the Minneapolis Public Schools and Local 59 of the American Federation of Teachers, funded primarily by the MN Legislature. REACH participants worked toward Minnesota elementary or secondary teacher licensure in Augsburg's Weekend College program while maintaining their full or part-time employment with the school district. Upon completion of licensure via the REACH Program, participants obtained certain seniority privileges that sometimes assisted them in obtaining employment within the district. The MN Legislature failed to fund the REACH program and others like it during this past legislative session.
Augsburg College has an established record of developing leaders of service for a diverse metropolitan setting. The Augsburg Education Department contributed to this record by maintaining partnerships to increase the number of teachers of color in various suburban districts, including Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, Robbinsdale, Chaska, and Tri-district school districts. These partnerships were also funded by the MN Legislature to provide tuition support to students of color who wanted to teach. As with the REACH program, the funding has ended for these programs. Most undergraduates in them were able to increase other sources of grants and loans to continue their education in AugsburgÕs Weekend College.
The EBD licensure program draws a somewhat more diverse student group since the audience for it includes paraprofessionals currently working in EBD classrooms. Students are recruited for it from the pool of paraprofessionals working in special education classrooms in Minneapolis and St. Paul schools as well as surrounding school districts. Minnesota Department of Education grants for students preparing to be teachers in high need areas like Special Education: EBD have been given to candidates in AugsburgÕs EBD licensure program last year and this year.
A unit faculty member holds math workshops each summer for paraprofessionals from the Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, many of whom are students of color. Funding comes from the federal government. The workshop is titled Content and Communications: Mathematics Institute for Paraprofessionals. College credit is attached to the workshops and can be applied to a baccalaureate degree program should the student choose to attend Augsburg.
The unit is currently working on a recruitment/marketing plan with help from staff in Enrollment Management. As part of that plan the unit considers whom the unit wants to attract to the education programs and how the unit can go about attracting them. Included on that list are more students of color, more students interested in teaching math or science, and more students from local urban and first ring suburban high schools. The unit has lost state funded programs that supported the development of a diverse student body, and it needs to plan for other ways to attract diverse students to our programs.
Links:
see marketing_plan_education_department_(hard_copy)
www.augsburg.edu/instruct.html
www.augsburg.edu/lng_lab.html
www.augsburg.edu/classprogram
Pan Africa student support service- www.augsburg.edu/pan-afrikan
Pan Asian student support service- www.augsburg.edu/panasia
Hispanic/Latino student support service Ð www.augsburg.edu/hlss
American Indian student support service- www.augsburg.edu/aissp
International_student_advising- www.augsburg.edu/isa
Queer_Straight_Unity- www.augsburg.edu/qsu
All candidates have experiences in urban classrooms. All candidates spend a minimum of 20 hours in a Minneapolis or St. Paul classroom as a requirement for EDC 200/522 Orientation to Education in an Urban Setting. (see urban placement policy education department handbook) Most candidates have numerous experiences in urban classrooms, either as volunteers or employees of the urban districts.
Minneapolis Public Schools |
|
Student Demographics (2001-2002) |
|
African American 45% |
|
Asian American 14% |
|
Hispanic American 11% |
|
Native American 4% |
|
White 26% |
|
Qualify for free or reduced-price lunch 68% |
The urban classroom context is provided for candidates to learn about diversity as it relates to race, socioeconomic status, ability and religion. Candidates process this experience by writing reflections about their experiences in a multicultural classroom and discussing them in the college classroom. Activities in class help candidates understand the impact of diversity on the learning environment.
Candidates are asked to focus on urban settings and/or diverse learners in a variety of courses and assignments. All candidates write a research paper that focuses on a social problem that impacts P-12 schools. Experiences in urban schools as well as schools that are suburban or in greater Minnesota, help candidates learn about the ways schools respond to social problems and therefore lends credibility to the assignment. Graduate students also engage in community research that identifies solutions or work toward solutions. Some understanding of the school context helps candidates to relate their academic work to the P-12 classroom and school and better understand the P-12 studentsÕ lives.
Candidates are asked to write lesson plans and units that respond to the diversity that is present in the classrooms where service learning/field experience is done during their methods classes and student teaching experience. In this way, candidates plan instruction to meet student needs.
In EDC 210 Diversity in Schools candidates analyze the classroom environments that they experienced as P-12 students and compare that with the classrooms where they are learning how to be a competent teachers. They especially look at the physical environment, bulletin boards, displays, and literature to see that it reflects a multicultural environment and world.
All candidates spend 20 hours in a special education setting learning about different areas of disability and the needs of students that are included in regular education classrooms, in resource rooms or in segregated classrooms. Candidates analyze the physical classroom environment for accessibility, resources, and teaching materials that reflect diversity. Candidates work with parents of students with special needs to better understand the familyÕs perspective and learn about students with disabilities in contexts other than school.
The CollegeÕs and unitÕs P-12 partnerships lead to a variety of experiences on campus and in schools. P-12 school partners bring their students to campus as part of the ongoing relationship that faculty have with school faculty and staff. The College offers a scholarship to Seward Montessori K-8 school students based on several criteria such as school attendance and academic achievement through their K-12 experience.
Students from Cedar Riverside Community School work regularly with elementary education candidates during their methods both at the school and at the College.
Throughout the licensure programs candidates work with children and youth who are diverse in many ways. Experience coupled with reflection, discussion, and role playing helps candidates build the knowledge base, dispositions, and classroom organization and lesson planning abilities that lead to a better understanding of the diverse cultural backgrounds and needs of todayÕs P-12 students.
As a college in the city, diversity at Augsburg means preparing students to live well in the world.
Links:
see syllabi from EDC 200 (Word) (HTML) , EDC 210 (Word) (HTML), and EDC 410 (Word) (HTML)
link to Cedar Riverside website- partner school, Minneapolis School District
link to Seward Montessori- partner school, Minneapolis School District
see disposition survey document (Word) (HTML)
see student work samples