The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators

A State Unit of the Association of Teacher Educators
and The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

 

President's Report
October 2008

Since July, much of my time has been dedicated to attending meetings on behalf of PAC-TE. To keep abreast of happenings within the state, I attended a meeting sponsored by PDE on the iObservation system which can be used as part of field experience documentation for the program review process. The system includes a digitized version of the PDE 430 form and web-based resources for teacher candidates. PDE will be piloting the system this year.

I attended the Chapter 49 conference held in Harrisburg. Information discussed at that conference, as well as the conference held in Clarion, served as the basis for the PAC-TE response to the initial program approval process for the PK-4 certificate. During a September meeting with Ms. Christina Baumer, chief of the Division of Professional Education, I discussed the following concerns:

  • the requirement for 60+ credits in the PK-4 certificate appears to be in conflict with Chapter 354 which requires programs to be designed to be completed within four years and be aligned with the mission of the institution;
  • the required faculty matrix and mandated minimum score is in opposition to Chapter 354 which places responsibility on the institution to demonstrate that faculty are education scholars who are qualified for their assignment and actively engaged in the professional education community;
  • the requirement for institutions to enter into articulation agreements is not aligned with Chapter 49 which states institutions may enter into articulation agreements; and
  • clarification is needed on several of the tables required within the document.

During a meeting with Ms. Terry Barnaby, director of the Bureau School Leadership and Teacher Quality, she noted that grant monies for professional development might be available through her office. She encouraged me to develop a proposal. A draft proposal was submitted to the PAC-TE Board for discussion at the September meeting. The proposal was approved and forwarded to Ms. Barnaby. We are awaiting word on acceptance.

In August I attended the ATE summer conference in Washington, D.C. I spoke briefly with members of LFTE and gave them an update on the progress of activities related to the grant.

In September I attended the State Board of Education meeting. A complete summary of actions taken at the meeting was distributed on September 19 by Dr. John Johnson via PAC-TE Tidbits.

Jim Flynn and I did some preliminary work on the spring conference. The conference will be held at the Penn Stater Conference Center on April 17, 2009.

Submitted by:
Kathleen Ruthkosky
PAC-TE President