Teacher Education Unit
Partnership Committee Meeting
December 8, 2000

Members in attendance were as follows: Dr. Gerry Green, Co-Chair, Dr. Michael Rettig, Co-Chair, Dr. John Fahey, Dr. Emma Savage Davis, David Lane, David Shipp, Dr. Tammy Gilligan, Dr. Jackie Williams, Dr. Les Bolt, Dr. Violet Allain, Jane Smith, and Kim Tate.

Dr. Green called the meeting to order.

I. Minutes were approved from the November 3, 2000 meeting.

II. Kim Tate was introduced. She is a teacher at Broadway High School.

III. Dr. Rettig suggested that the meeting dates and times be set for next semester. After much discussion, the meeting dates were set as follows: January 23, 2001, February 27, 2001, March 27, 2001, April 24, 2001, and May 22, 2001. These dates are on Tuesdays, and the time was set for 4:00 p.m.

IV. Site reports

A. Waynesboro

David Shipp distributed his activity report. He highlighted several of the items in the report of interest to the committee. Dr. John Fahey has taught over 61 class sections in Waynesboro, mostly at William Perry Elementary. His classes have been received with a lot of enthusiasm. Dr. Fahey has also done exercises with the teachers on brain research for extend attention spans. The Eisenhower grant committee will be doing a presentation to the Waynesboro School Board. The next steering committee meeting is Wednesday, December 13, at William Perry Elementary School at 10:00 a.m.

B. Rockingham County

Les Bolt reported on the Data in a Day program at Broadway High School. Teams were sent into the schools to observe each classroom for 30 minutes to assess teaching styles and teacher-student interaction. That data will be compiled. Dr. Green asked what the administrators will do with this data. Dr. Bolt and Kim Tate stressed that this information would not be used in any way to negatively affect a teacher's evaluation. This is only for self-improvement. There was a discussion by Ms. Tate about the observation being done by peers in the future. Money was available at some sites so that substitute teachers could be hired so there could be peer observation. Dr. Allain suggested that this would be a valuable tool at JMU. Dr. Gilligan stated that the School of Psychology already utilizes this.

Dr. Rettig stated that the grant written by John Noftsinger and Mary Ellen Bafumo was retrieved before if went very far.

A committee has been formed to look into instituting the Teacher-in-Residence program in Rockingham County. Dr. Bob Grimesey, Dr. Bolt, Dr. Beverly, Dr. Rettig, Kim Tate and the principals of Broadway High School and Hillyard Middle School are on this committee. Drs. Rettig and Grimesey will be meeting in January to begin the grant writing process.

C. Harrisonburg City

Dr. Harris was not able to be at the meeting. Her newsletter was distributed.

D. Augusta County

David Lane distributed the Fall 2000 activity report. The newsletter is now at 6 pages, as there is so much information to be included. A Community Service Learning partnership has been signed with Fort Defiance High School. This will help teachers at Fort Defiance. CSL tutors are working with Fort Defiance students, and Middle Ed practicum students are tutoring Stewart Middle School students.

Clinical Faculty training will take place on December 14th and December 18th. Thirty-six teachers from Augusta and Waynesboro have registered to attend, many from Fort Defiance High School. The Augusta County central office is interested in requiring administrators to attend also. Dr. Rettig stated that there is an extremely high concentration of clinical faculty in Clymore Elementary and Stewart Middle School. There was discussion about the varied qualifications of clinical faculty across all divisions. The Consortium sets standards, but applications tend to self-select as only the best ones apply. Clinical faculty training was arranged for Rockingham County last year, but only 13 teachers attended. Jane Smith stated that this was a Consortium issue, and she will bring it up at a consortium meeting. Ms. Tate stated that she felt this was more of an issue with individual schools rather than school divisions, as certain principals do not support Clinical Faculty training.

Dr. Rettig stated that Pam Ungar is going to encourage teachers in Augusta County to apply for Center for School Leadership grants.

Dr. Rettig also stated that Augusta County has suggested that the partnership move to other sites in Augusta County, but the Augusta Partnership Steering Committee has been reluctant to change venues because of the convenient location of the Fort Defiance site to JMU.


V. Other Business

A. Dr. Fahey reported that the Partnership Website is now at the Madison Media Lab.

B. David Shipp stated that student teaching portfolios appear not to be built into the programs for Early Childhood and Secondary Education except in Augusta County. They are done for all students in Middle Education because they are built into the program. Discussion ensued about building this into Education 360 for Early and Secondary education. The question was raised about who reads the portfolios. It was stated that sometimes accreditation interviewers ask for student teaching portfolios.

C. There was discussion about student teachers not completing the program, and taking a paying job instead of completing their student teaching experience. Jane Smith raised the question about who is considered a program completer. There was discussion about different regulations at different institutions.

VI. With no other business the meeting was adjourned.