THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

 

 

TO:

The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents

FROM:

Johanna Duncan-Poitier

COMMITTEE:

Higher Education and Professional Practice

TITLE OF ITEM:

Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education

Recommendation of Accreditation Action: Cazenovia College

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

April 28, 2004

PROPOSED HANDLING:

Action

RATIONALE FOR ITEM:

Cazenovia College relies on the Regents as its accreditation agency for teacher education programs

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 1,  2, and 3

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

Cazenovia College has applied for accreditation of its teacher education programs by Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education (RATE).  Cazenovia College has the following registered programs leading to certification in classroom teaching service:

Teacher Education Programs to be Accredited:

·         Early Childhood Teacher Education (Bachelor of Science, Early Childhood B – 2)

·         Inclusive Elementary Education (Bachelor of Science, Childhood Education 1-6 and Childhood Special Education 1-6)

 

Cazenovia College is an independent liberal arts institution with an approximate enrollment of 830, incorporated as a junior college for women in 1942 and became a coeducational college in 1983.  In 1988 the Regents amended the College’s charter authorizing it to award the Bachelor of Professional Studies (B.P.S.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees; authorization for Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees came in 1993 and 1995, respectively.  Teacher education programs are relatively new at Cazenovia; both current programs grew out of a program in Inclusive Elementary Education that was first registered in 1998.  The current programs reflect the College’s mission of developing educated, involved, and productive citizens through a range of professionally oriented programs. The College’s liberal arts curriculum is combined with an experiential component that is focused on creating an encouraging environment for intellectual, social, and ethical growth.  The philosophy, purpose, and objectives of the education programs, in keeping with this mission, rest on five conceptual foundations:  inclusive practice; content knowledge and integration; literacy; field-based study and school partnerships; and personalizing the education experience.

 

            Following receipt of a self-study, a site visit team composed of peer reviewers and a review coordinator from the Office of College and University Evaluation visited the College in April 2003.  A draft report of the team’s findings was prepared and transmitted to the College for review and comment.  It was the team’s overall assessment that the College’s programs were in compliance with the standards for Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education.  The team cited as strengths the commitment of the College’s leadership to develop strong professional education programs; a particularly effective working relationship between the Inclusive Elementary Education program and a Syracuse city school; close collaboration between liberal arts and education faculty to offer rigorous courses; a challenging program of study coupled with support services to enhance candidates’ opportunity for success; and strong preparation in literacy across the curriculum.  The team did, however, cite certain issues to be addressed in the College’s Annual Reports. Particularly, because of the rapid growth of the teacher education programs (from 26 full-time candidates in 1999-2000 to 45 in 2003-2004), the team was concerned that resources, including the number of full-time faculty members, would need to grow commensurately to ensure continued compliance with the standards.

 

            Thus, the Department’s preliminary recommendation to the Higher Education Subcommittee of the State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching was that Cazenovia College’s teacher education programs be accredited with conditions, with a focused visit in three years to evaluate the growth of the programs and the College’s ability to meet increasing resource needs.  The Department’s Summary of the Application for Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs and Department’s Preliminary Recommendation on Accreditation Action is attached.  Materials providing further information on the College’s application and the review process are available in the Regents Office.

 

            At the Subcommittee’s meeting in February 2004, it considered the Department’s preliminary recommendation for accreditation action and the self-study and report underlying that recommendation.  The Subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend that the Department’s recommendation be adopted as the Deputy Commissioner’s recommendation, without modification.  The Subcommittee added the following sentence:  “The recommendation for accreditation with conditions is made in light of the fact that the programs have been in existence for only four years and a focused visit in three years is needed to evaluate the growth of the programs and the college’s ability to meet increasing resource needs.”

 

 

 

Recommendation:  I recommend that the Regents take the following action: 

 

VOTED, that the Board of Regents grant accreditation of the Early Childhood Teacher Education program leading to initial certification in Early Childhood Education and the Inclusive Elementary Education program leading to initial certification in Childhood Education and Childhood Special Education, offered by Cazenovia College effective May 18, 2004, for a period beginning immediately and ending on May 17, 2011 with the condition that a focused site visit be conducted before May 1, 2007 to evaluate the growth of the programs and Cazenovia College’s ability to meet increasing resource needs.  Accreditation beyond May 17, 2007 shall be contingent on a finding that the College continues to provide sufficient resources to enable the programs to meet the accreditation standards.

 

Attachments

STATE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND PRACTICES BOARD FOR TEACHING

 

Higher Education Subcommittee

 

RATE Accreditation Recommendation

 

 

Cazenovia College

           

            VOTED, That the Higher Education Subcommittee of the State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching, meeting on February 26, 2004, following review and discussion of the compliance review report on the teacher education programs offered by Cazenovia College, on the basis of the record* before it recommends to the Deputy Commissioner for Higher Education that the Department’s preliminary recommendation for accreditation action be adopted as the Deputy Commissioner’s recommendation, without modification.  The recommendation for accreditation with conditions is made in light of the fact that the programs have been in existence for only four years and a focused visit in three years is needed to evaluate the growth of the programs and the college’s ability to meet increasing resource needs.

 

 

Approved unanimously with eight voting members of the Subcommittee present.

 

 

 

________________________________________

Higher Education Subcommittee Chair

 

________________________________________

Date

 

 

 

 

 

*Including the Department’s preliminary recommendation for accreditation action, the institution’s self-study, its application for accreditation, other documents relevant to the Department’s preliminary recommendation, and any additional written submissions by the institution.

                                                                                               

Cazenovia College

 

Summary of the Application for Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs and Department’s Preliminary Recommendation on Accreditation Action

 

Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, New York, has applied for accreditation of its programs of study leading to teacher certification under the Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education (RATE).

 

Preliminary Recommendation for Accreditation Action:             

 

Accreditation with conditions, with a focused visit in three years to evaluate the growth of the programs and the college’s ability to meet increasing resource needs.

 

 

Teacher Education Programs to Be Accredited:

 

Early Childhood Teacher Education (Early Childhood B – 2)

Inclusive Elementary Education (Childhood Education 1-6 and Childhood-Special Education 1-6)

 

 

Summary of Findings and Institutional Response:

 

Following a review of the institution’s self-study, a team visited Cazenovia College in April 2003 as part of the accreditation review process.  It was the team’s overall assessment that the College was in compliance with the standards found in Regents Rules, Subpart 4-2, except for 4-2.5(a)(5), Assessment of candidate achievement and the related assessment regulations in CR 52.21(b).  The team cited the following program strengths:

 

  1. The programs benefit from the commitment, on the part of the President and the college leadership, for development of strong professional education programs.

 

  1. The Education Department has an effective working relationship with the Bellevue School, in Syracuse, which serves as a campus school for the Inclusive Elementary Education program.  Two of the teachers at this school have adjunct faculty positions in the program.

 

  1. The liberal arts and sciences faculty work side by side with the education faculty and there is substantial rigor in the courses offered in the program.

 

  1. Candidates are challenged to stretch the limits of their capabilities.  The academic support services and the Academic Learning Center build on the close communication between all faculty and the Education Department to encourage appropriate use of support resources to enhance opportunity for success.

 

  1. Candidates enter the classroom with a strong background in the development of literacy across the curriculum.

 

The team, however, did recommend that the College address certain issues in its Annual Reports, including:

           

  1. The programs need to more clearly identify and support the integration of technology for teaching, learning and assessment.

 

  1. The links between freshman and sophomore year liberal arts and the candidates’ education studies need to be clarified for these underclassmen so that they understand the connection of this general education sequence to their studies in their junior year and senior years, as they commit to a career in education.

 

  1. Education faculty should work with field-based practitioners to refine the assessment instruments to meet the needs of both the field-based and program evaluators.

 

  1. A coordinated effort is needed to improve the preparation of faculty and candidates for using technology for the effective delivery of instruction.

 

  1. There is a need for improving and increasing holdings of the professional resources in the library and the department’s curriculum library.

 

  1. Although the faculty in the programs was sufficient for the small size of the programs at the time of the visit, the college will need to monitor staffing needs carefully as the number of candidates increases in order to ensure compliance with faculty and course-load requirements and the requirement that full-time faculty teach at least fifty percent of the education coursework in each program.

 

  1. The responsibilities of the current full-time faculty impact on their abilities to pursue professional development and scholarly activities.  The college will need to ensure that, as the programs grow, faculty will have sufficient time to keep up-to-date in their areas of expertise.

 

In its response, the College has acknowledged these recommendations.

 

 

 

February 9, 2004