Message from EPP Associate Dean Gina Anderson |
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Spring Greetings, Colleagues!
I hope you've found some time in recent days to enjoy warmer weather and perhaps a bluebonnet sighting or two.
The Great Resignation and teacher shortage crisis are serious issues imbuing the educational landscape. Amid these concerns, it is important not to forget key lessons that surfaced over the last two years. The pandemic gave rise to a greater understanding of and appreciation for the work of teachers. As educator preparers and citizens, we have a shared responsibility to support educators throughout their careers. Appreciation involves recognizing teachers' efforts and qualifications, as well as taking supportive action on behalf of the profession.
#TeachersCan… and they have proved it. Teachers deserve, a thousand times over, recognition of their everyday professionalism and of their daily acts of insight, generosity, brilliance, compassion, and heroism over the last two years. Teachers have earned credentials that afford them the right to participate in decisions impacting their classrooms, health, and job satisfaction. When factors make their work less sustainable, enjoyable, or safe, they will be less equipped to meet the diverse needs of their students, and may choose to disengage or leave the profession altogether. As educator professionals, it is our responsibility and duty to cultivate the recruitment, preparation, and retention of teachers for the successful future of our democratic society. Without teachers, there are no other professions.
At TWU, it is an honor to serve an educator preparation program preparing human beings to perform every day in extraordinary ways. By preparing future teachers, we appreciate the scope and depth of the knowledge and dispositions required of teachers to make a lasting difference. We are up for the hard work and have dedicated our own professional lives to it. In my book, it is Teacher Appreciation Week all 52 weeks of the year!
This newsletter issue features several areas where TWU faculty and programs shine as they prepare candidates in a number of critical areas. For perspective on another statewide movement affecting educator preparation, I encourage you to consider my advocacy feature below on the conversation between SBEC and stakeholders across Texas about decisions that will reshape candidate preparation programs. Pivotal decisions are being considered in Austin. We encourage you to pay close attention during this critical time and to participate in the rule-making process! Know that you are welcome to reach out to me with any questions you may have.
As always, thank you for your support of our candidates and the EPP as a whole. We will gladly accept your reflections and ideas. Please continue to stay in touch with us via our newsletters and the TWU Educator Preparation Program Web page – and don’t forget to follow us on social media. |
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Randa Keeley, Ph.D. - Holmes Scholars Update
Appreciation through Professional Development
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Appreciating educators gains special significance when mentoring doctoral education students.
It has been a particular honor to serve as a faculty mentor for the TWU COPE Holmes Scholars Program during its inaugural year. There have been so many opportunities to appreciate and recognize the contributions and talents of these five women, especially through professional development, collegiality, and service.
In February, scholars attended a virtual leadership bootcamp focused on key topics for their development. In March, scholars, faculty, and administrators traveled to New Orleans for the 74th annual AACTE Conference which included Holmes Program activities and workshops and social gatherings. During the proceedings, one member of the TWU COPE cohort, Kimberly Lawson, was elected to serve as the 2022-23 secretary for the national Holmes Program Council. We are very excited about the future accomplishments of these women. |
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Rochelle Fouts, M.A. - TWU Reaches Out
Appreciation through Accessible Programming
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As a seasoned community college faculty member at Amarillo College and adjunct Teacher Education faculty member for TWU, I care deeply about community college students seeking teacher certification through transfer to a four-year university.
These students are eager to find their places in classrooms across the state, and our commitment as teacher educators is to support their success in doing so!
I have found that TWU offers extraordinary services and programming designed for community college students, who may face significant roadblocks to attending classes in person. Many of our community college students not only attend school full-time, but they also are employed full-time. Many have families of their own.
TWU’s offering of a complete online teacher preparation and certification experience gives our students in the Texas Panhandle, for example, an avenue to complete their bachelor’s degree, continue working in their local school districts, and then graduate on time. TWU faculty understand the challenges our rural communities face and work hard to make sure our students achieve their educational and career goals.
Online access to the TExES Prep Center that includes 240 Tutoring guides, along with simulated learning environments and other tools, gives online students experiences they can readily put to use. All these aspects of the TWU EPP contribute to our students’ ability to meet the challenges of becoming certified first-year teachers in their local school districts. |
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Minkowan Goo, Ph.D. - Responsive Innovation
Appreciation through Special Tools for SE Teachers
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We are just a few days away from this year’s annual Teacher Appreciation Week.
The pandemic exacerbated teachers’ challenges and the already dire need to fill teacher vacancies. Now more than ever, our society understands and appreciates the work of teachers, including in the area of Special Education.
In Texas, nearly 10% of school-aged students, approximately half a million, receive Special Education services from a range of available academic, behavioral, and physical supports ( Texas Tribune, 08/28/2020). There is a strong likelihood that every single teacher in Texas will work with students with special needs during their careers. However, many schools in Texas – including those in the Dallas and Richardson ISDs – report ongoing staffing challenges when hiring teachers trained in these special skills ( Longview News-Journal, 02/05/2022).
In 2021, for example, Special Education faculty member
Dr. Minkowan Goo launched “ PlayVimo,” an education- and theory-based IOS application designed to help teachers create instructional video materials quickly and easily. In addition, Dr. Peterson-Ahmad and Dr. Goo recently received a grant to launch and operate an assistive technology lending library. Designed to support special education teachers in their classrooms, this library is slated to open its doors in the fall semester. |
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Claudia Sanchez, Ph.D. - Preparing to Teach ELLs
Appreciation through Promising Practices
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This year, our love and gratitude give Teacher Appreciation week a special meaning as we celebrate the work, dedication, and unbreakable spirit of those who have followed the selfless calling to educate our nation. Thank you to families for being our first teachers and a special thank you to all our in-service and in-training educators.
Our students – teachers in training – learn from the best through clinical field experiences, in-service teachers at local schools, and community service projects such as the Denton ISD Bilingual Homework Hotline. They hone their leadership skills as members of our Bilingual/ESL Student Organization ( BESO).
According to a 2016 study, the PK-12 student population in Texas included more than 19% English Language Learners (ELLs). TWU's EPP offers curriculum designed to educate candidates in best/promising practices for teaching these students.
Those practices include:
- Instilling cross-cultural competence and dispositions
- Fostering connection to communities of practice
- Highlighting the effectiveness of classroom techniques like translanguaging
- Empowering candidates' capacity for becoming agents of change.
In these ways, we appreciate future teachers' needs and prepare them for leadership in the Bilingual/ESL space.
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Katy Eshelman, TExES Prep Center
Appreciation through Certification Supports
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TWU’s Educator Preparation Program appreciates the hard work that educator candidates dedicate in order to succeed. Hurdles to clear include qualifying exams for certification in Texas.
The TExES Prep Center has been designed to support candidates preparing for these exams. In addition to testing services, TExES Prep Center offers the following:
- Preparation materials available for checkout by TWU students
- Online resources, such as videos and study guides
- Information about deadlines and special programs related to center services
- Testing offered online to provide flexible access for students who work and those enrolled TWU students who do not live in the DFW area
- Testing offered year round, except during university closures
Please be aware of these important dates/information:
- Candidates must pass all practice and state tests by July 1, 2022 in order to be eligible for student teaching in fall 2022
- Students can register for practice tests by visiting the TExES Prep Center page and clicking the link at the bottom
- Students receive their test scorecard within 1-3 business days after taking a practice test
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Sharla Snider, Ph.D. - EC Degree in the Works
Appreciation through New Solutions
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The faculty of the Department of Literacy and Learning proposed a new undergraduate degree program that will prepare students in early childhood education to teach 3- to 8-year-old children.
Through a framework of developmentally appropriate strategies, TWU students will be engaged in learning integrated curriculum and environmental design and instruction from a context focused on early literacy. Diversity of families, cultures, languages, and abilities as well as strategies for inclusion are incorporated throughout the program of study.
The viability of this initiative is supported by decades of research findings detailed through the Science of Early Childhood Education. It has long been accepted that 90% of brain growth happens before kindergarten ( Shonkoff et al., 2009), and research has suggested that every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood care and education can yield $3 to $7 over the long run ( Joughin, 2021). “The benefits of investing in high-quality early childhood education are clear and extensive—for children, adults, and society at large” (NAEYC Unifying Framework, 2020, p. 3). In addition, early childhood education has been at the heart of recent policies intended to act as an impetus for racial equity and the dissolution of racial barriers (NAEYC Preparing a Profession, 2021).
Society is moving to acknowledge the importance of the care and education of young children. Widespread teacher shortages present significant challenges to meeting these needs through a “business as usual” approach. This, coupled with state mandates to provide public education to a significant number of 3- and 4-year-old children, dramatically underscores the need for educator preparation programs to produce highly-qualified and certified Texas teachers for this age group.
Texas Woman’s new Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education will help fill this gap. The program is pending Board of Regents approval on May 20, 2022, for the offering of coursework to begin in fall 2022.
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Appreciation through Advocacy |
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Efforts to Keep the Pipeline Inclusive |
From Texas’ teacher shortage, curriculum politics, fears about pandemic-induced incomplete learning, and declining enrollment in educator preparation programs, we are presented with a troubling landscape. At Texas Woman’s, our work is multifaceted and invariably affected by these factors. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining teachers in classrooms is contingent upon attracting them to the profession and providing high-quality preparation that leads to certification. It is imperative that state agencies, teachers, school leaders, professional and community organizations, and other stakeholders partner with EPPs to investigate the most effective and appropriate approaches to preparing and certifying teachers.
As an institution with a large non-traditional student population, we regularly participate in statewide advocacy efforts to reduce costs and unnecessary barriers to educator preparation. Our efforts are currently focused on informing the State Board for Educator Certification ( SBEC) about alternative ways to use performance assessments rather than as a high-stakes licensure exam.
Per the Texas Education Agency’s proposal, the SBEC will vote
April 29 on whether the Pearson educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) will be adopted to replace the current TExES Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) certification exam. A decision in favor of edTPA comes with a set of consequences that risk penalizing Texas Woman’s core student population as well as teacher candidates that identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).
This is a risk that COPE’s Dean, Lisa Huffman, and I have pointed out in our op-ed piece published in the Denton Record-Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, and elsewhere. At the February 11, 2022, SBEC meeting, I shared with the board how distressing the timing for such a high-stakes change is, considering the teacher shortage crisis and all that our state has been through in recent years. I also drew attention to the considerable evidence that changing certification exams and increasing costs for educator preparation has a high probability of exacerbating educator staffing shortages. More of my testimony and other expert stakeholder perspectives can be found in a special publication featured in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Currently, SBEC is considering this input as well as other feedback from hundreds of educators at every level across the state, all of whom support an alternative proposal. We all agree that there is an important place for performance assessments in educator preparation. We do not agree that a costly assessment used as a high-stakes licensure measure is a good choice, either for teacher candidates or for schools and students in Texas.
Instead, we propose the use of a rigorous performance assessment as a curriculum/program requirement. Our alternative proposal supports the goals of Governor Abbott’s directive to address the teacher shortage while lowering the stakes – and costs – for teacher candidates and those contemplating a career in education. In this poignant moment that sees Teacher Appreciation Week intersecting with state decisions that will affect so many future teachers, we hope educators’ experiences and guidance are heeded. Stay tuned to @TWUEdPrep on Twitter for more news as we advocate for this alternative approach! |
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Each year, the Texas Education Agency collects data regarding the preparation of first-year teachers. Data is shared with educator preparation programs as a resource and support for continuous improvement of programming to help first-year teachers succeed. Each principal with first-year teachers on campus is asked to complete a survey about their preparation. Principals can find the survey here.
New teachers under a standard certificate must respond to a survey at the end of their first year of teaching. Surveys are designed to help assess the effectiveness of educator programs in preparing them to succeed in the classroom. The survey link was emailed April 4, 2022, and responses are due June 15, 2022. More information is available on the document Teacher Survey FAQs 2022 (PDF). |
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The Quality of Connections
Pioneer Network - TWU's Global Community
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Pioneer Network is an online community where TWU alumni, students, faculty, staff, and supporters can connect away from the noise of other social media platforms. |
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Support Future Texas Educators
Gifts to the College of Professional Education
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Like all departments in COPE, the Educator Preparation Program serves diverse communities working to make a difference.
When you donate to the College of Professional Education in support of the Educator Preparation Program, you become a partner supporting the future of educators and students across Texas. |
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Stoddard Hall 211
P.O. Box 425769
Denton, TX 76204-5769
phone 940.898.2735 | fax 940.898.2830
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