Environmental Scan -Strategic Planning Committee

State and Federal Initiatives: Teachers and Teacher Education

• No Child Left Behind Act/Increased Federal Control and Influence in Education
• Accountability
• Flexibility of State Funds
• Choice for parents and students
• Reading
• Impact of Secondary certification for Middle School

• Funding Related
• Competition among schools for students, educators, and funds
• More schools contracting for educational services
• Funding challenges for education with aging population
• Thornton Plan has funding implications for state
• Use of grants/soft money to fund program requirements

• Accountability issues
• University Presidents called upon to move teacher education to front of institutions’ agendas
• Increasing calls for accountability at all levels of education
• Increasingly accountability placed on entire university for K-12 student performance.
• Achievement gap an area of focus
• New Assessment programs in Maryland
• MSA
• H.S.A.

• Teacher and School Leadership Shortages
• Teacher shortage in select subjects and geographical areas
• Most shortages in secondary areas
• Teacher shortage not just a K-12 phenomena
• Standards increasing for approved teacher education programs at a time when alternative routes are increasing
• Alternative certification routes proliferate for shortage areas
• Demand for educational professionals increasing
• by 2005, 20% of all available jobs to college grads will be teaching positions
• by 2020 school age population will grow by more than 20% (ETS)
• 640 new principals needed in Maryland in 2003
• 75% of Maryland principals are expected to retire by 2005

· Technology in schools increasing-national and state standards in place

· Family involvement in education a growing trend.

o New parent involvement standards developed

o Parent rights redefined under NCLB

· Increasing influence of business in education.

o Maryland’s Business Roundtable

o Search for funding/new relationships

o Charter Schools

· Visionary Panel calls for alignment of every aspect of education horizontally and vertically

· Voluntary State-Wide Curriculum proposal

· Proliferation of certification and certificate type programs for specialized knowledge areas

o Local example: 1973-1995 (22 year period) 2 programs 11 certification areas

1995-2002 (7 year period) 6 new programs 19 additional certification areas

o Many courses in programs need to be taught when student population is available

· Professional Development School Mandate

o More University Courses offered at K-12 sites

· Pressure on students and faculty to travel to locations other than campus

· Impact on scheduling for students taking multiple courses

o Significant potion of faculty time spent at K-12 sites

· Impact on traditional expectations of faculty in terms of service/scholarship

o Education Department Campus expands to include K-12 sites

· Increased and extended field experiences/internships for teachers

o Experiences outside of traditional University calendar

· Students required to do field experiences when SU classes not in session

· Education students follow public school calendar

o Carnegie Corporation 2 year post-graduate clinical experience programs

Academic Trends: K-16 Seamless Transitions

• Strengthen K-16 connections in assessment, accountability, and professional development

• Business community growing influence in K-16 education

• 16 states now on board through National Association of Division Heads (NASH)

• Teachers educated by entire university-accountability to institution as a whole

• Two year- four year articulation continues and proliferates

• Two year institutions given pre-professional degree programs

• Identification of learning outcomes for higher ed institutions

**Unless otherwise noted the information in this section was taken off of the K-16 website.

http://mdk16.usmd.edu or links accessed from that site.

External Mandates:

• Accreditation agencies for some programs impact all programs

NCATE standards used as an example here but applies to other programs as well

• Shared governance mandate 10/04/96 amended 8/25/00

Policy on shared governance in University System of Maryland

• Shared governance policy requires proper level of resources for those involved

Section L under Practice section of USM policy

• Higher Education becoming more accountable to funding source at a time when funding is shrinking

• Increased federal regulation of higher education

• Self regulation vs. government regulation of higher education.