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Upcoming Events
- June 19-20 COE Summer Graduate Research Workshop
- June 23 Classes Begin for Term B
- July 4 Independence Day Holiday - Administrative Offices Closed, No Classes
- August 7 COE Assessment Retreat
- August 13 COE Annual Fall Faculty & Staff Meeting
More announcements Upcoming Conferences
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Faculty News
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- Assistant Professor Daniel Calhoun, Department of Leadership, Technology and Human Development, was selected as the 2014-2015 Faculty in Residence for College Student Educators International (ACPA) Standing Committee for Graduate Students and New Professionals (SCGSNP).
- Assistant Professor Mohomodou Boncana, Department of Leadership, Technology and Human Development, has been named to the editorial board of the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.
- Associate Professor Charles Hodges, Department of Leadership, Technology and Human Development, has been selected to receive a two-year Research Assistantship through the RA Investment Program.
Alumni News
- Kelly Greene ('05 B.S. Ed., '07 M.Ed.) is the Teacher of the Year for Liberty Elementary School in Midway.
- Ashley Rickard ('08 B.S.Ed.) is the Newton County School System's 2014 Teacher of the Year. She teaches at Eastside High School.
- Eric Guenther ('05 B.S.Ed.) is the Dent Middle Schools Teacher of the Year for 2014-15, in Columbia, SC.
Alumni: We want to hear from you! In addition to sending updated information through our Alumni Survey, please let us know if you've been awarded Teacher of the Year for your school or school system. We'll include it in our Alumni News wrap-up and in special sections like this. We want to honor your accomplishments! Send information to collegeofed@georgiasouthern.edu
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is published on the second Tuesday of the month by Georgia Southern University's College of Education.
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Salute the past, Capture the present, and Ignite the future. . .
with a commemorative brick in Centennial Plaza on the campus of Georgia Southern University. The engraved bricks make wonderful gifts for alumni, favorite professors, an individual who has made a difference in your life and loved ones including parents and children. The possibilities are endless!
Click here for more information.
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Clinical Supervisors Attend "CAMP"
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Above and left: Clinical Supervisors getting the most out of this month's "Clinical Camp."
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More than 100 Clinical Supervisors and 20 College of Education faculty discussed best practices for mentoring teacher candidates at a day-long "camp" coordinated by COE's office of undergraduate teacher education. In addition to discussions on development of the teacher candidate and how to be a successful Clinical Supervisor, educators received updates from faculty and staff on edTPA (see related article below).
"Clinical CAMP" (Coaching,  Assessing, Mentoring and Planning) is an annual event bringing together teachers from COE's 36 partner schools. These schools provide a wide range of field experiences and clinical practice sites for teacher candidates who spend nearly 1,000 hours practicing and refining their skills as teachers before graduating from Georgia Southern University and the College of Education.
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College of Education Rolls Out New edTPA Teacher Candidate Evaluation
Since spring 2014, College of Education undergraduates have been getting a feel for a new teaching assessment that will be a requirement for certification to teach in Georgia. The new assessment, which takes place during a teacher candidate's student teaching placement, requires candidates to submit a portfolio of material demonstrating their ability to plan for learning, reflect on student progress and make adjustments to ensure student success. Teacher candidates are also required to video tape themselves in the classroom to demonstrate their competence. Students must pass both the new assessment and the GACE exam in their field. Called edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment), the new assessment will be required for certification beginning fall semester 2015. A candidate's edTPA portfolio is packaged and uploaded to a secure web server where trained edTPA evaluators score the portfolio.
The new performance-based t eaching assessment marks a major step forward in assessing how prepared teacher candidates are for the classroom. "We've taken a very proactive approach to preparing our students and faculty for this new assessment," said Associate Dean for Undergraduate Teacher Education and Accreditation Deborah Thomas, Ph.D. "Our College has always put teacher effectiveness and student success as our highest priority," Thomas continued, "but edTPA is asking us to take what we do a step further in demonstrating competence for teacher candidates," she added.
For a year, COE has conducted edTPA pilots with select groups of students, worked with Clinical Associates and Supervisors in the schools to prepare them for what teacher candidates will need to produce and begun implementing aspects of edTPA across COE programs. Faculty has been trained in local evaluation procedures to recognize how aspects of the edTPA assessment can support and enhance programs.
The result? "The response has been overwhelming from students, faculty and our partner schools," said Pat Parsons, director of field experiences and partnerships. After a meeting of Clinical Supervisors who hosted some of our edTPA students in their classrooms, one veteran teacher remarked that it "showed me what my student teacher was responsible for. It gave me a better idea of what to look for in her lessons and what type of questions she should be asking and guiding her students with."
Overall the teacher candidates were positive about what they learned from participating in the edTPA pilot. One candidate commented "The edTPA process, though tough at times, has prepared me for what I'm to face in the school system where I will soon be hired. EdTPA is very much aligned with TKES (Teacher Keys Effectiveness System) and I had the opportunity to not only be a part of this pilot, but I was allowed to sit in on meetings regarding TKES and see the parallels between them and know that edTPA was preparing me for what is to come." Another teacher candidate stated, "Working through edTPA and all of its tasks taught me how important it is to reflect upon what I've taught as well as the results rendered by the students. I was always reflective, but this process reaffirmed the importance of deciding the next steps for instruction as well as interpreting my effectiveness and how I can better myself for teaching in the future. These skills will definitely follow me into my own classroom!"
COE faculty, staff and administrators will continue to refine implementation of edTPA as 120 teacher candidates participate in the assessment program during fall semester 2014. A dedicated College edTPA website also will become live fall semester to help faculty and student teachers navigate the new requirements.
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Alumna Named 2014 National Distinguished Principal
 College of Education alumna Dr. Julie Raschen was named as Georgia's 2014 National Distinguished Principal earlier this month. She is principal of Brooks Elementary School in Newnan, Georgia. Raschen is a 1992 College of Education graduate with a B.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education. The award is made through the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the U.S. Department of Education. Raschen was chosen by GAESP (Georgia Association of Educational Leaders) as the distinguished principal out of more than 1,300 elementary school principals throughout the state. In November, she will travel to Washington, D.C., where she will meet with the 49 principals recognized as distinguished principals. While in D.C., she will also be officially recognized as Georgia's 2014 National Distinguished Principal by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. |
ALUMNI: We want to hear from you! Please fill out our Alumni Survey today.
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