ITQ RTWS

Southeast Missouri State News

Renaissance Partnership Members

Southeast Missouri State University College of Education, College of Arts and Humanity
Charleston R-1 School District
JCS/Tel-Link

Events

In April 2003, a teacher work sample training session for over thirty cooperating teachers and university supervisors across the Southeast Missouri region was held amongst three area training sites.
On May 10, 2003, a TWS scoring session was held at Southeast Missouri State University. 116 teacher work samples were scored and over 40 trained TWS teacher educators participated in the scoring.
At the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators in Jacksonville, Florida, Dr. Beverly Petch-Hogan presented "Teacher Work Sample Methodology: Meeting the Challenge for Academic Excellence in the 21st Century."
In addition, Dr. S. Cwick, and Ms. Evelyn Lee along with Dr. Beverly Petch-Hogan presented "Implementation of the Teacher Work Sample: An Innovation for Student and Teacher Achievement" at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators in Jacksonville, Florida on February 15-19, 2003.
In October and November Dr. Beverly Petch-Hogan will also be presenting the Teacher Work Sample at both the Kappa Delta Pi 2003 Biennial Convocation and the International Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders held in St. Louis, MO.
Three local teacher work samples from Southeast Missouri State University were chosen as TWS benchmarks.

In the Fall of 2003, Middle and Secondary Education students will be completing a teacher work sample.
Following the retirement of Dr. Shirley Stennis-Williams, Dr. I. Sue Shepard, interim dean, was chosen to serve as project director to the Renaissance Project.

Spring, 2002

Events

Thursday, October 17, 2002, a training session for new College of Education faculty members in the use of teacher work sampling was held.
On November 2, 2002, Assessment Coordinator Dr. Beverly Petch-Hogan presented "Teacher Work Sample Methodology: Linking Teacher Performance to Student Learning" at the 2002 Teacher Education Division Conference: Building Broader Perspectives for Better Outcomes in Teacher Education in Savannah, GA
On November 7, 2002, a training session for university supervisors in the use of teacher work sampling was held.
Four key project site staff members attended the January 15 - 18, 2003 work session in St. Louis.
On January 22, 2003, a training session for 114 student teachers in the Department of Elementary, Early, and Special Education was held.

Teacher Work Sample

In the spring of 2001, two middle school teacher candidates completed Teacher Work Samples using the January 2001 Renaissance Partnership prompt. Their mentors include middle school cooperating teachers and several education professors.

In Fall 2001 we worked with the Director of Field Experiences Supervisor to identify additional schools where the RTWS will be used.

We have identified blocks in our program where the RTWS will be infused. Block I will begin work on the Contextual Framework. Block II will begin using the components of the TWSM. This prepares the teacher candidate to be able to develop an appropriate RTWS for the Block III, as well as Block IV, their student teaching experience.

The College of Education, Arts and Humanity faculty received training concerning the Teacher Work Sample Methodology. The training team decided that a local web site for the activity would facilitate faculty receiving materials to read and review prior to and after the training dates. The web site located at http://cstl.semo.edu/rtwsm has been maintained to be a resource for persons involved in the projects activities. As more school sites, faculty, cooperating teachers and University students are involved, the web site will continue to serve as a resource for the most current and critical information. Also of note is the formation of mentoring teams that are supporting university student teachers in their implementation of TWSM.

This Spring we continue to infuse the Teacher Work Sample Methodology into our classes. Faculty and teacher candidates are becoming more and more comfortable with the work sample vocabulary and prompts. We have so far, our most ambitious group of student teachers using the methodology. And our first work samples will be complete mid-March. We have worked closely with teachers in another school district concerning Teacher Work Sample Methodology. Cooperating teachers continue to be enthusiastic and supportive.

Our number of student teachers implementing the methodology will be approximately 12-15 this semester and the number of work samples produced by practicum students (Block III) will be approximately 115.

Accountability System

Southeast Missouri State University is in the process of developing an inclusive accountability system that follows the teacher candidate from admission to the University through their first year of teaching. This inclusive model includes, but is not limited to the following information:

University admission data
Admission to the College of Education data
Block I, II, III, & IV data which includes

Course grades
Co-operating teacher evaluations
Dispositions

Exit data which includes

Praxis scores
Portfolio evaluation
Disposition
Certification recommendation
Exit interview

Follow-up data

Mentoring Teams

Here at Southeast Missouri State University we have provided training for all faculty in Elementary and Special Education, Middle and Secondary, and Arts & Sciences. The Elementary and Special Education department and faculty have infused the elements of the work sample into their curricula, and by Fall, 2002, all Elementary and Special Education majors will produce work samples in their student teaching experiences, as well as in other Elementary and Special Education courses.

Middle School teacher candidates who are enrolled in the Professional Development school continue to produce work samples, though they are in the early stages of the teacher preparation program (Block II of a Four-Block program). There are some areas of resistance, however, and we face some of the same obstacles that other universities have encountered in our efforts to recruit Arts & Science faculty. We have a renewed commitment for the inclusion of the Middle and Secondary courses/faculty for the fall 2002 semester.

Currently we have 17 Elementary/Special Education student teachers cooperating in this semester's work sample group. Each student has a mentoring team consisting of the cooperating teacher, university student teaching supervisor and a university professor from the College of Education.

Project Director: Dean Shirley Stennis-Williams <sstenniswilliams@semo.edu>

Fall, 2001

Teacher Work Sample

In the spring of 2001, two middle school teacher candidates are completed Teacher Work Samples using the January 2001 Renaissance Partnership prompt. Their mentors include middle school cooperating teachers and several education professors.

In Fall 2001 we worked with the Director of Field Experiences Supervisor to identify additional schools where the RTWS will be used.

Accountability System

SEMO gathers information for teacher candidates before entering the Teacher Education Program, during coursework (GPA), as well as at the end of student teaching (GPA). The RTWS team will study the current teacher candidates using qualitative methods to identify they experience the RTWS and how they used technology in the RTWS.

Project Director: Dean Shirley Stennis-Williams <sstenniswilliams@semo.edu>