Joint Committee Committee on Joint Education (04/13/2005)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION

Date:	04/13/2005	ATTENDANCE

Time:	07:35 AM to 08:39 AM	Bacon
		Balmer
Place:	HCR 0107	Benefield
		Evans
This Meeting was called to order by		Jones
	Representative Merrifield	King
		Larson
This Report was prepared by		McKinley
	Susan Liddle	Paccione
		Penry
		Pommer
		Rose
		Solano
		Spence
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Report on teacher education programs		-

07:36 AM -- Report on the Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Programs

Dorothy Gotlieb, Director of Professional Services and Educator Licensing, Colorado Department of Education, and Matt Gianneschi, Chief Academic Officer, Colorado Commission on Higher Education, came to the table and presented a report on teacher education in Colorado. This report is required pursuant to Section 22-60.5-116.5, C.R.S., a copy of this statute is attached as Attachment A. A document highlighting the 2004 and 2005 reports to the Governor and the General Assembly on teacher education is attached as Attachment B.

Ms. Gotlieb discussed the teacher preparation standards in Colorado, and stated that up to 3/4 of Colorado's teachers come from other states, thus have not been prepared under these Colorado standards. She discussed the role she and CCHE take in reviewing teacher education programs in all institutions of higher education in the state, and stated that CDE is preparing a survey that will analyze how well constituent groups feel that teachers are being prepared.

07:43 AM

Dr. Gianneschi, CCHE, walked through some of the highlights of the report (Attachment B). He stated that CCHE closely follows the law and rules related to CCHE's role in teacher preparation, including review of admission systems, field-based experience, demonstrable skills of the teachers, etc. He stated that there is a schedule CCHE follows as to what institutions are reviewed each year; the reviews occur on a 5-year cycle. Dr. Gianneschi added that there are starting to be several private institutions starting to offer teacher preparation programs.

07:54 AM

Dr. Gianneschi continued walking through the highlight report indicating some trends such as the growth of teacher preparation programs at various higher education institutions, the number of students in each licensure area, and a breakdown of race, gender and age figures of who is pursuing licensure through teacher preparation programs. He discussed the results of the 2004 PLACE assessments, and the new performance contracts and how they relate to teacher preparation programs. He added that part of the contracts asks the institutions to provide some more specific data on teacher candidates so that there could be more of a longitudinal study of who teachers are in Colorado.

08:05 AM

Ms. Gotlieb and Dr. Gianneschi responded to questions from the committee. Responding to a question related to what happened to the 1st and 3rd year teacher surveys, Ms. Gotlieb cited HB 04-1104 which now requires that the persons hiring teachers be surveyed for these teachers. Dr. Gianneschi responded to questions related to the emphasis on the diversity of candidates that are present in the performance contracts.

08:16 AM

The committee continued talking about the report's highlights. Senator Bacon talked about the issue of whether teaching was becoming more of a science rather than an art under the new emphasis on how teacher preparation programs are structured. Also discussed were the status of alternatively-credentialed teachers, and recruitment and retention issues. Ms. Gotlieb discussed a program called Troops to Teachers where retired military personnel are going into the teaching field.

08:32 AM

Discussion about the performance contract issues and the teacher survey results were discussed. The committee discussed the teacher survey where students in the teacher preparation programs indicated that some course were redundant and irrelevant. The committee introduced some of the higher education teacher preparation personnel who were in the audience.

08:39 AM

The joint committee adjourned.