GLOSSARY OF IMPORTANT EDUCATION TERMS N.
GLOSSARY OF IMPORTANT EDUCATION TERMS
Advisor
Any member of the teacher education faculty will gladly advise students interested
in teaching. Offices are in Young Hall (Y110, Y114, & Y116), and office
hours are posted. Upon admission to the Education Program, students in elementary
education will usually have Professor Plummer as their advisor while secondary
education students will be assigned to Professor Murray or Professor Rudd. Secondary students
will also have an advisor from their major, but they should be certain to
go over their registration with the education advisor each term to check on their
progress toward certification.
Computer
Competency
Demonstration of computer competency is a Kentucky Department of Education
(KDE) requirement. A number of articles in journals such as Education Week
have indicated the advantage in job hunting held by teacher candidates who
have technology-savvy. If you can say you are computer literate and are able
to work with a variety of software applications, your resume is seriously considered. All students in Centre's teacher education program must demonstrate that
they are computer literate. EDU 226 Education and Technology is offered
as a 3-credit course that assists students in reaching computer competency. Completing EDU
226 or enrollment in EDU 226 is now a prerequisite for admission to the Education
Program.
Curriculum
Contract
This sheet lists the specific course requirements for certification in one's
teaching major. Two copies of the appropriate contract are completed by each student
who applies for admission to the Teacher Education Program. One copy should
be retained for personal records and the other should be signed and returned
with the application forms. The requirements for certification in each major
can be found in section F, Certification Requirements.
Education
Professional Standards Board (EPSB)
The EPSB was formed by the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Recently
it became an independent body. The EPSB is charged with teacher education
and certification in Kentucky. It deals with revocation of teaching certificates
as well as formulating regulations for teacher education programs in the state.
The members of the board are appointed by the governor with the majority of
the members being teachers.
Field
Experiences
To ensure that teacher education students have practical experience
with students and teachers in a public school setting, a requirement exists
for field experiences prior to student teaching. These should include observations
but also more active participation such as tutoring, grading, preparing materials,
teaching, etc. The number of hours required in field experiences and laboratory
experiences must total at least 200 hours with at least 100 of that total in field
experiences. Field experiences have been planned for each education course.
Internship
Program
This is a somewhat confusing name for the first year of teaching in Kentucky.
Though called an intern in the Kentucky
Teacher Internship Program (KTIP), beginning teachers are full-time, paid
professionals. A three member committee, usually consisting of the principal,
a resource teacher, and a teacher educator from a nearby college or university
supervises, assists, and assesses each beginning teacher. The resource teachers,
in particular, are a significant help in acquainting the beginning teachers with
all the myriad details of teaching. During the year the intern is observed at
least three times by each of the three committee members and judged against
the new KTIP standards.
Jobs
and Job Interviews
You should maintain close contact with the Career Services as you
search for a teaching position. Not only can they offer you a host of suggestions
and addresses for school districts, they also receive listings of job vacancies
that you should check periodically. The KDE web site also lists current job
openings. A portfolio is now becoming quite standard for teachers applying
for jobs, so you should refine your developmental portfolio to show your teaching
skills and accomplishments.
Seldom does one obtain a teaching job without an interview. If you have a
job interview in Kentucky, you should be able to show not only that you are
familiar with KERA but that you have experiences and ideas about teaching
under KERA. To give you some notion of other types of interview questions,
a recent study by placement officials at the Universities of Wisconsin and
Iowa found the top ten tough or dilemma questions asked in job interviews
were:
KDE
Kentucky Department of Education. Located in Frankfort, the KDE is responsible
for implementing all the regulations dealing with elementary and secondary
education in the state. While the Kentucky Legislature passes laws and approves
regulations, it is the KDE that oversees and enforces most of the regulations
concerned with education in the state. It is also charged with helping schools
and teachers, and a useful information can be found at the department's
web site: http://www.kde.state.ky.us/
KEA-SP
The Kentucky Education Association - Student Program. Centre has a student
chapter of this statewide professional organization for teachers. Student
officers are elected to lead the chapter, and there is an opportunity for
student members to become involved with the organization at the state level.
Among the benefits of joining the organization are liability insurance for
student teaching, information on teaching, speakers on a variety of educational
topics, scholarship competitions, and service projects. In addition, KEA workshops and conferences are open to student members.
KERA
The Kentucky Education Reform Act was passed by the legislature in 1990. It guides elementary, middle, and secondary education in the state as well
as teacher education. KERA's goals and academic expectations play a key role
in the reform process.
Laboratory
Experiences
To give practice in teaching techniques, a requirement that time
be spent in laboratory experiences prior to student teaching also exists. Usually these
are experience above and beyond class assignments. These can include
such activities as participating in LIFT, volunteer tutoring, attending
and reflecting on multicultural convocations or experiences such as the Heritage
Festival, simulations, planning and reflecting on lessons taught in the schools,
work outside the school day grading papers or helping prepare materials for field experience
teachers, computer exercises, and micro-teaching with analysis. There is a
maximum of 25 hours for any one type of activity. You can count several hours
spent reflecting for the portfolio, but you cannot simply record "25 hours
-- Portfolio." The number of hours spent in laboratory experiences and
field experiences must total at least 200 hours with at least 100 hours of that total
in field experiences.
Multicultural
Education
Teachers must be sensitive to the needs of all their students. Therefore, it is vital
that teachers have knowledge about other ethnic, cultural, and social groups
and have broad experiences with a variety of different groups and settings.
Students in teacher education should avail themselves of all opportunities
to broaden their knowledge about other groups in society. Because this is an area
in the portfolio, students are advised to take advantage of the varied activities
related to multiculturalism at Centre. Attending, reflecting upon and writing about diversity
convocations is one activity while joining and participating as an active member of the Diversity
Student Union is another. One experience that is strongly recommended is spending time tutoring or volunteering with
an agency such as the Danville Family Resource Center or a similar agency
at another school. This center works with the families of students in a variety
of ways to offer opportunities for you to help and learn. Being
a Big Brother or Big Sister, helping with ESS after school at one of the local
schools, or volunteering for other jobs at schools are all strategies that can help
you understand the diversity of students that you will be teaching. Classroom and extracurricular experiences can also provide an opportunity to work with children and adolescents with special needs. The LIFT program
can also contribute towards better multicultural and diversity understanding.
Portfolios
Like an artist's portfolio, a teaching portfolio highlights a teacher's talent
and shows examples of what that teacher has accomplished in teaching. Centre
now requires developmental teaching portfolios, which can be quite
helpful in seeking employment. Examples of items for a portfolio include a
statement of your philosophy of education, videotapes of your teaching, unit and lesson plans you have devised, KERA projects and materials
you have used, and examples of your students' projects and other work. Each
student in Centre's Education Program must prepare a portfolio that demonstrates
the domains of the Framework for Teaching are at a Proficient level that
also meets the Kentucky Teacher Standards.
PRAXIS
Exams
Students must meet the required passing scores on several Praxis exams to be certified in Kentucky.
Current requirements include both the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT)
test and specialty area exams (sometimes called subject area exams). The PLT is a two hour test to measure basic pedagogical
and professional knowledge. Note that the appropriate grade level test must be
taken. The specialty area tests (usually
require two or three hours) measure content knowledge. Passing scores are adjusted periodically by
the EPSB.
BE
CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE YOUR PRAXIS SCORES SENT TO CENTRE (CODE 1109) AND TO
THE KENTUCKY EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS BOARD (CODE R7283).
Praxis requirements for certification
Proficiency
Evaluation
A state regulation allows a student to "test out" of certain
courses required for certification by demonstrating "proficiency by reason
of previous education, unusual experience, or proficiency examination at a
level comparable to the usual requirements in that curriculum area." A proficiency examination is available for MAT 210. A maximum of two attempts is allowed. See the education faculty for details.
Society of Future Educators
The Society of Future Educators is a Centre College student organization dedicated to providing professional and community building experiences for future teachers and any students expressing an interest in working with children or adolescents.
Speech
Proficiency
Speech competency for each student will be assessed during the admissions
interview with the Teacher Education Committee. The criteria used are:
| Projection: |
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| Pronunciation: |
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| Clarity: |
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| Effectiveness of Communication: |
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Statement
of Eligibility
This is the initial certification category in Kentucky. Upon graduation and
the successful completion of the Praxis exams, one receives a statement of
eligibility that is valid for 5 years allowing one to teach for one year
in Kentucky. This is the internship year. If judged to be a successful
teacher, a provisional certificate with rank III is awarded. If the statement
of eligibility is not used to teach within 5 years, the Praxis exams must
be retaken in order to renew the statement of eligibility. If one moves out
of state to teach, it is not unusual to be certified in most states
on the basis of the Kentucky Statement of Eligibility.
Teacher
Education Committee
This is the committee of the College Council that oversees the Teacher Education
Program. Among its tasks are to interview applicants for the Teacher Education
Program and to admit students to student teaching. It is composed of the faculty
representatives from each of the College's three divisions, public school
teachers and administrators, and student representatives. The student members
are elected by
students in teacher education.
Members of the Teacher Education Committee for the 2008-09 school year are:
| Katherine Park | Student Representative |
| Sarah Scheer | Student Representative |
| J. Atkins | Div. II |
| M. Barton | Div. III |
| W. Crummett | Div. III |
| P. Finch | Div. I |
| A. Lubbers | Div. III |
| C. Bonnett | Div. II |
| S. Murray | Div. II |
| D. Plummer | Div. II (Chair) |
| C. Reynolds | Math Interventionist, Toliver Elementary School |
| A. Tubb | Div. II |
| B. Deckard | English Teacher, Boyle County High School |
| M. Rudd | Div. II |
Adopted by the Kentucky Professional Standards Board in June of 1993 and revised in February 2008, these are used both as exit standards for teacher education programs and as the basis for evaluating first year teachers in the new Kentucky Teacher Internship Program (KTIP). See the listing of the Kentucky Teacher Standards. Centre's Framework for Teaching has been aligned with the New Teacher Standards.
The number of teaching majors has been reduced by the state. Some lead to 8-12 certification while others lead to P-12 certification. Students in secondary education must have a teaching major. Usually teaching majors require 9 or 10 courses and are quite close to Centre majors. However, a few differences especially with the social studies certification which is based on a history major may exist. The requirements for P-12 teaching majors in art, French, German, and Spanish are also slightly different from the requirements for a Centre major. If you earn a teaching major, you will also earn a Centre major. In a few instances, if you earn a Centre major, you might not have completed all the requirements for a teaching major. See the curriculum contracts for specific requirements.