Massachusetts School and District Profiles

Smith College
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2015
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Annual Goals

This report lists the annual improvement goals reported to ESE in the educator preparation program provider’s state annual report. Providers may report up to three goals for the upcoming year and are asked to report on progress made toward the prior year’s goals. Annual goals are reported in May of the academic year listed.

Annual Goals - 2015
Educator preparation program improvement goals for the upcoming program year
Goal #1 Provide additional opportunities to engage supervising practitioners in training and support for effective supervision of student teachers.
Goal #2 Align our licensure programs with the new Professional Standards for Teachers by participating in PST alignment working groups and collaborating with department faculty and our public school partners.
Goal #3 Revise and refine how our programs prepare general education teachers to participate as a member of individualized education program teams.

Annual Goals - 2014
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 Increase the number of clinical hours spent in the practicum, especially those in the role of lead teacher, by adding full-time student teaching during Smith's Interterm in January.
Goal #2 Continue to work with Smith's Department of Mathematics to ensure rigorous and appropriate mathematics preparation.
Goal #3 Design and implement a course that addresses statistical literacy in educational research.

Progress Toward Goals - 2014
Progress made toward prior program year goals
Goal #1 We successfully piloted full-time January student teaching for elementary, middle, and secondary student teachers. Students spent full days in their classrooms, with many hours spent in the lead teaching role. This increased our clinical hours across programs to an average of 422 practicum hours. This represents an average increase of 57 hours from the previous years. We plan to continue full-time January student teaching as a requirement of our programs.
Goal #2 Catherine McCune, Director of Smith's Quantitative Learning Center, worked closely with members of our department to create a new quantitative skills class that includes includes mathematics content needed by our elementary student teachers. Two members of the Education and Child Study Department engaged in the process, together with colleagues in the Mathematics and Statistics Department, in the hiring process for a new mathematics faculty member, who will teach mathematics courses appropriate for our licensure students. A hiring requirement for this position was interest and expertise in math education. A member of Education and Child Study faculty worked collaboratively with a faculty member in Mathematics and Statistics to design an online module for student teachers focused on thinking deeply about multiplication, directly related to Common Core standards.
Goal #3 A member of the Education and Child Study Faculty, working in collaboration with a faculty member in the Mathematics and Statistics Department, developed a new course entitled EDC/MTH 206: Statistical Literacy in Education Research and Policy. Course description: Education is increasingly data driven- data is used to evaluate classroom pedagogy, student achievement, teacher efficacy, and school failure. It is important for educators then, to be able to interpret complex data and make research-based decisions. This course will foster student?s ability to critically interpret education-related data by concentrating on the application of critical thinking skills to arguments involving statistics in education. The student will emerge as a knowledgeable consumer of statistics rather than a producer of statistical calculations. Course activities focus on the interpretation, evaluation, and communication of statistics in educational research literature, standardized tests, and real-world situations.

Annual Goals - 2013
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 Develop a SEI course so that student teachers will learn best practices for ELLs.
Goal #2 Increase the amount of clinical experience for the secondary student teachers.
Goal #3 Teach secondary student teachers about effective lesson and unit planning before they begin teaching.

Progress Toward Goals - 2013
Progress made toward prior program year goals
Goal #1 We developed an SEI course, Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners, which was approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. We have taught the class twice thus far-- once to our graduate students and once to our undergraduates.
Goal #2 All secondary student teachers are now required to spend two or more hours per week in their student teaching placements during the fall semester in addition to their full-time student teaching in the spring semester. In addition, the secondary student teachers spend several full days with their Supervising Practitioner when the school year begins as an orientation.
Goal #3 All secondary student teachers now take a course in the fall called The Design of Meaningful Instruction before beginning their practicum the following spring. The course includes pre-practicum fieldwork and writing a unit plan using Understanding by Design.