Becoming a Teacher Leader:

Taking Responsibility

for Student Learning

Dr. Richard Porr

Office:   Murphy Hall 111
Hours:   By Appointment
Office Phone:  271-4332
e-mail:  porr@missouriwestern.edu
http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/~porr

WELCOME TO MWSU GRADUATE EDUCATION:

MASTERS OF APPLIED SCIENCE IN ASSESSMENT

EDU 510    Policy Decisions and the Data that Drive Them

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: 

Analysis of policy debates that impact the effectiveness of educators, literacy providers, and other professional fields.  Special attention given to historical and theoretical considerations that constrain or facilitate equity and access for end users, to include issues of power, resistance, and assessment measures.

PREREQUISITES: Formal admission to the MAS in Assessment

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will aid in preparing you for your career in teaching by providing you with opportunities to:

1. Investigate the birth, life, and death of a paradigm and its relationship with policy
2. Gain a historical perspective of education policy to include current policies that impact K-12 education
3. Explore critical questions for policy analysis and make application to case policies
4. Acquire technology skills to support ongoing work in the program
5. Explore how data can be used responsibly and study examples in which data are used irresponsibly
6. Synthesize the knowledge gained in this course in a paper about good policy design

COURSE METHODOLOGY: It is important for us to engage the course material within the context of professional collegiality. Therefore, this will not be rigidly structured course. I welcome your input in determining the subjects we address and the target we choose for application. There are some topics that we must cover, but others are flexible.

MEETING TIMES:  7:30 - 10:20 MTWR, first four-weeks of the summer semester 

TEXT:

Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Articles made available by the instructor

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Participation:  Learning is a social activity.  Someone has said that education is caught, not taught.  It is in the context of participation and cooperation that one really learns, for learning does not come solely by reading an assignment or by writing.  Learning is full, rich and rewarding when the learner is fully engaged, engaged with the teacher, the text, the assignments, and with other learners.  Surely, it is this kind of learning you desire for your students in your classroom. Therefore, even though this is an online course, please make every attempt to participate fully in online collaboration, comments to the course web site, and in phone and email communications (as needed) with the instructor.

Make every attempt to complete each week's set of activities and assignments so you don't fall behind. However, if you fall behind due to circumstances beyond your control, check with me concerning your progress and what might need to be done to complete the course on time.

Assignments:   As a professional who has already taken responsibility to be a teacher leader, it is vitally important that you view each assignment as something more than just an assignment. Each assignment is an opportunity to participate in and benefit from a learning experience that can add to your effectiveness as a teacher and to your personal sense of accomplishment in your profession. 

Your participation should include thoughtful contributions to online discussions and activities.

Please note the following: 

Spelling and/or grammatical errors in writing assignments will result in returned work and/or lowered grades. In all ways, teachers should be professionals. Moreover, sloppy or shallow thinking will not be accepted and may result in returned papers or a reduced participation grade. 

Center for Academic Support:  Located in the Northeast corner of the library building (LRC 213), the Center for Academic Support is a free service of the college.  The Center offers help primarily for writing. Should you need help, you may wish to call the Center for an appointment at 271-4524 or drop by to make an appointment. 

Special Needs:  If you have a special need, e.g. hearing loss, learning disability, etc. that requires special arrangements, please inform the instructor after the first day of class so that proper arrangements can be made. 

Appeals:  If at any time you feel that I have treated you or your work unfairly, first make an appointment with me to discuss the issue or provide me with a written description of your perceptions and position.  If discussions with me fail to resolve the matter, please make an appointment with the dean of Professional Studies. 

Academic Honesty:  Cheating of any sort is not tolerated, and if caught will result in a zero being given on a test or assignment.  Check your student handbook for your rights regarding any disciplinary procedures. 

DIVERSITY:  This course will engage issues of diversity by examining asymmetrical power relationships and their effects upon marginalized members of our society.

TECHNOLOGY: We will take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies to aid in presenting and analyzing course materials and use technology to support our communications with each other.

GRADES:  Grades can alert you to areas of strength and areas of weakness and can indicate the degree of professional effort you are investing into the development of teacher skills, knowledges, and strategies.  The following descriptors are examples of performance indicators commensurate with each assignment grade and with the overall course grade: 

Exemplary Performance (Advanced): When there exist a numbers of correct "facts", "propositions", "steps" or "points" that could be included in an answer, the pre-service teacher mentions more than one, and in addition each is presented in correct relationship or connection with the others, and in addition the student demonstrates their grasp of some larger model, or body of theory, or perspective from which the whole can be viewed, or correctly extends the central principle of the answer into additional areas of relevant application not explicitly stipulated in the question. In breadth, depth, and connectedness, the responses are cover from 92% to 100% of the total possible points. [The SOLO Extended Abstract performance level]

Superior Performance (Proficient): When there exist a numbers of correct "facts", "propositions", "steps" or "points" that could be included in an answer, the pre-service teacher mentions more than one, and in addition each is presented in correct relationship or connection with the others, in explaining, justifying, or establishing the outcome. In breadth, depth, and connectedness, the responses are cover from 84% to 91% of the total possible points. [The SOLO Relational performance level] 

Acceptable Performance (Basic): When there exist a numbers of correct "facts", "propositions", "steps" or "points" that could be included in an answer, the pre-service teacher mentions more than one, but each is presented in isolation from the others, as though they were all unrelated or unconnected in explaining, proving, or establishing the outcome. In breadth, depth, and connectedness, the responses are cover from 76% to 83% of the total possible points. [The SOLO Multistructural performance level] 

Sub-standard Performance (Below Basic): When there exist a numbers of correct "facts", "propositions", "steps" or "points" that could be included in an answer, the pre-service teacher mentions only one, as though it were all that was necessary to explain, prove, or establish the outcome. In breadth, depth, and connectedness, the responses are cover from 68% to 75% of the total possible points. [The SOLO Unistructural performance level]

Unacceptable Performance: When there exist a numbers of correct "facts", "propositions", "steps" or "points" that could be included in an answer, the pre-service teacher fails to address any and misses the main idea(s) of the assignment/course. In breadth, depth, and connectedness, the responses cover below 68% of the total possible points. [The SOLO Prestructural performance level] 

 Note: the graduate level expectation is for a B or better

Summary of Course Assignments

(subject to discussion and change as we work

through this together)

1. SOSR Responsive Writing (template) 1 - (15%)

Use the provided template and insights gained from Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to write responses to your reading of the text (not necessarily in education)

2. SOSR Responsive Writing (template) 2 - (15%)

Use the provided template and insights gained from Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to write responses to your reading of the text (not necessarily in education)

3. Policy Analysis B - (30%)

Use the Policy Analysis Tool (PAT) to analyze a current education policy and summarize your findings

4. Policy Analysis C - (40%) 

Choose an important and relevant issue in education and collaborate with your team to analyze your policy using the critical question tools and summarize your findings in a presentation that fits the guidelines I'll provide. This is the Critical Learning Piece for this course.