Maine Perspective Front Page
Task Force to Study UMaine's Role in K-12 Education
University of Maine President Peter Hoff is appointing a task force that will spend the next year systematically analyzing UMaine's role in relation to K-12 education in the state.
Recommendations of the K-12 Review Task Force due in March 2001 could affect preparation of students who will be teachers, professional development and other services to practicing educators, outreach and partnerships with schools, and advocacy of Maine's K-12 education system.
"The quality and nature of K-12 education is a national concern, with issues involving educational standards, the quality and supply of teachers, school reform, school finance, and a host of other issues drawing headlines across the country," says Hoff. "Since our colleges and universities are the ones that prepare the teachers and study school policy matters, they are inevitably drawn into discussions and debates over these issues."
Appointment of the task force is a response to questions surfacing at the national and state levels concerning the role of colleges and universities in support of K-12 education, says Hoff. The American Council of Education Report, To Touch the Future, recently called on university presidents to conduct reviews of their campus programs to prepare teachers.
ACE's call to action coincided with a strong interest expressed by UMaine's Board of Visitors, which had been discussing the University's relationship with schools during its past several quarterly meetings, and the continuing call for greater institutional commitment to teacher preparation by College of Education and Human Development Dean Robert Cobb.
"UMaine prepares more of the state's teachers than any other institution," Hoff says. "As the flagship university, we need to be sure we are in the lead when it comes to cutting-edge approaches to teacher and administrator preparation, continued education for in-service teachers, and research into school policies and practices. Because our programs in the sciences are particularly strong, it seems logical that we should take the lead in meeting the current critical shortage of science and math teachers."
Task force membership is expected to include three faculty from the College of Education and Human Development, two faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and a faculty representative from each of the other colleges. Joining the eight UMaine faculty will be UMaine Provost Robert Kennedy and Bowdoin College President Robert Edwards, a member of the University's Board of Visitors and chair of the state Math-Science Alliance. Also participating will be administrators and educators from K-12 schools throughout the state and the Maine Department of Education.
Chairing the task force is Steve Norton, professor of geological sciences and 1991 Distinguished Maine Professor, who, under former UMaine President Howard Neville, headed a committee evaluating the undergraduate program campuswide.
"This effort is huge and overdue," says Norton. "No one has stepped back and looked at the institutional commitment to producing good teachers. The task force will look across the University of Maine to see what we do well and where we can improve in K-12 education efforts. We want to give teachers the tools and support they deserve."
The College of Education and Human Development endorses the ACE study and welcomes the campuswide review, says Cobb. "This study validates other extensive findings that acknowledge teacher quality as the single most important element in a child's learning and achievement," he says. "Truly, the education of teachers is a pivotal responsibility of the entire institution."
The charge of the task force follows the ACE recommendation for a review of the quality of programs and outreach efforts, and consideration of changes or improvements that should be made. One of the roles of the task force is to re-examine how to bring the strengths of the entire University to bear on UMaine's engagement with K-12 education.
Working to keep Maine's schools strong is a university-wide responsibility, says Rebecca Eilers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "The Liberal Arts faculty have significant responsibility for educating teachers and we welcome the opportunity to engage in discussions that will lead to broader understandings of the teacher development process."
An example of such interdisciplinary discussion occurred April 21 in a colloquium, "New Directions in Mathematics and Science Education," with faculty from Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Education. Special guest panelist was Seymour Papert, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Computer Science and a pioneer in the use of computers in education.
The University needs to develop methods of outreach to assist teachers, as well as develop innovative partnerships or synergies, Norton says. Among those already begun:
- UMaine is in the third year of a highly collaborative partnership with six area school systems, which is providing a professional development school model to support the initial preparation and on-going development of teachers and school-based involvement of university faculty. The commitment to K-12 education evidenced by the establishment and work of the Penobscot River Educational Partnership is a positive factor in successful grant proposals to improve teaching and learning.
- UMaine was one of 20 institutions nationwide to receive a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve science education. A committee of public school teachers and UMaine science faculty selected 10 UMaine graduate students and two undergraduates to be the first National Science Foundation Graduate Teaching Fellows. In the coming academic year, each Fellow will spend 10 hours a week in public school classrooms in six communities. The proposal was submitted by Professor of Plant Biology Susan Brawley and Professor of Chemistry Barbara Cole.
- Plans are being finalized for a Collaboratives in Excellence in Teacher Preparation project, funded by a $4 million National Science Foundation grant. The project involves the Maine Math and Science Alliance, the College of Education and Human Development, University of Southern Maine and University of Maine at Farmington in a cooperative effort to support and improve the recruitment and teacher preparation of students with strong interests in math, science and technology. Chief architect of the NSF proposal is Mary Ann McGarry of the College of Education and Human Development, and the Water Research Institute. Two other principal investigators at UMaine are Herman Weller, Education, and Robert Franzosa, Mathematics.
- With two, $51,000 NSF Fellowships each, Molly Schauffler and Douglas Reusch, both of Geological Sciences, are conducting two projects: "Post-doctoral Fellowship in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education." Schauffler focuses on "Community-Based Environmental Research as a Tool for Reforming Science Education in Small Communities in Maine." Reusch is focusing on "Field-Based Studies to Understand the Earth System."
- Inter-Chem-Net, a new approach to modern experimental chemistry that was developed at UMaine, makes it economically possible for students to get hands-on experience with modern instruments used today by practicing chemists. According to one of the creators of project, Associate Professor of Chemistry Mitchell Bruce, this same technology can be used in high schools to introduce sophisticated chemical instrumentation. For the 1999-2000 school year, Bangor High School was selected as a pilot site for the project. Plans are now under way to offer Inter-Chem-Net to many other Maine high schools.
Research and technology are constantly informing and transforming the dynamics of instruction. Cobb emphasizes. "Greater collaboration between higher education, public schools and the private sector is essential in bringing about greater equity of opportunity and future economic development," he says.
"But society and the university must also recognize the economic reality of inadequate salaries and almost non-existent scholarship incentives for aspiring teachers that is contributing to the growing teacher shortage. The impact on public school staffing is particularly acute in a lucrative global market competing for top candidates in the same high-demand areas of mathematics, science and technology."
UMaine must produce teachers who go out and make systemic changes because of their excitement and training, Norton says. And Hoff is committing the campus to substantive change.
"It will ripple across campus, through curricula to requirements, and even to the activist role the University will play in advocating for teachers," Norton says. "In five years, hopefully we can look at teachers in any discipline who came through UMaine and see that their education was more sensitive to what it takes to be a good teacher."