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Instruction. The University is committed to offering the highest quality undergraduate, professional and graduate programs, comparable to the best obtainable anywhere in the nation. It offers a broad array of advanced graduate study programs and fulfills its mission through faculty, academic and research programs of international distinction, and outstanding libraries, teaching museums and information technology. These resources enrich the undergraduate experience and are essential for graduate level education and for research.
Research. The University attains high levels of research productivity and recognizes that faculty are part of a network of scholars and academicians that shape a discipline as well as teach it. Research and teaching, as practiced at the University of Kansas, are mutually reinforcing with scholarly inquiry underlying and informing the educational experience at undergraduate, professional and graduate levels.
Service. The University first serves Kansas, then the nation, and the world through research, teaching, and the generation, preservation and dissemination of knowledge. The University provides service to the state of Kansas through its state and federally funded research centers. KU's academic programs, arts facilities, and public programs provide cultural enrichment opportunities for the larger community.
International Dimension. The University is dedicated to preparing its students for lives of learning and for the challenges educated citizens will encounter in an increasingly complex and diverse global community. Over 100 programs of international study and cooperative research are available for KU students and faculty at sites throughout the world. The University offers teaching and research that draw upon and contribute to the most advanced developments throughout the United States and the rest of the world. At the same time, KU's extensive international ties support economic development in Kansas.
Values. The University is committed to excellence. It fosters a multicultural environment in which the dignity and rights of the individual are respected. Intellectual diversity, integrity and disciplined inquiry in the search for knowledge are of paramount importance.
The primary mission of the School of Education is to prepare educators as leaders. As stated in the School Code
Within the University, the School of Education serves Kansas, the nation, and the world by (1) preparing individuals to be leaders and practitioners in education and related human service fields, (2) expanding and deepening understanding of education as a fundamental human endeavor, and (3) helping society define and respond to its educational responsibilities and challenges.
The components of preparing educators as leaders that frame this mission for our initial and advanced programs are Research and Best Practice, Content Knowledge, and Professionalism. These interlocking themes build our Conceptual Framework. Within the framework, our programs combine a strong liberal arts and sciences education tradition with field-based pedagogical experiences that together foster thoughtful inquiry about schools, classrooms, labs, studios, all student learners, and the enterprise of schooling.
Our unit-wide perspective on the educational process views the learner as active in the development of constructing meaningful knowledge and ensures that systems of education are analyzed. At the completion of their initial programs, our candidates: know what they are teaching, know how they should teach it, understand whom they are teaching, and possess the skills to teach effectively. Our candidates are well prepared to establish enriching learning environments; they know how to continually assess student understandings, attitudes and abilities and make instructional decisions about which opportunities might improve student learning. While recognizing that competence in such matters as content, human growth and development, health, curriculum, assessment, psychology, and cognitive science are essential components in the preparation of competent teachers, we place research and best practice, content and pedagogical knowledge and professionalism at the core of our programs.
At the advanced level, our candidates move beyond essential entry-level professional practice knowledge, skill and competency to more advanced and focused graduate degree and certification programs. The advanced knowledge, skill and competency acquired by candidates in these programs prepares them not only to be stronger educators (classroom teachers), but also provides them with the advanced and specialized background to allow them to be leaders in their respective educational settings and positions. As (prospective) leaders, candidates will be in strategic positions that will allow them to provide guidance and direction to students and faculty with whom they work, to the educational and professional venues in which they serve, and to the communities in which they live. To this end our programs expect all students to acquire knowledge and understanding of basic educational research methods and proficiency at reading, using and adapting the research literature to their work with individuals (students, faculty, and parents) and the systems and institutions within which they will work. It is our goal to provide our candidates through our graduate degree and licensure programs with the advanced knowledge and skills to be model educators who assume leadership positions in their schools, districts, profession, and community—and by so doing enhance the education of students and the lives of those students and their families.
Our programs, initial and advanced, pursue excellence in the preparation of candidates who are capable of serving as leaders in their schools and community. The following statements illustrate our core values.
Through data collected through the Unit Assessment System on our candidate, faculty, and operational outcomes, it is assured that goals and objectives are met and that these are consistent with: a) the school’s mission, core values, and goals; b) local, state, regional and national needs for educators; c) state and national standards for professional practice; and d) the evolving body of scientific and professional knowledge that serves as the basis for educational practices.
At both the initial and the advanced levels, we believe that teaching is an honorable, dynamic, and vitally important profession. Preparing children and youth for life in a society that is distinguished by constant change, increased diversity, and difficult challenges requires educators who can serve as leaders in their profession -- individuals who will be role models in their schools and communities. With regard to our initial and advanced teacher licensure programs, professional and state standards provide the structure for the knowledge and competencies we expect candidates to demonstrate. Though the standards for each program organize the professional knowledge base into slightly different strands or domains, common themes emerge and are incorporated into the Conceptual Framework and Unit Assessment System.
The model represents the Unit’s conceptual framework. The circle at the diagram’s center symbolizes the primary focus of our program’s mission and vision – preparing educators as leaders. The middle circle illustrates our understanding that program improvement is guided by a cyclical process including performance, assessment, evaluation and enhancement. The outer circle in the diagram identifies the three themes that constitute our understanding of preparing educators as leaders – research and best practice, content and pedagogical knowledge, and professionalism. The diagram is designed to emphasize that these themes are articulated throughout all of the unit’s activities, and that they comprise a whole. Accordingly, the unit’s conceptual framework outlines what intellectual commitments we share, how we strive to address those commitments and how we ensure success and continued improvement through performance, assessment, evaluation and enhancement.
The Unit defines our efforts around three interlocking themes: (1) begin with what is known from research on the best practices; (2) develop and teach this research-based content knowledge to candidates who then can apply this knowledge; and (3) ensure that all our candidates uphold and demonstrate the highest level of professionalism. The interconnectedness of these themes serves as a framework for preparing educational leaders. Permeating all three of these themes, and integrated throughout all that we do, is a commitment to diversity and equal opportunity. Understanding and contributing to a just society is simply an imperative. Likewise, as a tool to assure that candidates are best equipped to be educators as leaders, all learn and use educational technology appropriately.
The Unit has identified and has continued to build its programs based upon: 1) research and best practice; 2) content and pedagogical knowledge; and 3) professionalism. These three interlocking themes are paramount to the framework that permeates our academic programs of study. In the following section, we briefly articulate the importance of these themes with research that aligns and supports our assumptions, values and beliefs for preparing educators as leaders.
Theme One: Research and Best Practice. The Unit believes that knowledge and application of both formal and informal research lead to effective, informed practices. Continuous review and incorporation of empirically-derived, successful methodology enhances (teaching) practices and leads to successful learner outcomes and informed decision making. Informed by research and theory, professionals are “ultimately about practice” (Shulman, 1998). Professionals translate their knowledge into skills and strategies that enable them to effectively serve their constituencies.
Effective leaders establish productive learning environments. They continually evaluate student understandings, attitudes, and abilities to inform instructional decisions. High-quality programs prize inquiry; they establish supportive learning environments where candidates build personal and professional relationships, are invited to explore, and are encouraged to take risks and to question as part of their decision-making processes.
As Barr and Tagg (1995) conclude in their research, “programs that prepare professionals for changing education contexts must carefully and creatively construct learning situations for education candidates, providing them with varied opportunities to observe and reflect on how to best meet the needs of their future students.” One key of effective educational practice, therefore, is to know, through discovery, inquiry, and investigation, when to employ a particular instructional strategy or to provide a particular learning opportunity.
To prepare candidates for successful utilization of research and best practice principles, the Unit provides an integrated base of content knowledge and best practices. Research conducted by Darling-Hammond (2001) states “a good teacher education program, first of all, is coherent. That is, it has an idea about what good teaching is and then it organizes all of its course work, all of the clinical experiences, around that vision.”
The transfer of theory and content knowledge into practice is crucial. Utilization of field-based research is most likely to occur when candidates understand the process fundamentally and engage in practice of the process. In the Unit, knowledge refers to both specific subject content area and pedagogy. The ability to combine the two in practice is a key component of our professional education courses, many of which include field-based experiences. Field-based experiences are pre-service opportunities for students to transfer knowledge into practice. Fleener (1998) found that teacher candidates who receive more field experience remain in teaching longer. Field placement experiences permit teacher candidates to assess student learning, to meet individual student needs, to understand the need to be resourceful and flexible, and to make appropriate adjustments in their teaching strategies and methods. Candidates are required to share their reflections with faculty, exchange ideas with them, and examine their effectiveness. The Unit shares a belief in and a commitment to the value of knowledge acquired through field-based experiences.
Candidates gain knowledge of research and best practice through coursework, field experiences and capstone projects covering the process from hypothesis and methodology development to aggregation and interpretation of data to application of results in the appropriate environment. In addition, our faculty consistently model effective instruction by using the latest research, up-to-date content knowledge and when appropriate, demonstrate/or provide opportunities to observe best practices. Student-centered approaches to teaching and learning, a variety of educational technologies, and multiple approaches to assessment, among others, are important for candidates to experience as learners. This integrated practice supports candidates in future incorporation and implementation of research in their field to apply performance-based best practice.
Advanced program candidates develop competence in understanding and doing research throughout their academic lives. Virtually all have research assignments tied to academic coursework. Many conduct research projects with faculty mentors. Others work in Graduate Research Assistantships, gaining competence in sponsored research and training proposal development, generating and analyzing data, and creating ways in which to deliver new knowledge and strategies to their professional colleagues in the field.
Theme Two: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge. In the Unit, knowledge refers to both specific subject content (e.g. biology) and pedagogy. Darling-Hammond (2005) supports, through review of related research, the position that the single most important determinate of what students learn is what their teachers know. We believe it is essential that all candidates master both types of knowledge.
Professional organizations such as the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), and the National Association of State Boards of Education all identify as their first criterion the importance of content knowledge. NCATE asserts, “Candidates must know the content of their field.” “The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches,” explains INTASC; and “Good teachers know their subject well” believes the NASBE (National Association of State Boards of Education Study Group, 2000). Our candidates in initial programs possess a deep understanding of the subject matter they will teach. They acquire this depth of understanding in coursework taken in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Candidates in the elementary program complete nearly 80 credit hours of general education requirements in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Middle and secondary majors are required to study the depth and breadth of their content area. For example, secondary biology majors are responsible for 53 credit hours of coursework through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; secondary math majors are responsible for 46 credit hours1.
Borko and Putnam (2000) describe pedagogical knowledge as including (a) the educator's overarching concept of purpose and that nature of the content; (b) knowledge of potential understandings and misunderstandings; (c) knowledge of content, curriculum and materials; and (d) knowledge of strategies and representations for practice. Knowledge of pedagogy in our initial programs is acquired over a multi-year sequence of professional education courses with field-based experiences. At all levels, our candidates acquire an in-depth understanding of the evolving body of professional knowledge in their field. The Unit shares a belief in and a commitment to the value of knowledge acquired through field-based experiences.
At the advanced level, candidates prepare for new roles or develop additional expertise in their respective discipline. As candidates prepare for new roles, such as school psychologist or school principal, they acquire specialized knowledge and skills and dispositions specific to their new professional responsibilities. Candidates who seek to develop additional expertise as classroom teachers complete advanced programs that allow them to gain additional subject matter content knowledge and more in-depth knowledge of curriculum instruction, and assessment that is both of a foundational nature as well as discipline-specific. Candidates in all advanced programs focus their study on acquiring the essential content knowledge that represents the evolving nature of their fields with the most current research that is aligned with practice.
1Undergraduate programs leading to initial licensure require approximately 130 credit hours to completion of the Bachelor of Science in Education degree. An additional 34 credit hours of graduate coursework are required for licensure in the extended five year program.
Theme Three: Professionalism. Our programs advocate the goal of initiating our candidates into a community of professionals who can be recognized from our core beliefs and standards of practice. As such, our candidates know what it means to be a professional and exhibit these qualities as members of the educational community.
The Unit candidates are engaged in professional learning that expects a commitment to ethical and caring practice in which continued learning and professional development are paramount. As such, while the initial focus of many beginning teachers often is limited to their own classrooms, our candidates are prepared to expand their horizons to the schools and communities they will serve, as well as to their professional associations at the state and national education levels.
Candidates are prepared to understand the complexities of knowledge and best practice, curriculum and their relationship to all students as professionals in practice. The Unit candidates must demonstrate successfully this commitment through course content, demonstrations, projects and field based experiences to the caring for all students from various backgrounds and experiences. Candidates must demonstrate in their preparation the ability to evaluate and implement the curriculum, instruction, and caring appropriate to all students.
As cited by Ambrose (2002), Sternberg (1999) and Yan (1999) teacher candidates who confront their inherent conflicts and seek to find resolutions embodying synthesis of opposing views deepen the level of their professional growth. Our candidates learn the importance of a strong commitment in working with professional colleagues about issues of professional practice, engagement with families and communities. Part of being a professional is being committed to self-directed growth, being passionate about learning, and honoring the complexity of the education profession.
Becoming a professional educator requires a commitment to the profession. Consequently, novice educators and practitioners preparing for other professional roles, such as those we serve and prepare in the Unit, are at the beginning of a life-long path toward professionalism.
From the beginning of their academic programs of study, the Unit fosters our candidates' preparation and understanding with the most current research and best practices, and ensures content knowledge acquisition appropriate to their professional aspirations, while developing a high regard for professionalism as they progress through our programs.
By preparing educators as leaders and by continually working to create programs designed to further enhance all levels of education, we believe these future educators will be positioned to bring about long-term, fundamental change. Our candidates learn to anticipate and plan for the future, construct and apply a coherent, integrated understanding of teaching and learning, engage in collaborative problem-solving and critical inquiry, strive to enable all students to reach their potential, and continually assess and improve their practice for the benefit of all students.
Adopted by the School Assembly, September 2005.
Since the last team visit in the fall of 2000, the Conceptual Framework of the Unit has been revised. The central theme, educators as leaders, remains the same. The Framework in place in 2000 consisted of a cluster of seven interlocking complimentary underlying structures that gave conceptual meaning to our initial program (at that time widely known as the Professional Teacher Preparation Program, or PTPP) and six advanced programs in reading, special education, school counseling, school psychology, English as a second language, and educational leadership. Over time, the unit has discontinued its school counseling program.
The PTPP’s framework had as one of its foci social responsibility. This specific concept implied the need for faculty and administrators to model responsible concern and treatment for students, particularly those traditionally under-represented. The framework was built upon beliefs and values on the part of faculty and partners that pertain not only to essential knowledge bases and skill domains derived from the INTASC standards, but also to selected INTASC dispositions that were omitted by the Kansas State Board of Education from the requirements of Kansas’s licensure redesign. Perusal of the initial and advanced conceptual frameworks revealed four major themes that tie together the six advanced program conceptual frameworks, and related them to the PTPP frame. The first, research, was emphasized in each from the perspective of informed usage; that is; we expected all program completers to be critical consumers and knowledgeable employers of research methods and findings. The second theme, diversity, related to knowledge of an ever more global society that could no longer tolerate cultural ignorance on the part of the professionals who serve it. Knowledge and best practice characterize the third theme. In essence, each of our personnel preparation programs consisted of respective bodies of knowledge that must be mastered and sets of skills that must be honed in order for program completers to engage in best practices. The final theme, professionalism, related to the mastery of knowledge and skills. Perhaps more importantly, however, we believed, and continue to believe, it to be incumbent on all of our program completers to serve with a realization of their social responsibility to students, clients, and institutions above more selfish concerns about comfort and resources.
The assignment to review the 2000 Conceptual Frameworks was the responsibility of the Accreditation Coordinating Team (ACT). This committee, comprised of members of the faculty within the unit and across campus, plus members of the professional community, began its work in the winter of 2005. The Associate Dean of Teacher Education and Undergraduate Studies chairs ACT. It met throughout the semester, considering changes that appeared to have been warranted, and completed its draft in time for review and consideration by the various faculty and partner groups—and then ratification by the School Assembly during the fall semester of 2005 (available under Goverance > Assembly) (requires KU login).
The work of the ACT had several significant results. First, in keeping with our quest for shared vision and coherence, the unit moved away from a confederacy approach of separate but interlocking program frameworks to a single unitary Conceptual Framework, with the faculty and professional community reaffirming its commitment to educators as leaders as its central value. The second result was to reaffirm the centrality of research, best practice, and professionalism as unit themes. Added to these themes were content and pedagogical knowledge. Finally, much discussion both within the ACT and across the various constituencies that reviewed the drafts of the framework was the 2000 theme of diversity. How can such a value be relegated to a separate theme when it permeates all that we do and believe? There is no way that research and best practice can be separated from considerations of diversity. How can one be content and pedagogically literate without studying cultural diversity and working with diverse populations? Certainly, no professional can be well prepared without an appreciation of, and expertise in working with, diverse populations. “Diversity” cannot be a stand-alone theme.
The same conversations occurred when considering the role of technology in unit programs. All programs within the unit integrate technology throughout their work. All are committed to assuring that candidates understand the potential—and limitations—of technology.
Shared Vision. The unit works hard to assure that there is consensus about what it is, what it believes, and how those beliefs manifest themselves in practice. The inclusive manner in which the educators as leaders conceptual framework has evolved over time assists in this endeavor. Equally important is that the unit recognizes the basic value of research, best practice, professionalism, content and pedagogical knowledge. This is, after all, a Research Extensive university. We are committed to equitable practices, affirmative attitudes, and social responsibility. And, we understand the potential of technology to assist it in the realization of those values.
Coherence. The unit, particularly at the initial level, has a proud history of knowing what good teaching is about and how new professionals can best become good teachers. In the late 1970s, the unit committed itself to develop and implement an integrated, extended teacher education program. The belief, then, was that it took at least five years for candidates become well balanced in regard to the liberal arts and sciences, to learn the content they should learn in order to teach it, and become competent to practice through extensive field experiences. That model exists even today for most candidates. Advanced program candidates also are also expected to demonstrate competence in their areas of study, how to conduct research and incorporate best practices in their areas, and become professionals. All programs require extensive collaborative experiences with field-based partners.
Professional commitments and dispositions. Professionalism is a major theme within the conceptual framework. Indeed, one cannot assert an interest in preparing educators as leaders without a consideration of what it takes, and what dispositions one has to have, to be a professional.
Commitment to diversity. The University of Kansas mission statement says in part, “The University is committed to excellence. It fosters a multicultural environment in which the dignity and rights of the individual are respected. Intellectual diversity, integrity and disciplined inquiry in the search for knowledge are of paramount importance.” Multicultural perspectives are integrated throughout all academic programs. Field experiences are located in a variety of settings—poor, “middle-America,” rich, rural, urban, and suburban. Candidates study and travel, both in reality and virtually, internationally. Research emphasizes that all students can learn, if we learn to teach well. Special Education is the crown jewel department of the university.
Commitment to technology. Technology is embedded in all that the unit does. From working with urban teachers to assist them to maximize their effectiveness in teaching music, to the extensive use of BlackBoard throughout the unit, to the implementation of TK20, to the use of data bases in assessment activities, to providing professional development in reading for all K-3 teachers online, to research that leads to creating adaptive technologies for exceptional populations, to the considerable expenditures to assure that facilities are up to date, the unit uses technology as a primary vehicle to help all learn.
Candidate proficiencies aligned with professional and state standards. The State of Kansas program approval process is not tied to the Specialized Professional Associations. However, all of the sets of the state’s program standards were considered when they were developed. All state standards are consistent with those of nationally recognized organizations.
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