Multiple Subject Program News

Valuing Our Partners in the Field

The Multiple Subject Teacher Education Program (MSTEP) relies on a variety of schools in the area with whom we have partnered to provide authentic experiences for our students to learn to teach. In prerequisite courses, these opportunities include working periodically with students in the Bright Futures after-school program at Grover Heights Elementary School in Grover Beach and tutoring students in reading in after-school settings at Baywood and Hawthorne Elementary Schools in San Luis Obispo. Thanks to all of the program faculty who foster these partnerships: Patty Mulligan, Frances Mayer, Renae Mattson and Anna Kelly. Once in the credential program, candidates typically work alongside an experienced teacher in two different grade levels at two different school sites. This year MSTEP placed 110 candidates in 36 schools in 11 districts in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Thanks to Julee Bauer, our placement coordinator, for spearheading this work. We remain grateful for the continued willingness of area districts to partner with us in support of the preparation of the next generation of elementary school teachers.

Some candidates have year-long placements at diverse elementary school sites, which affords them an even stronger opportunity to experience becoming part of a school staff. We especially want to recognize year-long placement site Fairgrove Elementary School in the Lucia Mar Unified School District. Carol Littlefield-Hafman, the principal, impressed our candidates with her support of them at the school site. We look forward to further strengthening these important university-school partnerships.

Personnel Changes

In the fall, MSTEP will welcome Jessica Jensen from the University of Iowa, who will replace Julie Herron, who accepted a position at another university. Jensen will bring with her a range of great teaching experiences, knowledge of mathematics and teaching mathematics relative to the common core, and great energy and personality to add to our faculty.

Shirley Magnusson, the program coordinator, entered the Faculty Early Retirement Program this year and will work half-time for several years. She will remain as program coordinator, and we hope to conduct a search next year for a new elementary science educator to replace her expertise.

MSTEP welcomed several new lecturers this year to accommodate faculty changes and the addition of faculty release time due to program or grant activity. We are fortunate to have Annie Delbridge, who has expertise in elementary literacy, and Terri Gibbs-Burke from the County Office of Education, who has expertise in mathematics education. Our candidates also have the benefit of working with Brittany Tricamo and Jessica Miller, two accomplished teachers from San Luis Coastal Unified School District who are graduates of our program. Other part-time lecturers who are teaching or working in key roles in our program are: Cherice Kelso, Juan Olivarria, Anna Kelly and Renae Mattson.

Program Changes

This year MSTEP introduced the School of Education Observation Tool, which all teacher education programs are using for classroom observations. It is based on a framework developed by Charlotte Danielson. The observation tool has 15 different elements that can be rated on a scale from 0 to 4 with a level 3 as target performance. A subcommittee comprised of members from each program using the tool is currently working on revising the rubrics used in rating candidates on each element. Key members of that committee are supervisors Susie Adams, Kristin Bridgeford, Pat Dyer and Suzy Reynolds and program faculty Julee Bauer and Shirley Magnusson. Supervisors have reported appreciating the clear focus that the tool provides, and the subcommittee looks forward to the improved rubric language that will help to ensure valid and reliable scoring.

Thanks to another development, teacher candidates are learning to incorporate the universal design for learning principles into their instruction. This effort is supported by the Teacher Quality Partnership grant, and a major part of the activity has been the involvement of faculty members Julee Bauer, Tanya Flushman, Shirley Magnusson and Briana Ronan in a PLC-framed series of professional development meetings.

Events and Initiatives

 

• Mock Interview
  MSTEP collaborated with the Special Education Program (SPED) to host a mock interview event in March for MSTEP and SPED teacher candidates. Shirley Magnusson spear-headed the planning; Juan Olivarria recruited the administrators; and Olivaria, Julee Bauer, Michelle Walker, Shirley Magnusson and Mike Ruef set up the room and refreshments. Fourteen administrators participated, and each led three rounds of questions for small groups of candidates. Following that, administrators fielded questions about the job search process and the possibility of openings in their districts. Administrators from Atascadero, Lucia Mar, San Luis Coastal, Guadalupe and Santa Maria-Bonita school districts attended along with about 60 candidates from the MSTEP Program. Teacher candidates remarked how valuable the event was and how much more there is to know about the interview process than they had anticipated.
• Job Fair
  Career Services helped the School of Education host a job fair for teacher candidates. Thanks to Julee Bauer and Michelle Walker for supporting the planning and set up. About 35 districts were represented, ranging from the Central Coast, to the Central Valley, to the Bay Area. Some district representatives were former MSTEP candidates, and faculty and staff enjoyed reconnecting with them. More than 100 teacher candidates attended the event, and some districts conducted interviews on the spot and even made job offers. Candidates reported a rise in confidence about their future job prospects as a result of their participation.
• Joint Advisory Council meeting
  A joint advisory council meeting hosted by MSTEP and SPED focused on sharing information and receiving feedback on proposed program changes to address new standards and teaching performance expectations (TPEs). The TPEs stress the need for general education teachers to learn how to support students with special needs through methods such as employing universal design for learning. The advisory council shared their perceptions of MSTEP and SPED’s support of beginning teachers and ideas about how to strengthen the program.
• Mock Individualized Education Program
  In collaboration with SPED, MSTEP hosted a mock individualized education program (IEP) event to provide general and special education teacher candidates the opportunity to learn how to conduct an effective IEP meeting. Recognition goes to the SPED faculty members who initiated this idea and spear-headed the planning with the help of Shirley Magnusson and Julee Bauer and to the School of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant, which is providing funding.
• Additional Liberal Studies Connections
  To supplement MSTEP’s connection with the Liberal Studies Department that creates a smooth pathway toward acceptance into the credential program, Tanya Flushman helped lead an initiative that brought clearer expectations about writing competency for liberal studies majors and taught a section of the senior project course that incorporated liberal studies majors into her ongoing research projects. Students in the course have been part of poster presentations on campus, a paper presentation at a conference, and a published manuscript.