Conceptual Framework

Educator Preparation

University Overview

Central State University, located in the historically rich town of Wilberforce, is Ohio’s only public Historically Black College or University (HBCU). At its core is the mission to educate a diverse population for success, leadership, and service at the state, national and global levels. The university is also committed to educating all persons of good moral character, and it continues to promote ethnic diversity among the students, faculty and staff. Central State University began as the Normal and Industrial Department of Wilberforce University in 1887. In 1947, the General Assembly expanded the Department into a College of Education and Industrial Arts, which provided four-year college programs. As a result, the College began operating independently from Wilberforce University and became Wilberforce State College, offering programs in teacher education, industrial arts, business, and liberal arts. In 1951, the College was renamed Central State College, and fourteen years later, under the presidency of Charles Wesley, was granted university status.

Central State University continues to grow in excellence. The University has maintained accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1949, and was designated as a Land Grant Institution in 2014. As it continues to grow and change, Central State University remains a jewel in Ohio’s crown, graduating students who become leaders and servants at home and abroad.

University Mission and Vision

As Ohio’s only public HBCU, Central State University’s mission is to prepare students with diverse backgrounds and educational needs for leadership and service in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. The university is committed to partnering with other educational institutions, business organizations and governmental agencies, to provide a culturally enriched and nurturing environment, that stimulates students’ intellectual curiosity, prepares students to critically think and effectively communicate, and prepares students to lead and serve in a technologically-oriented and globalized world.

The university’s mission is anchored on the foundation of the core values, of Service…Protocol…Civility®. Faculty, staff and students provide Service to the university and the communities for the greater good; are guided by Protocol and adherence to the best practices in order to gain desired results; and actively demonstrate Civility with the understanding that respect for each voice is essential to a learned society.

Educator Preparation Unit Overview

The College of Education is the cornerstone of Central State University, and a major stakeholder in training highly qualified teachers for surrounding school districts. With programs offered in the Department of Professional Education, and in Health and Human Performance, the College of Education strives to prepare teachers who are knowledgeable, competent and prepared to teach diverse students in a technologically advanced society.

Educator Preparation Unit Mission and Vision

The mission of the Educator Preparation Unit at Central State University is to prepare reflective educators Schon (1983) Loughran (2002) who practice evidence-based instruction, and are able to employ varied and appropriate teaching strategies for diverse student populations. The EPP is also intentional in preparing educators who work to create and advocate for an enhanced teaching and learning environment for all students. The vision of the Educator Preparation Unit is to foster the establishment of a teaching and learning environment that produces professional educators with the knowledge, skills and dispositions appropriate for the changing needs of students and the larger society.

In order to accomplish both the mission and the vision, the Educator Preparation Unit at Central State is committed to the following tenets: knowledge, practice and professionalism. Teacher candidates will master both content and pedagogical knowledge necessary to be an effective teacher. In order to ensure optimal student achievement, teacher candidates will be able to expertly apply a variety of instructional and classroom management strategies, integrate technology as a teaching tool, and use data to inform instruction. Finally, teacher candidates will engage in meaningful self-reflection, and demonstrate a commitment to professional development, self-improvement Kottkamp (2004), collaboration, and an ability to demonstrate mastery of the content and respect for cultural competency.

The mission, vision and conceptual framework tenets are consistent with the University’s mission to prepare students with diverse backgrounds and experiences for leadership roles and professional careers. The expected outcomes for teacher candidates are aligned with the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession, Interstate New Teacher Assessment Support Consortium, and with the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

Each program offered within the Unit is structured to attend to the three tenets of the Conceptual Framework: knowledge, practice and professionalism. Teacher candidates build content and pedagogical knowledge through a strong academic foundation in the liberal arts and an equally impressive set of carefully selected and sequentially ordered core pedagogical courses. Throughout all programs, special attention is paid to ensuring that all teacher candidates develop the professional and ethical disposition s that will guide their career-long professional interactions. Teacher candidates learn to be fair and equitable in their work with colleagues, and sensitive and responsive to diversity that incorporates race, ethnicity, national origin socio-economic status, culture, religion, age, sex, disability, aptitude, interests and learning styles. The Unit also prepares teacher candidates to be critically reflective, so that even after they have completed their programs they will continue to interrogate the assumptions that undergird their practice Farrell (2004).

Commitment to Diversity

While content knowledge, pedagogical practice and professionalism are important, the Unit is committed to training teacher candidates who recognize and respond to the diversity that exists among learners. The Unit’s curricula and clinical experiences are designed so that teacher candidates will come to the conclusion that all students are capable of learning and all students benefit from quality instruction and learning opportunities.

In addition to intentionally crafted coursework that foregrounds our commitment to diversity, the Unit also takes special care to seek and cultivate P-12 partnerships that afford our teacher candidates rich field placements, where they work with faculty and students from diverse backgrounds.

Commitment to Technology

The Unit recognizes that in order for teacher candidates to be prepared to be responsive to the varied ways that today’s students learn, they must be trained to use technology as a teaching tool. To that end, the Unit requires that teacher candidates complete a course in educational technology and all pedagogy courses infuse the use of technology in the creation of segments of teaching, and in general classroom management.

Faculty members model the appropriate use of technology for instruction and classroom management in their courses. This includes the use of learning management systems to host course discussions, and other flipped-classroom activities and the use of audio-visual technology to support more authentic learning experiences. Additionally, faculty, mentor teachers and teacher candidates are required to use TK20 to submit and evaluate key assessments, and all teacher candidates are required to use audio-visual equipment to support their completion of the EdTPA assessment.

Commitment to Continuous Review and Improvement (Assessment)

In order to assess the Unit’s success in operationalizing the Conceptual Framework, data is continuously collected and analyzed to ascertain whether our teacher candidates are meeting performance goals and to ensure that the unit has the overall capacity to support and sustain the delivery of its programs. The data collected provides information on the appropriateness of curricula design and delivery, candidate performance, unit capacity, and the performance of program completers as practicing professionals. The analysis of data collected becomes the basis for the continuous evaluation of the Conceptual Framework as a working and living document.

Data is collected at vital points in the programs; at several points during our candidates’ development from emerging educational professionals to reflective instructors. Data is also collected on our candidates during their first, third and fifth years post-graduation. The kinds of data collected come from candidate performance measures and the analysis of documents and other information. The Unit’s data collection and analysis is aligned with the conceptual framework, and state, national and specialized professional association standards, and speaks to the Unit’s commitment to continuous improvement and review.

References

Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (Eds). (1985). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. New York: Kogan Page Ltd.

Brookfield, S.D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.

Loughran, J.J. (2002). Effective reflective practice: In search of meaning in learning about teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 33.

Osterman, K.F., & Kottkamp, R.B. (2004). Reflective practice for educators: Improving schooling through professional development (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Schon, D.A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professional think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Schon, D.A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Fancisco: Josey-Bass.

Revised: December 2016