Form NP NEW PROGRAM PROPOSAL FORM - Missouri

[Pages:32]Form NP NEW PROGRAM PROPOSAL FORM

Sponsoring Institution(s):

University of Missouri-Kansas City

Program Title:

Master of Arts in Teaching

Degree/Certificate:

Master of Arts in Teaching

Options:

Middle School Science, Middle School Mathematics, Middle School Social Studies, and Middle School English. High School Science (Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Biology), High School Mathematics, High School Social Studies, High School English

Delivery Site(s):

University of Missouri-Kansas City 5100 Rockhill Road Kansas City, Missouri 64110

CIP Classification:

131205

Implementation Date:

Upon approval

Cooperative Partners:

Expected Date of First Graduation: Fall 2011

AUTHORIZATION

Steven Graham, Senior Assoc Vice Pres Academic Affairs Name and Title of Institutional Officer

Chris Weisbrook, Faculty Fellow, UM System Person to Contact for More Information

Signature/Date

573-882-0001 Telephone

Introduction

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is one of the four main campuses of the University of Missouri system. Located in the second largest population center of the state, UMKC has both the opportunity and the obligation to serve the Kansas City region by developing programs most appropriate to its mission as an urban research university.

The School of Education (SOE), organized officially as a separate academic division in 1954, was an outgrowth of the University of Kansas City's involvement in professional education, which dates back to 1940. At that early date the university was offering an M.A. in education, with most classes conducted in the summer and evenings. An undergraduate major in elementary education was established in 1952. Two years later, the first University of Kansas City doctoral program, the Ph.D. in Education, was inaugurated with the formation of the school. Continuing its long history and established record of offering various degrees in education, the school has grown to include three disciplinary divisions with degrees including Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Educational Specialist, and Doctorate of Education programs and participates in the campus-wide Interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy degree program overseen by the School of Graduate Studies. Faculty members of the School of Education collaborate to offer degree and certification programs in cooperation with the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Biological Sciences, and the Conservatory of Music.

UMKC is committed to addressing Missouri's societal needs by providing highly qualified teachers committed to teach in high-need urban districts. UMKC is physically located in the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD), which is the area's largest urban school district when charter schools are included, serving approximately 30,000 students (in 2008). KCMSD meets the federal definition of high need as defined by poverty, teacher quality, and student performance (retrieved March 28, 2008, ). Over 68% of the KCMSD students are enrolled in Medicaid, and 80% are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Increasing the district's numbers of highly qualified teachers is critical to improving the performance of its students. UMKC teacher education programs are specifically geared to prepare graduates to work with diverse students, including English language learners, special needs students, and students from diverse racial/ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City and the School of Education are committed to serving the urban community by enabling positive education, training, and life experiences for P-12 students and preparing them to make a difference in their families, workplaces, communities, organizations and society at large. The School of Education, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Biological Sciences play a critical role on this campus by educating the next generation of teachers, and serving the community and even the state through undergraduate and graduate education. Since 2005, the Institute for Urban Education has been a leading force in promoting the campus as an urban-serving institution and has achieved national recognition for its efforts.

In alignment with its mission, UMKC has developed an aggressive and successful initiative to better prepare middle and high school teachers, specifically emphasizing urban education. In

order to enhance teachers' knowledge and skills in urban education, UMKC has sought and received over $12 million in National Science Foundation and Department of Education funding.

To support the mission of UMKC and the School of Education, a Master of Arts in Teaching degree (MAT) is proposed to prepare middle and high school teacher candidates. The MAT is designed to attract new bachelor's recipients with content area degrees and second-career professionals, enabling them to complete middle or high school certification in one year. The degree represents a transition from two post-baccalaureate programs (second bachelor's or certificate with subsequent Master's coursework) to a solely graduate program. That is, the MAT involves revising current undergraduate curriculum to create graduate level curriculum. Once the MAT is established, the post-baccalaureate programs will be phased out. This transition does not require new faculty, staff, equipment, library, or other resources, nor will the MAT require additional funding.

The decision to implement this degree program arose from UMKC's long-term relationship with the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) and from the Chancellor's vision and campus mission to address the critical shortage and need for highly qualified middle and high school teachers in under-resourced urban schools. The proposed MAT will bring together a diverse array of resources and expertise to offer a graduate program in the critical fields of math, science, social studies, and English, while aligning with UMKC's mission, to collaborate in urban issues and education. Collaboration at UMKC will be achieved by drawing candidates with degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Biological Sciences, although we expect to attract bachelor's degree recipients from other universities in the region as well.

The proposed MAT program prepares teacher candidates specifically for teaching in urban settings through coursework focused on cultural and linguistic diversity and special needs students, through intensive field experiences every semester in urban schools and communities, and through reflection on teaching practice in capstone classes, where teacher candidates study how their teaching impacts the learning of the diverse students with whom they engage. Coursework and fieldwork are intentionally integrated to allow for application of knowledge and reflection upon the impact of teaching practices and to create opportunities for candidates to better understand themselves and the culture of the schools and students with whom they work. Infused within content methodology and education courses is a focus on culturally-responsive practice to meet the needs of diverse student populations. By the constant interaction of practice and reflection, teacher candidates gain a much deeper understanding of urban classrooms and the cultural, personal, and societal factors that influence student learning.

The results of market analyses indicate a high demand for middle and high school teachers and Master's level certification programs. Based on current trends, at least 1,200 and as many as 2,000 new teacher hires will be needed in the Kansas City metropolitan area over the next six years. The greatest need will be in under-resourced urban schools since many beginning teachers in those schools leave the profession for other careers after only one to two years. A commonly cited reason for urban teacher attrition is lack of adequate preparation and/or little to no exposure to the realities of urban schools and communities. Graduates of the proposed program will be uniquely prepared to meet the demand for teachers in these high-need areas. The immediate need for high-quality urban teachers in the Kansas City metro area is demonstrated by support letters

provided by superintendents from the Kansas City Missouri School District, the Hickman Mills School District, and the Center School District.

Teacher candidates enrolling in the MAT program will be able to select a middle school or a high school emphasis. Missouri teacher certification options available at UMKC include middle school science, mathematics, social studies, and English. High school options are biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, mathematics, social studies, and English. This degree program will offer students educational opportunities that are unavailable elsewhere in the State of Missouri, particularly related to training in urban education. The most closely related programs are a Master's Degree in Education offered by the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), the Master's Degree in Education offered by the University of Central Missouri (UCM), and the Master's Degree in Education offered by the Truman State University (TSU). Unlike the programs offered by UMSL, UCM, and TSU, this proposed program requires UMKC students to complete internships in high-need urban schools located in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Because of its uniqueness, this proposed new program has the strong endorsement of superintendents from Kansas City districts.

Fit with University Mission and Other Academic Programs

Alignment with Mission and Goals

The teacher preparation programs at UMKC reflect the campus and system mission to serve the citizens of Missouri by developing a professional workforce with a regional emphasis on urban issues and teacher education. Our program supports Missouri's citizens by developing life-long learners, thereby fostering economic development of our community, state, and nation. Our teacher preparation program reflects the discovery, dissemination, preservation, and application of knowledge, which has defined the mission of land grant universities like the University of Missouri system. These characteristics are seen in our efforts to strengthen academics, foster student success, improve the racial climate, and increase campus diversity. Further, our teacher preparation programs support the campus and system mission by empowering our students as reflective practitioners committed to a democratic society. The knowledge, skills and dispositions expected of our teacher candidates include academic excellence, inquiry leading to reflective decision-making and problem solving, and collaboration with others.

Duplication and Collaboration Within Campus and Across System

With the establishment of the Institute for Urban Education (IUE), UMKC has recently been recognized as a national leader in urban education. IUE is a collaborative effort involving the School of Education, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Biological Sciences and three partner urban school districts (Hickman Mills School District, Kansas City Kansas School District, and Kansas City Missouri School District). The traditional two-year teacher preparation program has fostered close partnerships between the UMKC School of Education and nine urban districts (Kansas City Missouri and its charter schools; Kansas City Kansas; Hickman Mills; Grandview; Center; North Kansas City; Turner; Raytown; and Independence). UMKC is the only university in the area and one of the few in the nation that focuses on urban teacher education. The proposed Master of Arts in Teaching is the culmination of efforts over the past

two years to create new courses and revise old ones to address the specific needs of urban teachers and students. This program is unique in the State of Missouri.

Most of UMKC's students are commuters, living in the metropolitan area, which has a population of over two million. The Kansas City metropolitan area stretches across five counties in Missouri and two counties in Kansas. Travel to the University of Missouri-Columbia or University of Missouri-St Louis, which have somewhat related degrees, is not an option for most of our students. There is a high need and demand for qualified teachers within our local area. For example, Jackson County has a dozen public school districts serving over 175,000 students, and market demand is currently not being met by other institutions in Missouri as reflected by the annual shortage of highly qualified middle and high school teachers reported in the Kansas City metro area. As reported in the market analysis below, over the next eight to ten years as many as 2,000 new teachers will be needed annually by Kansas City metro area school districts.

Business-Related Criteria and Justification

Program Need

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (), in the next ten years the number of teachers needed for America's elementary, middle and secondary schools is projected to increase in both public and private schools. NCES forecasts record levels of school enrollment at least through 2017, reflecting a forecasted increase in the school-age population ().

At the same time, the numbers of school-age youth of color, low-income students, and English

language

learners

are

increasing.

According

to

NCES

(), minority students currently make up

43% of public school enrollment, and that figure is projected to increase. Demographers predict

that children of color will constitute a statistical majority of the student population by 2035. At

the same time, few teacher preparation programs have made the substantive changes necessary to

prepare teachers to work with diverse populations (Hollins & Guzman, 2005).

Under the current reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind), public schools are required to assure that all learners are taught by highly qualified teachers, i.e. teachers certified in the content areas in which they teach. This makes the need for certified teachers at the middle and a secondary level even more pressing. This is true in all fields and is especially urgent in the areas of math and science.

The nation's schools will need to hire more than 2 million teachers between 2006 and 2017, including over 200,000 middle and high school mathematics and science teachers (National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000; Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, 2006). The immediate need for highly qualified teachers nationally is reflected locally in the Kansas City metro area where, as noted before, as many as 2,000 new teachers will be needed annually. To assist in meeting the need,

the MAT is projected to enroll 45 candidates to start and be able to handle 60 students by Year 5 after it is introduced.

Market Analysis

Market analysis was conducted to describe and predict the demand for middle and high school teachers and Master's level certification to prepare highly qualified teachers. The market analysis was conducted in five steps. First, local need for UMKC's proposed MAT was assessed by seeking the opinions of local area superintendents. Second, data were collected on the number of teachers employed in the Kansas City metro area, and linear and log-linear projections were used to estimate the number of teachers that will be needed in the Kansas City metro area through 2016. Third, linear and log-linear projections of teacher turnover rates were used to estimate the new hires (of teachers) needed through 2016. Fourth, teacher job survey data from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center were used to determine the current teacher job openings in the Kansas City metro area. Fifth, student population growth projections and current student-teacher ratios were used to provide additional evidence of projected teacher need. The figures reported below, unless indicated otherwise, refer to all classroom teachers, including all content areas and all grade levels. The proposed MAT will provide certification for middle and high school content areas, which represent about 45 percent of the reported classroom teacher populations that appear in Figures 1 and 2 below.

Figure 1

Source:

Figure 2

Source: , Source of turnover rates: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

The immediate need for certified middle and high school teachers in the Kansas City metro area is demonstrated by the following evidence. First, support letters from superintendents from the Kansas City Missouri School District, the Hickman Mills School District, and the Center School District confirm the need (see Appendices, pp. 39-41). Former KCMSD Superintendent Clive Coleman expressed the difficulties in finding teachers with content area degrees, and indicated that the MAT would be an excellent way to attract highly qualified teachers. Similarly, former Missouri Commissioner of Education and current Superintendent of the Center School District, Robert Bartman, said that the MAT would encourage students to consider higher education and, I can assure you that the Center School District would be very interested in hiring UMKC graduates of the MAT to teach in our schools. Marge Williams, Hickman Mills Superintendent, said, As a district, we continually seek teachers that possess bachelor degrees in their content areas, and I believe that the Master of Arts in Teaching represents an excellent way to attract the most qualified candidates to a career in teaching. As Superintendent, I would be very interested in hiring graduates of the MAT to teach in our schools.

Second, the Kansas City metro area is conservatively made up of five counties with over 35 school districts plus charter schools. Between 2004 and 2008 the Kansas City metro area school districts employed 11,000 to 12,000 teachers, respectively. Assuming linear growth in the number of teachers over time, Kansas City metro area school districts will employ approximately 14,000 teachers by 2016, or 12,500 assuming more conservative logarithmic growth (Figure 1), 45% of whom will work as middle and high school teachers.

Third, the number of annual new hires required by Kansas City metro area school districts was estimated with teacher turnover data (new hires refer to employing new teachers and replacing

teachers that transfer to other districts). The National Center for Educational Statics reported a survey of public and private K?12 teachers who did not teach in the same school the following school year. The reasons for leaving are reported in Table 1. The two general categories of leaving were transfer to another school and left the profession. Total turnover by school has increased from 14.5 to 16.9 percent between the years 1987-2004, respectively. In 2004, transfer to another school accounted for 7.8 percent of the turnover. In many cases, teachers transfer from urban schools to suburban schools. Other reasons, including retirement, family reasons, pursuit of further education, and took another job, account for nine percent of the turnover in 2004. (retrieved July 18, 2009, ).

Linear and log-linear projections with 10 and 15 percent turnover rates were used to estimate the new hires annually from 2009 to 2016 for KC metro area school districts. These values are based on the assumption that KC metro area school districts' turnover rates are consistent with the National Center for Educational Statics survey data reported in Table 1. It is also assumed that 10 percent of teachers will be leaving the profession and overall about 15 percent of teachers will turn over in schools annually.

The number of teachers employed by Kansas City metro area school districts was derived from data provided from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Figure 1). In 2008, 11,000 to 12,000 teachers were employed by the districts. At a conservative 10 percent turnover rate with logarithmic teacher population growth, the districts will need about 1,200 new teacher hires annually between the period 2009-2016 (Figure 2). As many as 2,000 new hires will be needed annually based on less conservative linear projections and 15 percent turnover rates.

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