Document 2280706

September 2009 New Teacher Education Alumni Survey Results Executive Summary A survey was sent to May 2009 graduates (N=226) of JMU teacher education programs. Eighty-­‐nine individuals responded (response rate 39%) to the 11-­‐item survey. The highest proportion of respondents (46%) indicated they had graduated from the Elementary Education (PK-­‐6) teacher preparation program at JMU. Secondary Education made up the next highest percentage of respondents (36%), with 44% of them in the specialty area of history/social sciences. The majority of respondents (83%) had secured a paid position at the time of the survey; 91% of those individuals were employed within their licensure area. Fifty students provided qualitative feedback at the end of the survey. Areas of program strengths cited include a strong technology component, outstanding faculty members, methods courses, and general excellence in preparing teachers. Areas of weakness include the Teacher Work Sample project, issues with getting information about the different degrees and endorsements offered at College of Ed, not feeling prepared upon becoming employed in a school, and lack of communication within College of Ed and between them and related programs (e.g., IDLS). Responses by survey item 1. Your feedback is valuable and needed in order for us to evaluate the effectiveness of our programs. We would like to get in touch with you periodically and need to do so for the next 5 years to meet the requirements of the Virginia Department of Education and our accrediting body, NCATE. It would be very valuable if you could provide us with reliable contact information so that we may communicate with you through email or traditional mail. Statistic Total Responses Value 89 Note: To preserve the privacy of our respondents, contact information has been omitted from this report. 2. Please indicate the JMU Professional Education program from which you graduated. # Answer 1 Early/ Primary Education PreK-­‐3 2 Elementary Education PreK-­‐6 3 Middle Education 6-­‐8 4 Administration and Supervision PreK-­‐
12 5 Foreign Language (FRENCH) PreK-­‐12 6 Foreign Language (GERMAN) PreK-­‐12 7 Foreign Language (SPANISH) PreK-­‐12 8 Health and Physical Education PreK-­‐12 9 Music Education (INSTRUMENTAL) PreK-­‐12 10 Music Education ((VOCAL/ CHORAL) PreK-­‐12 11 Reading Specialist 12 School Counselor PreK-­‐12 13 School Psychology Response % 0 0% 41 46% 4 4% 0 0% 0 0% 1 1% 1 1% 2 2% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 14 Secondary Education 15 Special Education EARLY CHILDHOOD Birth -­‐ Age 5 16 Special Education GENERAL CURRICULUM 17 Speech/ Language Disorders PreK-­‐12 18 Art PreK-­‐12 20 Dance or Theatre Arts Total 32 36% 0 0% 8 9% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 89 100% 3. Please indicate your area of specialty within Secondary Education. # Answer 1 English 2 History/Social Sciences 3 Mathematics 4 Biology 5 Chemistry 6 Physics 8 Earth Science Response % Total 9 14 7 1 0 0 1 32 4. Did you complete any add-­‐on endorsements at James Madison University? # Answer 1 Yes 2 No Total Response % 11 12% 78 88% 89 100% 5. Which add-­‐on endorsement(s) did you get? # Answer 1 Driver Education 2 English as a Second Language (ESL) 3 Gifted Education 4 Journalism 5 Mathematics -­‐-­‐ Algebra I 7 Theatre Arts Response % 0 0% 1 3% 3 8% 0 0% 6 17% 1 3% 6. At this time, have you obtained a paid position? # Answer 1 Yes 2 No Total Response % 74 83% 15 17% 89 100% 7. Which of the following statements best describes your position? # Answer 1 Position within the professional education field in which I am licensed 2 Position within professional education, but outside of my licensure area 3 Outside of teaching field, but working with children and/or adolescents 4 Other employment Total Response % 67 91% 3 4% 2 3% 2 3% 74 100% Note: This item was only asked of those individual who answered YES in item 6 (that they had obtained a paid position). 8. If you have a position, what is the name of your position? Text Response Disability Specialist at the University of XXX Americorps VISTA Volunteer-­‐ 2 Sexual Educator in Ed.D program Advanced Academics Resource Teacher Teacher -­‐ 3 Elementary Teacher -­‐ 2 Intervention Specialist Long-­‐term Substitute -­‐ 3 Special Education Teacher English Teacher -­‐ 2 Math Teacher -­‐ 2 Health and Physical Education Teacher Social Studies Teacher Special Ed teacher: Self-­‐Contained K-­‐2 Pre K Teacher Kindergarten Teacher -­‐ 2 1st grade teacher -­‐ 2 First Grade gifted teacher 3rd Grade Teacher -­‐ 2 4th grade teacher -­‐ 3 5th grade teacher -­‐ 6 Social Studies Teacher -­‐ 3 6th and 7th grade science teacher Sixth and eighth grade English teacher 7th grade math teacher 7th Grade Language Arts Teacher 8th Grade Language Arts -­‐ 2 High School Math Teacher High School Social Studies Teacher Note: Similar responses were grouped together – the number following some responses represents the quantity of answers of that nature. Statistic Total Responses Value 50 9. If the position is in Virginia, please let us know the school district name. Text Response Alexandria City Public Schools Albemarle County Public Schools Arlington Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 9 Chesterfield County -­‐-­‐ 6 Chesapeake Public Schools Dinwiddie County Fairfax County Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 8 Frederick County Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 2 Gloucester County Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 2 Greene County Schools Henrico County Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 5 King George County Loudoun County Manassas City Public Schools New Kent Country Public Schools Newport News City Public Schools Page County Public schools Rockingham County Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 2 Shenandoah County -­‐-­‐ 3 Spotsylvania County Schools Stafford County -­‐-­‐ 2 Staunton City Virginia Beach City Public Schools -­‐-­‐ 3 Williamsburg-­‐James City County [Private Christian School] (Virginia) [Private School – other] (Virginia) [Out of state] 4 Note: Identical or similar responses were grouped together – the number following some responses represents multiple individuals are working within that district or category. Statistic Total Responses Value 62 10. Which of the following statements best describes your vocational situation at this point? # Answer Response % 2 I'm looking for a full time position within my licensure field 18 82 3 I'm looking for a full time position related to working with children 1 4.5 7 I'm pursuing graduate education 1 4.5 8 I'm in a volunteer/ service position (for example, Peace Corps) 2 9 22 100% Total Note: This item was only asked of those individuals who indicated they did not have a paid position (item 6) or who answered that they were working in a position outside of their licensure field (item 7). 11. As a recent graduate, do you have any comments about the quality of JMU's professional education programs? Please provide any information that you think would be helpful to us in the future, as we plan and review our curriculum and policies. For example, if there are areas of needed improvement or areas you perceive are our strengths, we would appreciate your comments. Finally, if there is anything you'd like to tell us, or if there is anything we can do for you, please indicate this in the space below. Text Response Hire XXX as head of the Social Studies department. I feel his more modern and unique approach to the content area, and his qualifications as being a former national Teacher of the Year qualify him for this position. In my limited experience with him as a guest professor in the program he proved adept at teaching and delivering REAL WORLD applications to us. The program needs to focus more on real world techniques and less on theory. Advisors should at least tell you about an MA in your subject area. I would have liked to teach dual-­‐
enrollment courses in History, but did not know I needed an MA and not the MAT. I would to have known about the add-­‐on endorsements earlier. I would have completed one. I didn't find out about them until I was about to graduate from the graduate program. The education program at JMU definitely prepared me for the professional stages of my life and gave me a greater understanding of the needs of the adolescents I will be teaching. The education classes I took had great professors with an abundance of knowledge in the field and they were all extremely helpful to me as a student and during the job search. However, I feel that JMU's education program could become even better if the communication and partnership between the Education department and the IDLS department was stronger. As a middle education major, I found that the education department was very helpful and knowledgeable, but there was very little of that from IDLS. While the two departments are separate, I feel that there should be more of an effort made to join the two with similar ideals and communication since that is the major for all education students only. The IDLS program is also supposed to prepare the education students for the content area of their choice, but I feel this is lacking in these classes. Although I have secured a job as a 7th grade English and Social Studies teacher, I was limited to only taking two classes in IDLS within the same program area. This is a huge disappoint because we are expected to pass two Praxis tests but required by the University to use the IDLS classes like women's studies and anthropology. While this makes us more well-­‐rounded, that is what the GenEd's are for, not the major program. It would have been much for helpful for me as an education major to have content area classes designed specifically for me, since we are such as large group. I really feel that my experience at JMU was positive, except for the lack of communication between the two departments. Overall I felt like the program was good. The biggest change I would make is in teaching reading. I enjoyed our classes however I feel as if I did not gain any knowledge on how to teach reading. I know there are different ways of setting up reading programs wherever you go but if there was a way to generally teach how to set up reading programs for students (esp PreK-­‐2)it would benefit us as first year teachers. I know that is the one area I feel weakest in coming out of the program. I also wish there had been Technology class and a Classroom Management class in place of things like Creativity. Technology and Classroom Management would be much more benificial then Creativity. You need to focus on the first weeks of school. As a recent graduate, I am about to enter the school year with no idea as to how to start things off, what I will need, and what I need to teach Yes, for a middle education major it is vital to have an algebra endorsement as many school districts now (and soon the state of VA) only provide algebra I as an option for 8th graders. I think that it would be helpful to have a better support system during student teaching. I had a lot of questions and concerns during this period and my university supervisor and cooperating teacher were not as helpful as I'd hoped. Fortunately, I had great professors that I felt I could go to, which made the experience much better. None of my classes really helped prepare me for teaching. There was a lot of BS involved. As I am planning the first few weeks of school, I have been going through the papers, projects, and handouts from classes over my stay at JMU. I am surprised at how useless the projects are now, when I trusted the professors to be helping us. My student teaching experience gave me the most preparation for actually starting my own classroom; it would be helpful for future students to have more realistic projects in their classes that could be used again in the classroom. I do feel prepared to plan lessons, deal with students and parents, and be professional and competent in my classroom. And my projects during the graduate year (specifically in XXX's and XXX’s classes) are the most helpful and useful to me. JMU should seek to provide a diversity of experiences as an educator both in the classroom and outside the classroom. Not enough time was spent by the social studies professors in the teaching of instructional methods. Specific professors who are more concerned with professional conferences and studies and more with teacher preparation. I got the distinct feeling more than once that my social studies professors worried more about their own academic pursuits than the marketability of their students' skills. While nothing can substitute for on the job experience, there was plenty of opportunity to provide helpful and substantive experiences. If I wanted to hear a professor talk endlessly about what they are personally most interested in, I would have majored in psychology and studied the concept of ego. I think that JMU prepares us well to be active teachers and learners in our classrooms. I have encountered many interviewers who are impressed with me when I say "JMU" and even more impressed when I discuss the different aspects of our program. As far as preparing us to get jobs, the market is tough right now! However, I do feel that we might benefit from a seminar earlier in the year about the application process as well as time (in class, or a day off) to get things for "the real world" straight. It was overwhelming to be preparing my resume and attending classes, student teaching,etc. all at the same time. Not a week off, maybe just a day for a meeting about those things and time that afternoon to work on them. I do feel as though I can contact my professors for added support this year in my classroom-­‐ which shows how close of a relationship I developed! Yay! Go Dukes! amazing. i feel well prepared after completing the program. There are really strong professors within the elementary program. Throughout my interviewing process, I felt confident about the knowledge and practical skills of teaching gained from my college program. I feel that JMU has a wonderful education program and I feel fully prepared to teach my own class of students. The extra 5th year helped me to feel even more prepared. A requirement for classroom management would be beneficial. In terms of General Methods coursework, there needs to be more support for other Secondary areas besides English and Social Studies. JMU has a great program, but I (along with other foreign language, math, and science students) felt like the general programs were biased towards English/ISS. Strengths = dedicated, honest, and helpful professors and faculty, smooth transition to graduate program, and balanced content and instructional strategies Needs improvement = real time teaching, more volunteer time specific to education, and more emphasis on lesson planning and pacing I am a very strong advocate for JMU providing an undergraduate, bachelor's program with licensure for areas beyond early childhood. If anyone is interested in majoring in elementary or secondary education, they are forced to obtain a master's degree. A fifth year is very expensive, having to spend more than 40 hours a week in schools that can be up to an hour away, while paying for graduate level courses and gas. It is also not feasible to have a job if one wants to be a successful student teacher because of the huge time commitment. Also, I feel as if the ELED Master's program could use a serious curriculum adjustment. I did not feel more prepared for my student teaching semester after taking a summer and fall session of Master's courses than I did at the end of my undergraduate courses. The ELED program does have many gems, like some wonderful professors, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors. If I had my say, I would have course requirements in the time and classroom management fields. There should also be an option to see more of the administrative side of education. Thank for the opportunity to share my opinions. I hope it is valued and that the COE continues to promote it's students to voice their opinions and conerns. JMU's education program does a great job preparing us for the classroom. The varied experiences within the classroom are vital to my success as a teacher. The professors care about the students and are great teachers. I do however believe the academic rigor needs to be raised. Professors many times ease on requirements and students control the rigor of the course. There needs to be a proper blend of training for the classroom and building an intellectual graduate. For my first few semesters of work in the education department, I had a lovely time. I worked with people such as XXX, XXX, XXX and XXX. I loved the department and felt like we had students and their well being at the center of our concentration. However, when [name removed] took over the program at the beginning of my graduate studies, the entire program seemed to change; it became more a matter of competition and useless hoop-­‐jumping the likes of which drained that wonderful energy which had previously flowed from Memorial Hall. I do not believe that [name removed] has anything but the best intentions. I do, however, believe that individuals such as [name removed] do has incorrect priorities. It was evident that she preferred female students to males, and not just to the extent that she made life easier for females, but that she made it impossible for males. She led the fight to have at least one wonderful student ejected from the program. I wish that I could dismiss this as my perception, but everyone I've interacted with, both in and out of the education department, has indicated that they view her as an overly harsh and verbally inappropriate individual who has a negative effect on the entire department. I love JMU and I am proud to have attended university there, but I have to voice that she has left a bad taste in my mouth regarding JMU's education department. Please do something to assure that JMU education does not lose it's focus on the students and come to be a game of power and control. The IDLS program seemed like it wasted a lot of my academic time. Some of it made sense to include, and other aspects of that program seemed like "fillers." I got a lot out of my graduate program and elementary minor studies at JMU. I'm glad I got my degree from JMU. The professors and staff within education program taught me everything I needed to know in order to become confident in seeking a position in the teaching profession. Also, I learned to always reflect and strive to be a life-­‐long learner. I am proud to say I have earned a master's degree from this program. Thank you to the absolutely incredible professors! It would be beneficial to have taken a course or seminar in interviewing and how to obtain a job, especially considering the economy at this time. Additionally, resources relating to where and how to find teaching jobs other than for public schools in Virginia would be greatly appreciated (such as working as a teacher abroad). The program could benefit by teaching practical first week of school tips. For example, how to approach scheduling, activities, and various other routines that need to be taught in the first week of school. I have been told that Frederick county VA likes to hire JMU graduates as they are very well prepared for teaching positions I think it would be more beneficial to student teachers to complete the TWS with a practicum rather than in the middle of student teaching. It was a little difficult, especially as I was placed in another part of Virginia. My program was in transition during my junior through graduate years. I was disappointed that the first hands-­‐on experience I received through the program was during the first semester of my graduate year. During that semester, I had a practicum twice a week where I actually taught lessons and interacted with both students and my cooperating teacher. Previously, I had a 'practicum' for one semester during my junior year where I tutored one 8th grade student in reading and observed an English teacher twice a week for under an hour each time. The experience was not enough. In addition, I found that much class time was wasted during my education classes. The classes are inconsistent in rigor and value of material. I spent much of my time in class wishing for more hands-­‐on application of the material. The program's strengths are in its faculty and staff. The COE has some of the most supportive and encouraging individuals I have ever met. Overall I feel very prepared to begin my career as an educator. There were a few growing pains throughout my time at JMU as the education department made some organizational changes but the quality of my education was never compromised. The professors are outstanding and the curriculum was broad but also covered in depth. I think it is important for JMU's professional education programs to get on board with Highly Qualified Teaching Standards and integrating Special Education with another field, i.e Elementary Education/Special Ed....or a certain subject (English/Language Arts/Reading) with Special Education. States outside of Virginia, and even at a few Virginia Job Fairs, I was told that I was not Highly Qualified and needed to not only teach Special Education but a content area whether it was a certain subject or elementary school. For that reason, it has been very difficult getting hired and having to go through the whole licensure process again in other states. I feel that the the College of Education has prepared me to be a strong and knowledgeable professional. I completed my Algebra I requirements for endorsement, but never received any information about how to make sure it gets put on my license. I tried asking at the ESC but no one was there to answer my questions. I feel that the quality of the program is very good, but it kept changing while I was there and that sometimes made things very confusing. Classroom management classes should be mandatory. Also, more hands-­‐on experiences with various testing related to student reading level. Altough this isn't necesarily JMU's fault, there should be more consistency in what each student learns during practicum and student teaching. CT's should be told exactly what practicum/student teachers need to have experience in. Strengths: always keeping curriculum current with methods, technology, and other related research Weaknesses: Failing to impress upon students the sensibility of implementing said strengths in their own teaching practices. Strengths: Excellent at exposing student to the "big picture" of education. Weakness: Not enough emphasis on helping students attain an acceptable level of skill in implementing daily, effective, objective-­‐based instruction. Very little emphasis, if any, on connecting daily instruction to the "big picture" of education. Weakness: The college has very poor relationships with most area schools. As practicum students and student teachers, in my experiences, we are not welcome in classrooms, and these situations possess an extraordinary amount of inconsistency, in terms of the instructional quality we receive from our cooperating teachers. Further, the overall quality of local education systems seems to be very poor. I understand that the college-­‐school relationship is supposed to help schools become exposed to new research, methods, etc. I would recommend finding some way of holding cooperating more accountable for their part of the relationship. Students seem to give without receiving, and some teachers may not grow from the experience because they choose not to. Lacks consistency throughout the various stages and clusters. Originally there was a large amount of amazing teachers but as the years progressed, so did the quality of professor. Teachers like XXX, XXX, XXX, and a few others were great additions to the education staff. Also, the TWS took away most of the fun we could have gotten out of student teaching. At this point you want to remind graduates why they want to teach and by bringing in absurd requirements just so JMU can have extra merit counters this objective. I feel very prepared for my first year of teaching! Thanks to the JMU program! Overall, I felt very prepared by JMU's ELED program. I think it would greatly benefit students to witness a first day of school during a practicum or student teaching placement. The TWS, apart from the contextual factors piece, was the biggest waste of time. I cannot stress enough how difficult that makes student teaching. It would have helped me more to put together a portfolio outlining key lessons I taught rather than analyzing results, pre-­‐testing, and just writing the same thing over in over, except in a different format. The TWS is redundant and didn't help me get a job or learn anything new. I brought a self-­‐made portfolio to interviews on a unit I did where I had stations students went to after a unit on WWII. It incorporated technology, hands on activities, and many more of the useful things I learned in the education program. At every interview I brought that I had job offers (three of three interviews). Other than the TWS I do feel I learned MANY useful things in this program that I can apply to my job now. I feel like JMU's strength lies in preparing its students for the real world. Lesson planning is extremely easy now and I feel that JMU's education program provided me with a plethora of teaching methods. I can't express the gratitude I feel for many of my professors in a few words, but many of my professors kept me going when things got rough and I'm forever grateful. If JMU keeps hiring the new staff that I've come in contact with, the education program will only continue to improve, as will its future teachers. My first practicum my junior year was in an english classroom... as a math student, I never really got that. There was even an english person in a math room at my same school! I now work in an Alternative School. It is incredible. When I applied for the job I knew next to nothing about alternative education. I definitely feel like, with a masters, i should have learned more about nontraditional schools such as alternative schools. While interviewing and preparing for my first year of teaching I have found that my experience in technology with SMARTboard and other areas has been helpful. Also, the course in differentiation at the graduate level was one of my most favored courses. I believe that within the elementary program a class on behavior management should be a required course because that is a major problem area for any beginning and even veteran teacher. I think that the Elementary Education program at JMU is first class. I feel so prepared for my new teaching job and I feel I have been shown great examples of best teaching practices. I think the program does a great job touching all aspects of teaching and learning. However, I would suggest a class dedicated solely to classroom management or of similar topics. This is such an important part of teaching I think it would be time well spent to focus on it more heavily. The education program has helped me achieve my goal of becoming a teacher and I am thankful to all of the professors and staff who worked hard to make the education program so great! I am so grateful for my JMU education. I value the experience and knowledge that my education professors were able to bring to the classroom. I have seen great benefits from my Reading classes and Smart Board background from JMU, when compared with other beginning teachers. The only time I felt that I was not prepared for something was when I was applying for jobs. Maybe the College of Education could provide students looking for teaching jobs with more direction on when to begin applying and the application process. It also would have been helpful to know way ahead of time that Student Teaching in a school district will GREATLY enahnce your opportunities to get a job in that school district. I was unaware of this factor and I would have made different decisions about student teaching location if I was aware. I am confident that I am prepared to become an excellent teacher based on the education and nurturing that I received from JMU. I think JMU really prepared me for being in the classroom. I wish I had a little more professional help however. I feel like I am walking blind into how school's actually work. Also, I am out of state as I know many other of my fellow teachers were and I think there could have been a better way to bridge the gap. I know JMU is a VA school but many of the students are from NJ, NY, & PA. It would be nice to have perhaps a workshop we could attend or to dedicate a class period to explaining out of state credentials. Some states (like NJ and NY) have complicated processes and it would be nice to have someone to explain it all because it can be very hard to understand on our own. Don't get me wrong I love the ESC staff but they did not seem to help too much with the out of state issues. I know that many of my fellow classmates and I were quite lost during this time. I loved JMU! It really prepared me and I am so happy to have went there. I loved my time at JMU; the professors were great, and the attitude and culture around the education department was inspiring and truly life-­‐changing. That is certainly JMU's greatest asset in producing top-­‐
notch teachers in the future. I think certain aspects of the graduate program, most notably the Teacher Work Sample project, are in need of serious overhaul. Quite simply, I think it was just too much to be doing during student teaching; I found that much of my energy, which could and should have been spent on planning and teaching, was spent on a project with very little real world application. I am an English teacher; it is incredibly difficult and horribly impractical to expect such a subjective discipline to be measured in a fashion as objective and rigid as what is prescribed by TWS. It was very frustrating to be stuck doing hours and hours of work which had almost no positive impact on my teaching, and in fact was something of a hindrance on how I was able to structure my lessons. I think amending the use of such a project, or replacing it altogether, would go a long way towards making JMU's education department really one of the most enjoyable and helpful experiences one could have. There needs to be some attention paid to the education students that are outside of the typical elementary or secondary education. PE & Health, Art, and Music students tend to find that the workshops that are required or the mandantory meetings sometimes do not pertain to our specific placements. We always seem to be a "special situation." Maybe other arrangements could be made instead of using a whole day for something that is not for that population. All of the programs are up to date, now as I sit through staff development, it's a review of what I learned at JMU. thanks for all the technology it was one of the reasons i was hired at my school! (smartboard, various web-­‐sites...etc.) I feel that JMU left me well prepared to go into the field of teaching. The READ classes were particularly beneficial I thought. I also took alot away from my math methods courses with Harvey (having experience with the smartboard has helped me tremendously!) I thought that at times,things were a little bit disorganized. I often felt that I wasn't well informed about what was going on in the College of Edu. Overall though, I am very pleased. The IDLS program needs to restructured so that it meets the needs of education students. As of now, there isn't correlation between IDLS and Middle Education. The IDLS classes could be made more relevant to improve Praxis II scores and the basic understanding/extension of the content areas. JMU's teacher education program has been a wonderful help to me. I feel prepared for the classroom, I performed well in my job interviews, and I feel that I am reaching students (in whatever limited way is possible during the first year). I'm proud to be able to tell my colleagues that I earned my MAT from JMU. JMU's College of Education has adequately prepared me for my career in teaching. Course of particular importance that I have found to be useful are the classroom managment course taught by XXX, the methods courses that directly relate to our content area, and any courses that help us learn to develop lesson plans for differentiation. There are so many facets about the program here that are great. Employers definitely recognize and acknowledge the preparedness of JMU students. Job well done!!! Statistic Total Responses Value 50