Secondary August 31, 2004

Ball State University
Professional Development Schools Network
Secondary Liaisons' Meeting
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
1:15 p.m.
Teachers College 823B
Summary

Attendance: Jane Hughes, Barbara Graham, Cathy Siebert, Alba Rosenman, Larry Smith, Theresa Richardson, Judy Miller, Ruth Swetnam

• Ruth Swetnam welcomed Judy Miller, the new director of the Office of Teacher Education Services. Larry Smith responded to the question: What is Ball State's commitment to the professional development schools? He stated that Teachers College has every intention to continue supporting the PDSs, but the expense of placing tenure track faculty in the schools is a big concern. He explained that in order to justify the expense of placing a BSU faculty liaison in a PDS or paying a PDS faculty member to assume this role, these schools need to take large blocks of students. Schools that recognize the value of extra adults in the classrooms and use the shared supervision concept are willing to take more student teachers. The group addressed the issue of too few student teachers in the Muncie secondary schools this semester. Judy Miller will research this question.
• The concept of partnership schools is being investigated. Larry Smith and Judy Miller talked about implementing a system that will fill the PDSs first and keep the majority of the students in cohorts in partnership schools that are within a 75 mile radius of the campus. The proposal is to develop high quality student teaching experiences for all students, limit the number of options for student teaching, and reduce the number of university supervisors traveling around the state.
• A list of the 24 PDSs and 2 planning partners for 2004-05 was distributed. Liaisons were asked to return the corrected PDS Directory sheets to Ruth as soon as possible. Liaisons were also encouraged to look at the information on the PDS Web site. The year-end report, June 2004, will be added to each PDS's page. Any recognitions, awards, research, publications and/or presentations should be sent to Ruth for the Web site.
• The PDS newsletter will be published electronically this year. Any suggestions for improving the newsletter are to be shared with Ruth. The date and process for submitting articles or information will be sent out after the elementary liaisons have met. Members of the group expressed concern about whether this will be read if sent only electronically. One suggestion was to make the newsletter a printed single page to save expense.
• The lack of research in the PDSs is still a concern. This is a primary characteristic of a PDS and liaisons feel that they need to keep exploring ways to involve the teachers. One suggestion was to capitalize on the current interest in schools making data-driven decisions.
• Ruth distributed a list of the PDSs with the date each proposal was approved. She indicated that Central High School should have a site review this year. Wilson Middle School had their site review over three years ago and can request one this year, if desired.
• The Secondary Teacher Education Information Fair is Monday, September 20, 9:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m. in The Studio of the Arts & Journalism Building. The Urban recruiting meeting is September 23 in TC 828 at 4:00 p.m.
• Larry Smith announced that Teachers College has become a charter member of the National Association of Professional Development Schools at the $1,000 level. The organization has developed out of the annual PDS conferences sponsored by the southeastern region of the Holmes Partnership. This membership reflects the commitment Ball State has to the professional development schools.
• Discussion about the fall Institute meeting centered around using the NCATE Standards as the framework for sharing the work of each partnership, but excluding the criteria for improvement. This would allow people to reflect on areas where improvement is needed without the pressure to highlight only the positive practices. Placing an emphasis on the issues of equity and diversity was suggested, with perhaps using some film clips or written materials to stimulate the conversations. The Institute Meeting will be held during the first two weeks of November. Liaisons are to check their school calendars for any conflicts in these two weeks and e-mail them to Ruth by September 15.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.