REPORT TO THE
Provost

College of Education
Strategic Plan Update

December, 2002

COLLEGE MISSION

The mission of the College of Education is to prepare exemplary professional practitioners and scholars; to generate, use, and disseminate knowledge about teaching, learning, and human development; and to collaborate with others to solve critical educational and human problems in a diverse global community.

UNIT'S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The College of Education and affiliated programs prepare reflective professionals who organize, disseminate, and create knowledge; promote democratic values, and serve diverse communities.

A1. What are the core strengths in the College that align with the strategic plan that the university must fund?

The College of Education's core programs that align most closely with the strategic plan are those that contribute significantly to the University's emphasis on children and families and to the College of Education's reputation, productivity, and rankings. Those programs include: Counselor Education, Special Education, Unified Teacher Education, and School Psychology. As delineated in the report to the Presidential Task Force, the strengths of these programs remain constant, and they serve as the College's cornerstone programs.

According to the U.S. News & World Report's rankings of Best Graduate Schools in 2002, the College of Education (COE) is ranked 19^th among AAU public universities. In a review of empirical data from the top-ten public AAU colleges of education in the nation,[1] the College of Education compares favorably with the top-ten institutions in a number of areas. In examining specific ranking criteria, the College is currently in the top ten in Counselor Education (#2) and Special Education (#10), and is very close to being in the top ten in Early Childhood/Elementary Education (#15) and Educational Leadership (#22). The College has identified the following (unranked) improvement strategies.

• Increase focus on graduate education and financial support for graduate students.
• Enhance and expand research infrastructure, research productivity, and the percentage of faculty involved in funded research.
• Improve overall faculty quality, productivity, and diversity through strategic hiring.
• Maintain exemplary teacher education programs.
• Maintain and enhance outreach to public schools, community colleges, and other agencies in ways that support and complement the College's research mission.
• Balance competing demands of teacher preparation, graduate education, research, service, and outreach.
• Improve facilities and integration of academic technology, library resources, distance education, and research.
• Increase collaboration among College of Education and University programs, especially in teacher education, educational leadership, the Alliance, the Child and Family Institute, and other efforts to assist schools.

A2. How far is each core strength from the "top 20" nationally, and what level of resources, period of time, and intensity of efforts would realistically be required to raise it into the top 20?

Counselor Education is ranked second nationally, a ranking shared by only one other UF program, Tax Law. The department offers only graduate degrees, preparing professional counselors (M.Ed./Ed.S.) and counselor educators (Ed.D./Ph.D.). All professional and doctoral level programs are fully accredited by all relevant accrediting bodies. Faculty are recognized as leaders in the profession, are well published, hold offices in national organizations, and edit scholarly journals. Six professors have published a minimum of two books each in the last three years, all widely used in counselor education programs throughout the country. Service courses offered at the undergraduate and graduate level provide support to academic programs throughout the University.

Special Education, as we predicted in last year's report, enjoys "top ten" status in the most recent U.S. News rankings. Faculty have research and development grants to study literacy, beginning teachers, teacher professional development, school improvement and teacher learning, sustaining school improvement, violence prevention through conflict resolution, and serving students and families with emotional/behavioral disorders. The U.S. Department of Education recently funded the Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE). The center is funded for five years for over $4 million. COPSSE will bring significant visibility to the Department, College, and University, and enhance our reputation for research in the area of teacher education. It is, however, but one grant among several that added to $8 million in external funding for 2001-2002. The State faces critical teaching shortages in special education; and the department, in strong collaboration with other units in the College, offers one of the strongest and most unique teacher preparation programs in the nation.

Unified Teacher Education (in Elementary/Special Education and in Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education) is known nationally for its innovative teacher education programs. Elementary Education was ranked 15^th by U.S. News in 2001 and, with proper resources, will surpass that ranking soon. Program faculty already work with units across the University. Increasing those collaborations will improve teacher education programs and their rankings. Enhanced collaboration with other units will better prepare future teachers in subject matter disciplines, including general education and upper division courses. The No Child Left Behind Act emphasizes the nation's need for quality teachers in every classroom and underscores the severe teacher shortage. National trends and state needs dictate that we must improve the College's outreach capacities, especially through on-line technologies. Improvements and expansions in our technology programs will allow us to deliver credit courses and outreach assistance to teachers in critical areas such as reading, ESOL, math, science, and technology.

The School Psychology Program (SPP) is accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Psychological Association, and is the College's largest and fastest-growing graduate program. The program presently enrolls 62 students and graduates about 8 students a year. Over half of currently enrolled students are in the doctoral program. All SPP faculty members are involved in funded research or international projects, collaborating with departments across the College and University, most notably with the Medical School, Brain Institute, Law School, the College's Department of Special Education, and the School of Teaching and Learning. All publish in and serve as editors and/or on editorial boards of the field's premier journals.

To maintain or strengthen all these programs related to children and families, our intent is to bring the Baby Gator Child Development Center literally and figuratively closer to the College by making it part of a premier Early Childhood Research Center of Excellence along the lines of the Frank Porter Graham Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This initiative becomes especially important since the passage of the Universal Pre-K amendment and the Readiness Coalition work. Physically located in the research center and linked to other programs on campus, Baby Gator would become a focus for educational research. Collaborations would include such entities as the Pediatrics Department, the Brain Institute, the Child and Family Institute, and P.K. Yonge.

As COE programs improve, partnerships with local schools and P.K. Yonge will expand. The College (and, indeed, the University) should make greater use of P. K. Yonge as a demonstration and research site for research-based practices. School programs must be strengthened, and promotion procedures must be revisited. Additionally, hiring clinical faculty who will share appointments in the College and P. K. Yonge must be considered. Such faculty would strengthen partnerships with Alliance and other public schools. With the assistance of Alliance schools and the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, we will attract more students of color into teaching, especially in areas of critical shortage.

Resources Needed

To maintain the status of the College and of our strongest programs, resources must be provided for these areas:

• Place greater emphasis on doctoral training and doctoral student selectivity.
• Recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups.
• Increase financial support for graduate students to allow us to compete for top students with the nation's top universities. Along these lines, funds for endowed fellowships need to be raised.

To improve our rankings, we must do the following:

• Recruit and retain nationally recognized scholars as well as young and diverse faculty with leadership potential.
• Raise money for endowed professorships.
• Hire a nationally recognized scholar as the next director for the School of Teaching and Learning. (This search is underway.)
• Hire a nationally known early childhood expert as the next director of Baby Gator.

To increase research activity and external funding, we must improve the College's research infrastructure as follows:

• Open a graduate research office that we will call CARE (Collaborative Assessment, Research, and Evaluation). The office will foster multidisciplinary and inter-institutional research, identify funding sources, support proposal writing and processing, assist in grant administration, and help in report preparation. CARE will work closely with the Child and Family Institute, the Lastinger Center for Learning, and other research units in the University. (Seed money has already been provided by your office.)
• Encourage faculty to collaborate with colleagues from across the College and University to take advantage of university-wide resources.

B. What are the core strengths in the College that do not seem to align with the strategic plan, but which you, nevertheless, believe should continue to be funded (and why)? How far is each of these core strengths from the "top 20" nationally, and what level of resources, period of time, and intensity of effort would be required to raise it into the top 20?

In answering these questions, we are aware of the academic needs of the College to improve programs and academic ranking. We are also aware of the State's critical need for teachers and educational leaders and the expectation that we will respond to those needs responsibly and quickly. In this section, we will review programs that contribute significantly to the College mission and to the University's strategic priorities, including a focus on children and families, improving program and college rankings, and strengthening graduate education.

The doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction primarily serves to prepare teacher educators for the upcoming critical shortage in U.S. colleges and universities. This program, although inter-departmental, is focused in the School of Teaching and Learning. With the increased emphasis on doctoral education, Curriculum and Instruction currently has 86 full-time doctoral students actively enrolled. Three programs in this area have grown significantly, and recent additions to the faculty augur the promise of national prestige.

Reading Education is arguably the highest visibility area in education in the nation. Problems related to reading achievement are commanding the attention of politicians and educators at every level. During the budget cuts of the 1990s, the College lost several key faculty members in reading education through retirement. These positions were not filled, leaving a gap in this critical area. We have recently added two senior, highly visible faculty with national and international reputations.

Another high visibility area, especially in relation to Florida's rapidly growing diversity, is ESOL/Bilingual Education. The area has a history of garnering large federal grants ($3.6 million 1997-2005), is currently supporting 20 doctoral students with external funding, and has strong State visibility and leadership that have led to a thriving graduate program (currently, 24 doctoral students and 25 master's students). The Florida Consent Decree now requires that all teacher preparation students achieve an ESOL endorsement.

Educational Technology, a new area within Curriculum and Instruction, has already attracted students nationally and internationally. Currently, it has 28 active doctoral students, six Ed.S. students, and more international students than any other program in the College. The faculty, all recent hires, have already secured $1.4 million in external grant funding, and have submitted grant proposals totaling $3 million for this year.

The Educational Leadership program was ranked 22^nd in U.S. News and World Report's 2002 survey. This program typically graduates 30 students a year, most of whom enter Florida's public schools or school systems as practicing educators. Top ten colleges of education have leadership programs that advance research and produce leaders for the region and nation.

The state and the nation face critical leadership shortages at the department, school and school district levels. The need is most acute for school principals who are equipped to lead school-improvement efforts and improve teacher and student performance, especially in Florida's most troubled and troubling schools. Over the next decade, an estimated 40% of the nation's principals will retire. School districts in every Florida county report difficulty in recruiting new principals and in finding useful training opportunities for the principals they have, especially in the areas of instructional leadership and school improvement.

To improve its ranking, the program needs to do several things simultaneously: (a) add research and clinical faculty; (b) increase research productivity through practice-based research and policy analyses; (c) add certificate and distance-learning components to existing programs; (d) explore creating a community leadership doctoral program in conjunction with the Family, Youth, and Community Science program in IFAS; (e) improve supervision of doctoral students, (f) reduce some faculty members' dissertation committee loads; and (g) work quickly and effectively with other departments and colleges to build an innovative and relevant leadership program that prepares educational leaders to work with schools and community organizations.

Every top-ranked college of education has an exemplary Research Methods program that supports the College's research mission. Our senior faculty enjoy international and national prominence and our junior faculty show great promise. All faculty members have published in top journals and collaborated on funded research projects with faculty from other units, including Special Education, Engineering, Shands, Health and Human Performance, and Nursing. They have edited five major journals in the field and have been leaders in, and have received awards from, top professional organizations.

Every top-ranked college of education has a strong, research-driven, practice-relevant Educational Psychology program. Indeed, educational psychology is a core discipline in our field, and the most significant research in education is completed or informed by educational psychologists. Top-ten programs serve their own graduate students as well as students from around the university, but are careful not to let service work overwhelm their research efforts and doctoral programs.

To move into top-ten ranks, the College must strengthen its Educational Psychology program and find a better balance between its graduate and research obligations on the one hand, and its large service and teacher preparation obligations on the other. To serve their teacher-education obligations, educational psychology must translate the discipline into the language, problems, and interests of practicing teachers. To undertake this work, the program has already applied for a Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate grant, which was supported by your office and the Graduate School. We expect to hear shortly about the success of this application.

Resources Needed

Programs listed in this section have achieved national recognition for research and external funding and are in reach of "top twenty" contention with the following resources:

• Resources to provide clinical faculty to assist with service courses and outreach to schools.
• Senior faculty members to share in the leadership role and secure external funding.

C. Where can the College interface successfully with the University's interdisciplinary priorities and strengthen them and the College simultaneously?

Throughout this proposal, we have referred to current and possible collaborations between COE and other University units. We are mindful that such collaborations will improve college programs, open research and funding possibilities, and lift the visibility and ranking of the College. We know, too, that such collaborations will advance the University's emphasis on interdisciplinary research and instructional programs in such areas as children and families; research on the brain, learning, and cognition; internationalization. We will continue to strengthen our collaborative work through the Alliance and with programs in medicine, engineering, and CLAS. We look forward to collaborations with the Child and Family Institute and have invited the directors to locate the Institute in Norman Hall.

The College has a history of collaboration, and faculty welcome interdisciplinary programs and border-crossing research. At College-wide retreats, in department discussions, and cross-department conversations, we will investigate new collaboration possibilities. For example, representatives from several departments are identifying what principals need to know and do to improve the performance of teachers and students. Our new CARE (Collaborative Assessment, Research, and Evaluation) office will foster multidisciplinary and inter-institutional initiatives and work closely with the Child and Family Institute, the Lastinger Center, and other research units in the University.

Our Early Childhood faculty are working to reconceptualize the work of Baby Gator, bring it closer to the College, and connect it to a premier research center like the Frank Porter Graham Institute at Chapel Hill. David Lawrence has assisted in that work. Collaborations would include such entities as the Pediatrics Department, the Brain Institute, the Child and Family Institute, and P.K. Yonge.

The State faces critical teaching shortages in the areas of mathematics and science. We are working with CLAS and Santa Fe Community College to prepare teachers in mathematics and science. As presently conceived, the program will include a minor in education and will offer only course-count certification. At the same time we are looking for ways we might offer a full certification program in math, science, and technology in collaboration with the College of Engineering and nearby school districts. Movement in this area is already underway as we are currently working with Engineering and the Duval County School District on a National Science Foundation proposal for this purpose.

Plans are moving forward for an International Media Union (IMU) that will be located in the COE. This project is a collaboration among the College of Education, the College of Fine Arts, the Office of Academic Technology, and the University libraries. The IMU mission is to expand Academic Technology services and meet the information and technology (IT) needs of the College; promote collaborative work in the design, delivery, and study of technology-enhanced instruction and distance education; and infuse IT throughout COE and University programs. The IMU will collaborate with other University units, IT corporations, and school districts to promote better teaching and increased learning among university and public school faculties and students.

We will continue to look for new ways to think about our work. We are asking whether it is possible and wise to offer students different routes to certification and classroom teaching. We have developed three models to help us look over the boundaries of traditional disciplines, programs, habits, and paradigms.

1) Our first model might ask what sets of integrated services are needed to enhance the effectiveness of communities and schools, especially struggling communities like those served by UF Alliance schools. It further asks if our present programs prepare graduates to address those needs. The Social Ecology of Education program at Cornell University might help us see possibilities and explore new collaborations, as might CRESPAR at Johns Hopkins, or UNITE at the University of Wisconsin. We are asking whether it is possible and wise to offer students different routes to certification and classroom teaching, especially attracting students from schools like the UF Alliance schools and from community colleges that serve these schools. We are also asking what our role might become in the induction of new teachers into the profession in such settings.

2) Another model might address language, literacy, and culture and explore collaboration possibilities among faculty from reading, literacy, ESL, English, linguistics, sociology, and anthropology. We might ask how we can advance discussions of reading beyond emergent literacy in the early grades and on to critical reading of increasingly sophisticated texts in later grades, higher education, and adulthood.

3) A third model might address the role of the arts and museums in learning and look for collaborations among public schools, the College of Education (especially the UF Alliance and the Lastinger Center for Learning), the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Harn Museum, the Phillips Center for Performing Arts, the College of Fine Arts, and the Hippodrome State Theatre.

The thought-provoking models are examples that allow faculty to explore possibilities for collaboration with other units within the University as well as community colleges and public schools beyond Alachua County. These conversations have begun and will continue throughout the year.

Overall Assessment

The College of Education is ranked 19^th among AAU public universities based on U.S. News & World Report's rankings of Best Graduate Schools 2003. The College of Education ranks as high or higher in U.S. News ratings than does any other college, in any discipline, in any Florida university, public or private. We have an impressive record of scholarship and grant activity when compared to higher ranked institutions, even though we have significantly fewer resources. We are an efficient college and have used what resources we have to great advantage. With concentrated resources and attention in several key areas, the College can move into top-ten contention.