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http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/dec/16/teaching-the-teachers-77274-vi-23044/

Ohio First in Nation to Establish Statewide Metrics for Performance of Educator Programs at Colleges
Criteria Will Measure Contribution of Teacher Graduates to State's Needs

For Immediate Release
December 15, 2010

COLUMBUS - Representatives from Ohio's public and private colleges joined Chancellor Fingerhut on a statewide press call today to announce their support of the new Ohio Educator Preparation Metrics. These metrics will form the basis of authorization of colleges in the state to graduate prospective Ohio teachers. The statewide agreement on these measurements is the first of its kind nationwide.

"To prepare students who can be successful in college, we need educators who can teach the skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century," said Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut. "The framework announced today will help ensure Ohio's dedicated colleges of teacher education meet that high standard."

The criteria include placement of graduates in hard-to-staff Ohio school districts, a high-quality student teaching experience with an effective mentor, the teacher's ability to demonstrate student growth as measured by the Battelle for Kids Value-Added Growth System, and Ohio's new Teacher Performance Assessment. In particular, the Teacher Performance Assessment will measure the beginning teacher's ability to communicate effectively with parents, structure lessons and manage a classroom.

"State University Education Deans (SUED) supports the development of statewide metrics, holding all educator preparation programs who wish to operate in the state of Ohio to standards that will ensure quality, accountability, and continuous improvement. There is a commitment on behalf of the Board of Regents to ensure that the metrics are applied fairly, uniformly, and with transparency. Ohio has a system of education that includes both public and private institutions of higher education who have worked with the state to embrace a statewide and national agenda for reforming education," said Chair of SUED, Dr. Renée A. Middleton. "These metrics align with statewide goals of education reform and national accreditation initiatives. Both SUED and Ohio Association for Private Colleges of Teacher Education (OAPCTE) believe that it is important for all of Ohio's educator preparation programs to ensure that we prepare the most effective teachers, match them with highly seasoned mentors, place them in schools and districts that need them the most, and provide them with tools and guidance for continued success. We must hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability to ensure that Ohio's students can thrive on a local, state, national, and global level."

The creation of annual, performance reports on teacher education colleges was required for public institutions under House Bill 1 of the 128th General Assembly. As the work on the reporting format began, the Ohio Association for Private Colleges of Teacher Education joined their public college counterpart, the State University Education Deans, and the Ohio Board of Regents in the creation of a single, statewide standard for quality teacher education. Today's list of metric categories is the culmination of that collaborative work. The Ohio Department of Education also played a key role in advising the organizations throughout the process.

"We felt that a unified system of accountability and quality assurance for teacher education will benefit Ohio students and their families," said OAPCTE president Mifrando Obach. "The decision to join our public college counterparts was easy to make because we were part of the conversation about these metrics with the State University Education Deans and the Ohio Board of Regents. It was difficult work but we had a strong history of collaboration among us to shore up our efforts."

Going forward, the organizations will work to finalize data collection and quantitative calculation procedures for each metric with the first comprehensive report to be issued in December of 2012.

The full listing of metrics is available here.

The Ohio Board of Regents is the state agency that coordinates higher education in Ohio. The agency is directed by a Chancellor, who is a member of the Governor of Ohio's cabinet. The Chancellor, with the advice of the nine-member Board of Regents, provides policy advice to the Governor and the Ohio General Assembly; implements Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education; advocates and manages state funds for the University System of Ohio; and carries out state higher education policy.

OAPCTE letter to Chancellor Eric Fingerhut on the organization’s position regarding the proposed metrics for teacher education programs (click here), and the letter of support from SUED (click here).



INTASC Model Core Teaching Standards
July 2010 Draft for Public Comment

Two research reports conducted by Eduventures and Center for American Progress separately on the state of teacher preparation in the nation.

International Educator Heads Private Colleges’ Teacher Education Group

An international educator and psychologist, Mifrando Obach, took over the reins of the Ohio Association of Private Colleges for Teacher Education (OAPCTE) when its president, Alice Anderson, resigned to accept the position of dean of the school of education at the Calumet campus of Purdue University in Indiana. Dr. Anderson was formerly the dean of the school of education at the University of Findlay. Dr. Obach is associate professor of education at the College of Mount St. Joseph and the past chair of its education department. His family emigrated from the Philippines in the 1970’s and he is an alumnus of Fairfield Senior High School outside Cincinnati. He is the Ohio state representative on the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education and a past president of the World Council on Curriculum and Instruction – Philippines.

Dr. Obach assumes the presidency at a time when the governor’s education reform initiative is focusing on teacher effectiveness in the classroom and the quality of teacher preparation in the state. “This is both an exciting and challenging time for teacher education,” Dr. Obach said, “because we are being asked to account to the public the value added by teacher education programs in public and private colleges and universities. Teacher education programs in private colleges have been known for our solid grounding in liberal arts education, personal attention to both the intellectual and emotional competence of our students, and a longstanding commitment to field or hands-on training experiences. I think these three characteristics define teacher education in not-for-profit private institutions and part of the reason why our program graduates are sought after by school administrators.” Recently, Dr. Obach served as a resource to the Ohio Department of Education in designing a teacher education program review process for quality assurance, and chosen as a member of the Ohio Board of Regents’ committee on accreditation of teacher education. He hopes to continue the tradition of strong collaboration between Ohio’s public and private colleges and universities in teacher education and to make the organization an effective resource for improving teaching and learning in P-12 schools in the state.

OAPCTE is composed of 35 teacher education units in private non-profit institutions of higher education and promotes cooperation among these units in the enterprise of educating teachers.