» California CTC Common Standards: Standard 1

1.1 The institution and education unit create and articulate a research-based vision of teaching and learning that fosters coherence among, and is clearly represented in all educator preparation programs. This vision is consistent with preparing educators for California public schools and the effective implementation of California's adopted standards and curricular frameworks.

Overview of Chapman University and the Donna Ford Attallah College of Educational Studies: Founded in 1841, as Hesperian College on the belief that men and women of all races and faiths should be served by higher education. Along this path, the College renamed Chapman University the 1960s with a guest speaker Dr. Martin Luther King discussed among other topics history, the ethos of non-violence, civil rights, school desegregation and the Freedom Riders. Over the next almost half century the university grew and expanded programs, advanced cutting-edge research, and developed new colleges all while retaining the values and beliefs of equity and inclusion. Today, Chapman retains our earliest values while supporting those values with our current five-year Strategic Plan focused on diversity and inclusion.

In 2008, Chapman’s School of Education became the College of Educational Studies. The college was renamed in 2017 in honor of Donna Ford Attallah. The Donna Ford Attallah College of Educational Studies (Attallah College) continues to focus on the values of equity and justice. Today the Attallah College continues to support the values of the Chapman as described in the College’s mission. "Through teaching excellence, engaged scholarship, and transformative educational practices, we collaborate with individuals, families, communities, schools, and organizations toward an inclusive, equitable, and just world" (Chapman.edu). The implementation of this mission is supported through the Attallah College Strategic Plan  Goals 1, 2, and 5 and further identified in our programmatic handbooks MACI Student Handbook, MACI Student Teaching Handbook, MAT Student Handbook, MAT Student Teaching Handbook, MACI & MAT University Supervisor Handbook,  Special Education Student Handbook, Special Education Student Teaching Handbook, Special Education University Supervisor Handbook, School Counseling Student Handbook, School Counseling Practicum and Internship Handbook, School Psychology Handbook. Taken together, these handbooks and the college Strategic Plan, as well as our 2018 Dean’s Report document a consistent research-based vision for educator preparation at Attallah College.

Further, the Attallah College vision, supported by goals and strategies, of the college reflects the intention to prepare future educators through a curriculum built on innovative and impactful scholarship. The college also has embedded a continuous improvement system which is a common lens undergirding discussion, inquiry, professional development, and assessment.

1.2 The institution actively involves faculty, instructional personnel, and relevant stakeholders in the organization, coordination, and decisions making for all educator preparation programs.

The Attallah College teacher education program faculty, staff and stakeholders hold monthly meetings to discuss program design, improvement, coordination, administration, and outcomes both within and across credential programs. Further, opportunities for faculty, administrators, staff, and stakeholders to engage in decision making are articulated in the Attallah College Governance Manual Section V. Further, the teacher education program seeks engagement from stakeholders in multiple ways. The table below summarizes the committees and opportunities for stakeholder engagement.

Committees and Stakeholder Engagement

1.3 The education unit ensures that faculty and instructional personnel regularly and systematically collaborate with colleagues in P-12 settings, college and university units and members of the broader educational community to improve educator preparation.

Systematic collaboration with colleagues in P-12 settings is supported through the Attallah College Strategic Plan, Goal 3. Per our Teacher Education Policy, all Attallah College faculty and instructional personnel who regularly teach one or more courses in programs leading to a credential actively participate in the public-school system at least once every three academic years, appropriate to their credential area. Such participation includes supervision of candidates in their field placements, professional development offered to K-12 practitioners, participation in grant projects, etc. The Dean and Associate Deans oversee compliance with this precondition.

Further, we track the active participation of faculty in P-12 schools through our annual Faculty Participation in Public Schools Survey. We have completed one cycle of this survey (submitted in Program Review) and have scheduled the next distribution of the survey for Spring 2019.

1.4 The institution provides the unit with sufficient resources for the effective operation of each educator preparation program, including, but not limited to, coordination, admission, advisement, curriculum, professional development/instruction, field-based supervision and clinical experiences.

Submitted as part of Program Review

1.5 The Unit Leadership has the authority and institutional support required to address the needs of all educator preparation programs and considers the interests of each program within the institution.

Submitted as part of Program Review

1.6 Recruitment and faculty development efforts support hiring and retention of faculty who represent and support diversity.

A strong and diverse faculty is one of the most important determinations of Chapman University and Attallah College. We work continuously to ensure that our searches reach the broadest pool of potential applicants.

In 2017, President Struppa presented the Strategic Plan for Diversity and Inclusion.  It was the result of a three-year effort that had involved over 300 members of campus community— students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and trustees. Specifically, Initiative 2A (Goal 2) of the Plan aims at “diversifying faculty recruitment through intentional outreach to underrepresented faculty of difference and providing peer-to-peer education for current faculty search committees on strategies for diversifying faculty searches.”

Proposed in the Plan strategies demonstrate real potential to achieve this Goal:

A. Collaborate with an external consultant on a train-the-trainers program for peer-led faculty workshops focused on diversifying faculty searches. A pool of faculty trainers will be continually developed and trained to assist unit search committees in designing strategies to diversify the candidate pool in faculty searches.

B. Seek ways to increase the numbers of women and underrepresented minorities serving in the rank of Tenured, Full Professor.

C. Explore the feasibility of strengthening best practices such as opportunity hiring with support from the Office of the Provost.

D. Post faculty ads by the Office of Faculty Affairs for all open positions on one to two websites with the focus of reaching underrepresented identities each fall.

1.7 The institution employs, assigns and retains only qualified persons to teach courses, provide professional development, and supervise field-based and clinical experiences.  Qualifications of faculty and other instructional personnel must include, but are not limited to:  a) current knowledge of the content; b) knowledge of the current context of public schooling including the California adopted P-12 content standards, frameworks, and accountability systems; c) knowledge of diversity in society, including diverse abilities, culture, language, ethnicity, and gender orientation; and d) demonstration of effective professional practices in teaching and learning, scholarship, and service.

As illustrated in our hiring evidence below, Attallah College is dedicated to ensuring all instructional and supervisory personnel associated with our credential programs are content experts, knowledgeable of inclusion and equity, and demonstrate professional practices in teaching and learning.

Hiring

• Recruitment and Qualifications for Inclusive (Special) Education and Disability Studies
• Recruitment and Qualifications for Teacher Education (Science Specialist)
• Recruitment & Qualifications for Part-Time Lecturer, Teacher Education
• Recruitment & Qualifications for Part-Time Lecturer, School Counseling
• Recruitment & Qualifications for Full Time Faculty, School Counseling
• Chapman Diversity and Inclusion Plan
• Chapman University Statement on Diversity and Hiring

Further, Attallah College is focused on ensuring successful student fieldwork. As a result, our teacher education (MAT, MACI, & SPed), School Counseling (SC), and School Psychology (SP) programs all provide fieldwork supervisor handbooks (see 1.1 above), trainings, and are evaluated each semester. Field-based supervisor forms are included in all handbooks.

1.8 The education unit monitors a credential recommendation process that ensures that candidates recommended for a credential have met all requirements.

Chapman University monitors individual candidate progress toward credential recommendation through a system of record for academic administration, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. Robin Blauvelt, Credential Analyst and Zac Nguyen, Administrative Assistant together manage, monitor and ensure accuracy of student progress via PeopleSoft. Candidates are given regular electronic updates regarding satisfaction of program requirements and are permitted to view their files including program process, transcripts, and through student access to PeopleSoft at any time (see a sample of student Program Evaluation Report). Attallah College does not retain any paper records and electronic files are password protected and only accessible to Chapman University personnel. All student records are retained electronically indefinitely.