Proposal to Revise the GENERAL EDUCATION requirements

For the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Program

 

 

Background  

 

Post-baccalaureate teacher certification students currently must complete general education requirements as part of their teaching program at EMU. For secondary/K-12 certification, there are 9 required courses (up to 27 credit hours). For elementary certification, there are 12 required courses (up to 36 credit hours). The general education courses are only one part of the program – the program also includes major, minor, and professional education courses as well.

 

Secondary/K-12 general education course requirements

  1. Written communication
  2. Literature
  3. Oral communication
  4. Mathematics
  5. History
  6. U.S. government
  7. Science with a lab component
  8. General psychology
  9. Arts course (i.e. music, dance, fine art, theater, etc.)

 

Elementary general education course requirements

  1. Written communication
  2. Literature
  3. Speech
  4. MATH 108
  5. MATH 109
  6. History
  7. U.S. government
  8. World regions geography
  9. Physics or chemistry
  10. Earth science (one of the science courses must have a lab component)

11.       General psychology

  1. Arts course (i.e. music, dance, fine art, theater, etc.)

 

Students typically use general education courses from their baccalaureate degree to meet EMU’s general education requirements for the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program. However, most students end up taking several hours of general education courses to meet EMU’s specific requirements.

 

Data from the EMU post-baccalaureate program completers of April 2005 indicate that the average student will take 12 credit hours to meet the general education requirements for the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program. Keep in mind that these credit hours are above and beyond the hours s/he completed for her/his baccalaureate degree.

 

Note: In April 2003, the average elementary program completer of the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program earned 73 credit hours while the average secondary program completer of the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program earned 59 credit hours.

 

General education requirements at peer institutions

 

Twenty of the 34 teacher preparation institutions in Michigan responded to a survey about their post-baccalaureate initial teacher certification programs in 2003. Following are results regarding general education requirements.

  • Most of the programs (including WMU and WSU) accept general education courses as a block from the baccalaureate degree. In other words, these post-baccalaureate teacher certification programs do not require specific general education courses unless they are requisite to a major or minor.
  • Even in situations where there are specific general education course requirements, most institutions look for general course distributions rather than doing a course-by-course evaluation.
  • EMU is one of a few schools that does course-by-course evaluations of general education classes for each student.
  • EMU has the longest and most prescriptive general education course requirements of any of the institutions in the sample.

 

What does the Michigan Teacher Certification Code require?

 

The Michigan Teacher Certification Code (R 390.1122) requires that prospective teachers complete 40 semester hours of general education courses. The code does not specify the distribution or content of those courses.

 

With regard to preparing elementary teachers, the code (R 390.1122.2.) is very general.

 

            …At the elementary level, responsibility for introducing pupils to many areas of human

            knowledge or inquiry shall not deprive the prospective teacher of the opportunity to

            develop a degree of specialization in a particular substantive field. Therefore, the

            applicant shall present evidence that he has begun to master a substantive field and is

            able, because of his teaching skills, to stimulate students to seek more knowledge and

            understanding.

 

Recommended revisions to general education requirements for the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program

 

Secondary/K-12

 

Accept the general education courses from the student’s baccalaureate degree, provided that there were 40 general education credit hours earned as part of that degree. Otherwise, the student will work with a post-baccalaureate teacher certification advisor to determine which classes to take to reach 40 credit hours.

 

 

 

 

Elementary

 

Since the elementary certification requires specific knowledge in certain fields, require the following courses for general education.

  1. MATH 108 (Math for Elementary Teachers I)
  2. MATH 109 (Math for Elementary Teachers II)
  3. A course in world regions geography (i.e. GEOG 110) or economics (i.e. ECON 100 or ECON 201)
  4. A course in physical science
  5. A course in earth science (either the physical science or earth science class must have a lab component)
  6. One course in the arts from: art, dance, music, or theater

 

The six general education courses listed above are specified for elementary teachers for the following reasons: 1) they are part of the core knowledge base one would expect of an elementary teacher (see http://www.acei.org/ncateindex.htm), and 2) the content of these courses is not necessarily guaranteed to be a part of the general education curriculum at every institution, and 3) the courses are aligned with the content knowledge needed to teach the Michigan K-12 Curriculum Framework (see http://www.michigan.gov/documents/MichiganCurriculumFramework_8172_7.pdf).

 

How do we compare with our peers on professional education requirements?

 

Based on the results of a 2003 survey of Michigan teacher preparation programs, the average elementary post-baccalaureate teacher certification program required 43 credit hours of professional coursework. EMU requires 47 credit hours of professional coursework for elementary. Using the same survey, the average secondary post-baccalaureate teacher certification program required 34.5 credit hours of professional coursework. EMU requires 39 credit hours of professional coursework for secondary. 

 

Why revise the general education requirements for this program?

 

·        The current general education requirements do not properly honor the knowledge and skills that post-baccalaureate students bring with their baccalaureate degree.

·        The current general education requirements come from a curriculum that is outdated, prescriptive, heavy on credit hours, and not necessarily aligned with the purpose of the program.

·        The evaluation of general education courses in the current system is a very time-consuming process for advisors.

·        At a time when the cost of higher education is soaring, and we are looking to reduce the requirements for “long” programs, this is a good opportunity to make some revisions.

·        Students take many credit hours in the program; and the program does not lead to the conferral of any degree.

·        Reducing the number of credit hours (by a 12-credit hour semester – on average) would help students reach their goals faster without sacrificing the integrity of the program.