ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE  February 5, 2019 8:59 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Gary Stevens, Chair Senator Shelley Hughes, Vice Chair Senator Chris Birch Senator Mia Costello Senator Tom Begich MEMBERS ABSENT  All members present COMMITTEE CALENDAR  PRESENTATION: LOSS OF ACCREDITATION BY THE UAA SCHOOL OF EDUCATION - HEARD PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  No previous action to record WITNESS REGISTER James Fields, Chair Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development Glennallen, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on State Board of Education's response to UAA's School of Education loss of accreditation. TAMMY VAN WYHE, Director Educator and School Excellence Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions about teacher certification. MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph.D., Commissioner Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions about DEED's role in the teacher accreditation process. Jim Johnsen, Ph.D., President University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Presented on the loss of accreditation by the UAA School of Education. CLAUDIA DYBDAHL, Ph.D., Interim Director School of Education University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions about the UAA accreditation issue. ACTION NARRATIVE 8:59:58 AM CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Education Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:59 a.m. Present at the call to order were Senators Begich, Hughes, Costello, and Chair Stevens. Senator Birch joined shortly thereafter. ^Presentation: Loss of Accreditation by the UAA School of Education Presentation: Loss of Accreditation by the UAA School of  Education  9:00:34 AM CHAIR STEVENS announced the presentation of Loss of Accreditation by the UAA School of Education by Dr. Jim Johnsen, President, University of Alaska. He said they would also be hearing from the State Board of Education and Early Development. 9:00:58 AM SENATOR BEGICH said that he is executive director of the Nick Begich Scholarship Internship Fund, which gives scholarships for those seeking careers in education or public service. Many of the scholarship grantees attend the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) School of Education. He wanted to put that potential conflict on record. 9:01:34 AM SENATOR COSTELLO said she wanted to put on the record that she has a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). She is also in the Teacher Retirement System (TRS). CHAIR STEVENS added that he is also retired from the university and receives a retirement from TRS. He doesn't believe that is a conflict but is mentioning it just in case. 9:02:14 AM SENATOR BIRCH noted that he has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and added that they need to address the conflict issue. 9:02:53 AM SENATOR HUGHES said she is also a graduate and is putting it on the record just in case. CHAIR STEVENS said there are new rules that they are trying to comply with. 9:03:22 AM James Fields, Chair, Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development, Glennallen, Alaska, began by reading the motion the board passed unanimously regarding the loss of accreditation by the UAA School of Education. The motion states that the board recognizes UAA's recommendations for initial licensure for graduates in spring 2019 and summer 2019 based on the fact that the program was accredited and approved through December 31, 2018. CHAIR STEVENS shared that he was present at much of the board's meeting yesterday. He appreciated that agencies are working together on this issue. SENATOR HUGHES asked when President Johnsen found out that there were problems. MR. FIELDS answered that in June or July 2018 UAA had its second onsite visit and there was informal discussion that it didn't look good. At that point no action could be taken because they had to wait for the formal response, which was January 11. SENATOR HUGHES asked whether, during the informal period of knowledge, was there any public discussion. MR. FIELDS answered no. SENATOR BEGICH asked about the reciprocity of teaching certificates with other states. He asked what the intent is in the long run for those in the middle of the program. He is hoping that they are not going to lose many education students when they have put years of effort into creating homemade teachers. MR. FIELDS referred the question to Ms. Van Wyhe. 9:07:33 AM TAMMY VAN WYHE, Director, Educator and School Excellence, Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, answered that she was speaking in place of Sondra Meredith, Teaching Certificate Administrator. Ms. Van Wyhe said her understanding is that licensure agreements for teachers are between state agencies, not between a state agency and a university. If the Teacher Certification Division at DEED provides licensure for a teacher, then that licensure in most cases will be recognized by another state. CHAIR STEVENS asked for the list of states that have reciprocity with Alaska. SENATOR BEGICH noted that this is a temporary fix. They should not be attempting to graduate students from the School of Education who have no future. He asked what the plans are for the next couple of years. They have only taken care of students in their fourth year. MR. FIELDS answered that it is in UAA's hands. UAA must submit a plan to DEED, who will review it to make sure that it meets DEED's requirements. The commissioner will make a recommendation to the board about whether to accept the plan. They are in the middle of the process. UAA needs to make a plan for the fall term. SENATOR BEGICH thanked the board and DEED for extending hope to students who are in the program. CHAIR STEVENS asked what will be required of the department to make sure the plan is adequate. DEED is smaller now than in the past. MS. VAN WYHE said part of the process approved by the board yesterday does include a review of UAA's plan. She and Dean Steve Atwater will be reviewing the plan. The commissioner has been saying that this is great opportunity to rethink how teacher preparation is delivered in the state of Alaska, particularly at UAA at this time. The state's National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores are at the bottom of the nation, so what are they doing at the university level to prepare teachers to be great reading teachers. It's a tremendous opportunity to relook at everything in teacher prep. The department can have more influence than it would otherwise, but it is part of an iterative process. UAA will propose a plan; she and Dean Atwater will review it. Once they are satisfied that it has the required rigor and scope, they will pass it on to the commissioner. If the commissioner approves the plan, he will pass it on to the Board of Education for approval. CHAIR STEVENS asked if she thought the department was adequately staffed to do that job. MS. VAN WYHE deferred that question to the commissioner. 9:12:41 AM SENATOR HUGHES noted that she is on the board for the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE). She has learned that ACPE has no institutional authorization over the University of Alaska. She wondered whether that would that make sense. ACPE commissioners are aware of what is going with the accreditation process for schools ACPE does have oversight over and would know of any red flags. MR. FIELDS answered that it may be worth looking into. His recent comments have been about how there needs to be more communication about accreditation with the State Board and with the Board of Regents. SENATOR HUGHES said that ACPE has institutional oversight of Alaska Pacific University (APU). If UA was under the oversight of ACPE, ACPE would have been aware of the accreditation problems. CHAIR STEVENS added that he would like to see more communication between the Board of Regents and State Board of Education. The legislature expects that. SENATOR STEVENS asked DEED Commissioner Johnson if the department is prepared to review the UAA plan. 9:14:50 AM MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph.D., Commissioner, Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, answered that in this particular instance, it is a collaborative effort between the department and the university. The department does have the staff. He has confidence in Ms. Van Wyhe and Dean Atwater to work through this. It is a great opportunity for a lot of collaboration not only between the university and the department, but with stakeholders around the state. Situations like this present opportunities to rethink how to do things. CHAIR STEVENS said right now they are making it work for students with these two semesters. He asked if there could be an additional commitment beyond that. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON responded that there could be. He has recommended three priorities for the board to keep in mind: the quality of instruction they are providing to K-12 students in the state; the students enrolled at UAA who find themselves in this unfortunate situation; and support for the university as they work through this. SENATOR BEGICH said he is concerned about the trust issue. One major component of the Alaska Education Challenge is building an Alaska workforce in Alaska. That requires a level of trust for those coming out of high school or those leaving jobs to enter teaching as older students that the system is going to be there for them. Now that trust must be repaired. He referred to the question of adequate staffing that Chairman Stevens brought up. He noted that it could be ongoing process lasting beyond this year. He wanted Commissioner Johnson to think about how to build trust in people who are considering careers in education. Commissioner Johnson answered that those are complex questions with complex answers. He did want to be careful not to imply that it is the job of the department to develop a teacher preparation program. The regulation states that the Board of Education approves a program that the university has developed. In this particular instance of DEED capacity, their role is limited, but they see a wonderful opportunity to partner with the university to rebuild trust and rethink how to do things differently. Usually those opportunities don't come easily. It is when things are challenging and hard that people become innovative. That is the understanding he has with President Johnsen. They address the negatives and then move on to the opportunity to address the vision Senator Begich described. SENATOR BEGICH responded that he would like to participate in that process as much as possible. SENATOR COSTELLO shared that one of the first emails she received this session was from a constituent gravely concerned about not only the impact on future teachers coming out of the program, but on anyone who holds a degree from the university. She wanted to dovetail on Senator Begich's comments about the need to regain trust. She asked if those affected by this will have difficulty finding jobs and competing with others coming from situations that haven't been compromised in this manner. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON answered that he cannot anticipate how future employees will look at this situation. The department, the university, and the Alaska Staff Development Network will support these teachers as they go into the classroom. UAF has a great mentoring program. The Alaska Staff Development Network has a wide variety of courses that can support teachers. DEED has the ability to track those students to make sure they are getting the support they need so they can provide the best quality instruction to students in the classroom. 9:21:59 AM SENATOR HUGHES commented that it is all about preparing teachers to help students learn. Besides the initial mentoring, she asked if any consideration has been given to track what is happening with [K-12] students. If the preparation wasn't adequate to the point that UAA lost its accreditation, she is concerned about the students who will be in those teachers' classrooms. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON agreed that the number one priority is the students in their K-12 classrooms who will be taught by these teachers. The department has a statewide assessment to measure the system, and each district has assessment programs to measure how students are learning and provides the professional development to make sure those students are learning. SENATOR HUGHES asked if the department, as they track assessments, will keep a list of those particular graduates to see if they need additional support if there are gaps in instruction. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON responded that that is a very interesting policy and human resources question. He added what authority does the department have to track those teachers and the data. There are rules and policy related to personnel. That would be a district-level function. He said he would have to think about what the department role is and the district role is for that policy question. 9:25:15 AM Jim Johnsen, Ph.D., President, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, said it is always an important opportunity to speak to the committee to talk about education in Alaska given the abysmal statistics in many aspects of education. He thanked the State Board of Education and the commissioner for their amazingly prompt response in dealing with this challenge. They were informed on January 11 of this problem. And a mere three weeks later the state board provided important, temporary relief. He noted that Dean Steve Atwater of the Alaska College of Education and UAA School of Education Interim Director Claudia Dybdahl were also present. They will be very much involved in deciding the path forward and implementing that path. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said that the information he was going to present was also presented to the Board of Regents at their January 18 meeting. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said they learned on January 11, 2019, that the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) was revoking accreditation for seven teacher education programs at UAA. He explained that only "initial licensure" programs were impacted. Other UAA education programs continue to be accredited. UAA's institutional accreditation is in fine standing, and the programmatic accreditations for teacher preparation programs at UAS and UAF are in fine shape. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN explained that approval from the State Board of Education for the teacher preparation program is required for licensure. Graduates must be licensed by DEED to teach in Alaska. The process to regain reaccreditation from CAEP would take three years, which is a significant factor as they consider how to move forward. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said their students' needs are the highest priority. He is committed to addressing this failure and breach of trust. They are doing all they can to rectify it. The Board of Regents is making this a top priority. They have made sure that UAA students have full access to UAF/UAS accredited programs while staying in Anchorage. This is just like the way they provide a UAA nursing program to other locations across the state. Students are being held harmless from transfer fees and costs. They are providing tailored options, case by case. They are committed to working with the department for state approval. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said he would be able to shed some light on the university's thinking with respect to approval of students past August 2019. PRESIDENT JOHNSON reviewed the accreditation information on slide 5 of his presentation. He pointed out that institutional accreditation is required by the federal government for qualification for federal student support. UAF, UAA, UAS are accredited by the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). Congress set up regional accreditors across the country. President Johnsen noted that NWCCU reaccredited UAA with commendations in January. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN explained that programmatic accreditation is specific to certain departments, programs, or schools within a university. Some are required. Some are voluntary. In this case, approval for the education program is required. SENATOR BIRCH asked if he had a way of monitoring the accreditation process to notice any red flags about potential problems. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered, "We do now." On the February 21 Board of Regents Academic and Student Affairs meeting, there will be a listing of every programmatic accreditation across the system and the dates of review. The university is constantly in different phases of accreditation reviews for different programs. They will get a handle on all of these. They need to create that communication link between the program level and his office and Regents. That communication link was broken during this process. 9:35:57 AM CHAIR STEVENS said the Education Committee might ask for an annual accreditation report. He asked if this was the first time that the university has lost full accreditation. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that in his recollection it is the first time that a required accreditation has been lost. Voluntary accreditations have been lost in the past. CHAIR STEVENS responded that it is a big deal. SENATOR HUGHES said in addition to a communication link to the Board of Regents, there needs to be a link to the Board of Education if they have institutional oversight. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that that is a good suggestion. He would be working on that with the DEED commissioner and the chair of the Board of Education. SENATOR BEGICH said he sees that UAS is preparing for its CAEP accreditation cycle. He asked if they should be concerned about UAS accreditation since that is where the College of Education is located. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered that in light of this, most definitely. He has addressed that question to Steve Atwater, Executive Dean of the College of Education, who is overseeing that process at UAS. He collaborated closely with Amy Vinlove, Director of the UAF School of Education, which recently passed CAEP accreditation. Steve is working very hard on CAEP accreditation at UAS. He believes that they will pass that process. They are in the early phase of the self-study, and there has been no CAEP feedback yet. Steve was dean at UAF when it went through its accreditation process. SENATOR BEGICH said the UAF School of Education is significantly smaller and more limited, in a way, to UAA's school. The UAA school is within the College of Arts and Sciences. UAS has a stand-alone college. UAF's is within the science section. They are talking about three different flavors of apples. He wants to make sure they are not at risk. He concurred with Senators Stevens and Birch that he would like regular updates to know they are meeting standards. SENATOR COSTELLO asked whether he had any red flags or indications that accreditation would be revoked. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered that it did catch him by surprise. He knew it was not a slam dunk but was under impression that they would succeed. He was not aware of specific problems. He hadn't been provided the self-report. They now seeing, unfortunately late, the very serious problems that CAEP identified that were not addressed. CHAIR STEVENS, noting that President Johnsen had indicated that he did not plan to appeal the CAEP decision, asked if he thought the loss of accreditation was fair. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered that he would not put himself in the position of the CAEP reviewers but getting 20 out of 100 is a serious problem. There are very serious questions resulting from this. He has confidence in the interim director and the UAA chancellor to rectify this problem in close collaboration with UAS and UAF. The most important goal is to make sure students have an approved path to licensure. 9:44:53 AM SENATOR HUGHES asked if the people responsible for not carrying through were still in those positions, because they would be held accountable and fired in the private sector. She also asked about the length of the accreditation process. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that he was sure that she appreciated the sensitivity of her question, but he could reveal information that is easily discoverable. The interim director of the program, the provost overseeing the academic program, and the chancellor at UAA are all new. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN added that the cycle of accreditation varies and for CAEP it is seven years. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the information about CAEP on slide 6: • Sole national accrediting body for educator preparation recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation • Relatively new accreditor; their standards and performance measures were not fully implemented until 2016 • Created through the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) • 35 states and 850+ educator preparation providers in the CAEP Accreditation system PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the information on the accreditation process on slide 7. "Quality is key, and especially with CAEP, but also with other accreditors. Improvement, improvement, improvement. How are you demonstrating the use of data to continuously improve your outcomes? That's really the goal here," he said. • Accreditation is quality assurance through external peer review • Dual function of assuring quality and promoting improvement â?¢ Evidence-based process for evaluating how we collect common data, analyze trends, and self-assess in order to continually improve our programs and outcomes â?¢ Cycle involves a self-study, formative review, 2-3 day site visit, panel reviews, council review, and final action/decision • This was UAA's first program accreditation cycle with CAEP; previously accredited through CAEP's predecessor, NCATE SENATOR BIRCH asked how frequently accreditation is denied. 9:51:40 AM PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered that four, maybe five programs, have been denied. He does not know where the 850 programs are in this process, but the gist is that it is uncommon. CHAIR STEVENS asked if there were issues brought up in the self- study and initial review that would have caused change. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered absolutely and added a number of steps have already been taken to improve the program. He said Claudia Dybdahl has been leading the program improvement process and could answer questions. SENATOR HUGHES asked whether the process is such that they could have remedied things with feedback from CAEP before the final report, and didn't, or were the problems so egregious that they could not be fixed. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that it's probably both. Systematic data collection, evaluation, and utilization is a requirement. At some point in a process it is too far to go back to rectify that. He suspects some issues were addressed. SENATOR COSTELLO said that she was disappointed by his answer to the chair about whether he agreed with the CAEP decision. She raised the idea if they are tasked with following through with a decision that they may not agree with. She wanted to give President Johnsen another opportunity to answer that question. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN responded that whether he agreed with it or not, he accepts it and every criticism in it. He is committed to addressing the criticisms and the shortcomings in the report. He is not qualified to say whether it is good report or not. He gave the example of asking someone who is not a physician to review a patient file. He believes them. SENATOR COSTELLO stated that he is not appealing the decision. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered correct. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the UAA accreditation timeline on slide 8. He noted that the then-dean of the School of Education replied to the December 2017 formative review. April 2018 was about the time when they made the leadership change and Claudia Dybdahl came out of retirement to help them go forward. He had not been provided with copies of the June 2018 site visit report. â?¢ Aug 2017 UAA submits Self-Study Report to CAEP • Dec 2017 CAEP provides formative review to UAA â?¢ Apr 2018 CAEP 3-Day site visit to UAA • Jun 2018 Site visit report available to UAA • Nov 2018 UAA notified to expect final decision in December • Jan 2019 CAEP accreditation revocation received 9:58:14 AM CHAIR STEVENS said then they are talking about a two-year period, beginning with the self-study. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN noted that this takes a lot of time. A lot of experience and data collection go into the self-study report, which is why reaccreditation will take at least three years. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the high-level specific findings on slide 9. UAA met one of the five accreditation standards. "Frankly, a pretty fundamental failure here," he said. Standard 1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge Not Met  Lack of program design to national, state, and SPA standards prohibits the Education Preparation Provider's (UAA) ability to develop candidates' understanding of professional concepts and principles of the education profession. Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice Met  Standard 3: Candidate Quality, Recruitment,  and Selectivity Not Met  All components of the standard are not met by the evidence provided. Standard 4: Program Impact Not Met  All components of the standard are not met by the evidence provided. Standard 5: Quality Assurance & Continuous  Improvement Not Met  The Education Preparation Provider lacks a viable Quality Assurance System with data-driven continuous improvement. CHAIR STEVENS said that the second standard seems enormously important. He asked for more information about that standard. 10:00:18 AM CLAUDIA DYBDAHL, Ph.D., Interim Director, School of Education, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, said that the Clinical Partnership and Practice standard is about student opportunities to participate in classrooms. Those opportunities begin early in their program with observation and as students proceed through the program, they take more and more responsibility and are expected to demonstrate that they do understand professional concepts and principles of education and can apply those effectively in the classroom. This culminates with student teaching where students demonstrate their competencies as beginning teachers. CHAIR STEVENS said that seems to be key to becoming a teacher. He is pleased that they met that standard. SENATOR BIRCH asked how Standard 3, Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity is measured. DR. DYBDAHL replied that the fundamental failure of UAA was that they did not provide enough evidence. CAEP is a departure from type of accreditation that she is familiar with. It is new. She does believe that meeting CAEP standards will create a stronger program at UAA. As a professional educator she does support that. UAA has transition points. Students must meet certain standards for admission and certain expectations to proceed through the program. They failed to provide evidence that those transition points were in place across programs. UAA recruitment was informal rather than formal. No recruitment plan was in place with benchmarks. For selectivity, there was no plan for high-qualifying students. SENATOR HUGHES said a data report in her packet showed sufficient evidence was not presented to show the cohort Praxis scores reached the 50th percentile. She asked if that was because teachers were performing poorly or if they did not provide data. DR. DYBDAHL answered that they did not provide the data. She has compiled data to show students do meet the CAEP standards. She tables to demonstrate this in the CAEP-required form, but that was not provided in the report. SENATOR HUGHES said she had been worried student teachers were not getting the scores. She would rather hear the problem was with data not being reported. CHAIR STEVENS asked Dr. Dybdahl if she is responsible for making sure these conditions are met in the future. DR. DYBDAHL responded yes. SENATOR BEGICH said he was glad that someone with Dr. Dybdahl's reputation was there. He said it was important to make it known that the critical failure was a lack of evidence. He asked why they didn't appeal then if the issue was not enough evidence. 10:07:32 AM DR. DYBDAHL answered that they did not appeal because they cannot submit additional evidence after the last day of the site visit. Her judgement when they got the final report from CAEP was that they needed to move forward. This was a deep problem. UAA was better off beginning to address the issues that were raised and putting quality assurance in place to make improvements based on evidence and data. She totally believes in that concept and principle. CAEP is a slow-moving machine. An appeal could take six months. That is lost time. Her recommendation was to move forward. CHAIR STEVENS said reaccreditation could take three years, but he assumes she is moving forward on the other four standards. DR. DYBDAHL responded that UAA has made a lot of progress. She shared that progress with the State Board of Education yesterday. They now have a quality assurance system and assessments have been piloted. They have adopted nationally recognized assessments, including edTPA, a very rigorous teacher performance assessment developed at Stanford University. Their quality assurance system will be fully implemented in the fall of 2019. They will be ready to begin the process in January 2020. They must wait a year to reapply with CAEP. CHAIR STEVENS asked how long she has been in her position. DR. DYBDAHL said she is an interim, and she came back at the end of March. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the decision by the Board of Education to approve UAA's initial licensure programs through August 2019. He apologized for putting their educational partners in a box and committed to a stronger partnership. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said he wanted to address what the university is going to do about reaccreditation. He and the Board of Regents have not decided about whether to reapply for accreditation. It would be a three-year process and require a lot of time and resources. And, of course, the Board of Education's approval would be needed for that entire period. If the decision is made not to reapply, they have two accredited and approved programs that can supply the education to UAA students, just as the UAA nursing program provides an education to students in Fairbanks, Juneau, and other locations. This option is being evaluated. The board will discuss this later this month. On February 12 there will be a townhall meeting with students to get their views on these options. SENATOR HUGHES asked whether Anchorage students would be part of UAF or UAS through distance delivery or would there be live classrooms. Alaska Pacific University has mentioned to her that they could help. 10:15:02 AM PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that students graduating this spring and summer are doing student teaching. All students staying in Anchorage at this point have transferred to UAF, which is supervising their student teaching. If they move forward with this, in the future classes would need to be face-to-face just as with nursing. The Master of Art in Teaching at UAS, for students who already have a baccalaureate degree, is almost fully online. SENATOR HUGHES clarified that her question was more about year one, two, and three students. If they cannot move, are they able to be part of UAF and UAS with live classes on campus or would a partnership with Alaska Pacific University make sense. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN answered that if they did not reapply for CAEP accreditation, there would be faculty in Anchorage, just as they do with the nursing education program. For example, the faculty member teaching nursing at UAS is a UAA faculty member teaching UAA curriculum face-to-face in Juneau. SENATOR BEGICH said it disturbs him to hear they are reevaluating accreditation. Half of the population is in Southcentral. No accreditation for Anchorage sends the message to Southcentral residents that education is not a priority for the university when it comes to creating new teachers in Alaska. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN responded that he appreciates that view and input. It will certainly be a consideration on the list of factors that will be considered. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the information on the impact on programs on slide 11: Only UAA "initial licensure education programs impacted: â?¢ Elementary Bachelor of Arts (K-8) â?¢ Elementary Post-Baccalaureate Certification (K-8) â?¢ Master of Arts in Teaching Certification (7-12) â?¢ Early Childhood Bachelor of Arts (pre K-3) â?¢ Early Childhood Post-Baccalaureate Certification (pre K-3) • Special Education Initial Certification • Early Childhood Special Education Licensure President Johnsen reviewed the programs not impacted on slide 12: • Decision DOES NOT impact UA's three NWCCU institutional accreditations; all are in good standing • Decision DOES NOT impact UAF and UAS programmatic accreditations of their education programs • Many UAA education programs are also unaffected: o Early Childhood Associate of Applied Science o Educational Leadership, Master of Education & Graduate Certification o Master of Education in Teaching & Learning o Language Education Graduate Certification o Speech-Language Pathology Programs o Special Education, Master of Education, and Graduate Certification o Early Childhood Special Education, Master of Education o PACE 500 level courses 10:20:15 AM CHAIR STEVENS noted that the Master of Arts in Teacher is affected and the Master of Education is not affected. He asked what the difference is. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said the difference is between initial and noninitial licensure. Programs that are tied to getting that license are affected. The other programs are not directly tied to licensure. Those are additional certifications for people who already have certificates. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the UA education program enrollment numbers on slide 13. UAA is the is the largest program followed by UAF and then UAS. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the enrollment numbers in each UAA education program on slide 14. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said the big work moving forward is for nonseniors and how they will provide their path to licensure. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN addressed licensure reciprocity on slide 17 and noted that interstate reciprocity is complex. "The more your program is approved and accredited, the better. No question about that," he said. They are doing their best to understand where students might want to go and support them as they navigate other states' licensure processes. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN showed the summary on slide 18 of how they have responded since they got the notification of loss of accreditation. There is much more work to be done. He sent a letter of apology to students with a strong commitment in the letter that they would find path to licensure for those students. Student-Centric Response • Jan 11 UAA receives revocation notification • Jan 11 Students, faculty, BOR, DEED informed • Jan 13 Chancellor Sandeen hosts student town hall • Jan 15 DEED Commissioner announces licensure support for Spring and Summer 2019 graduates • Jan 18 BOR meets to discuss situation • Jan 22 UA and DEED leadership meeting • Jan 23 UAF/UAS reps meet with impacted UAA MAT students • Feb 1 Chancellor Sandeen meets with UA Student Government â?¢ Feb 4 Board of Education acts on near-term graduate licensures â?¢ Feb 12-Board of Regents Town Hall with students PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed the next steps on slide 19: • Feb 7 UAF and UAS advisors additional meeting with impacted UAA students to discuss academic transfers • Feb 12 BOR Town Hall with students • Feb 19 BOR public testimony • Feb 21 BOR Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting to discuss options • Feb 28 BOR meeting to discuss options PRESIDENT JOHNSEN reviewed future options on slide 20. He noted that the last two Alaska teachers of the year, one of whom is a finalist for the National Teacher of the Year, have been UAA graduates and that some top-quality teachers are coming out of UAA. The university has a K-12 outreach program, including first-year mentoring. That group has done research on teachers who get mentoring from a master teacher. Those teachers do better and stay longer and the kids' scores are statistically significantly better. The university ought to make the commitment to guarantee a mentor for each first-year teacher. That is a reasonable commitment that would cost money. • UAA must wait one full year January 11, 2020, to begin CAEP reaccreditation proces • The process to regain accreditation will take at least three years • Reaccreditation will take a significant commitment of time and resources • Regents and university leadership are considering mid- and long-term options informed by student input received Feb 12 and BOR discussions Feb 21 and Feb 28 10:30:33 AM SENATOR BEGICH said they are about to face a new reality of the budget from the administration on February 13. He asked if the School of Education lost administrative positions and could that have contributed to the loss of accreditation. And secondarily, if mentoring and support from the university are crucial, how does that comport with significant administrative budget cuts. He asked what the plan is if they can't provide this support. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN replied that in four out of last five years they have taken $195 million of cumulative UGF (unrestricted general fund) cuts. That has had a terrible effect. Most of those cuts were in administration. They have 1,283 fewer employees at UA than four years ago. There is no question that the administrative reductions have had an impact across the system. Data analysis and institutional research have been cut back. The mentoring program and K-12 outreach programs were cut. Prioritizing will be even harder if on February 13 they get a large number in red ink. But they must prioritize. They must figure out how to continue to serve Alaska, diminished though they are. What is absolutely essential on the workforce side are teachers and the healthcare force. As they pull in, those focused areas become even more important. SENATOR BIRCH thanked Dr. Johnson for tackling the issue head on. This hit many of them hard. He appreciated the candor. The measurement is key here. It may not reflect on the quality and caliber of the students but may be a matter on how they report on them. CHAIR STEVENS echoed Senator Birch's comments and said it was a session to find solutions, not to lay blame, and he appreciated President Johnsen's approach. SENATOR HUGHES thanked him for taking ownership. She hoped to receive an update about the solutions for the years one, two, and three students. PRESIDENT JOHNSEN said they cannot rigorously address the challenges in the state unless they look at them straight in the eye and work together. He takes their counsel to work closely with this committee and other educational partners. CHAIR STEVENS recognized the members of the State Board of Education and Early Development in the room. 10:36:49 AM There being no further business to come before the committee, Chair Stevens adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee at 10:36 a.m.