Legislature(2019 - 2020)BUTROVICH 205
02/05/2019 09:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Presentation: Loss of Accreditation by the Uaa School of Education | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
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.