Dean, College of Education Recognize Spring Doctoral Grads

The College of Education celebrated some prestigious accomplishments this past May at the 2014 Spring Commencement activities. Doctor of Philosophy degrees were awarded to five individuals from the Department of Educational Psychology & Higher Education and the Departmentof Teaching & Learning. Each successfully defended their dissertation study in the weeks preceding graduation.

Graduates from the Department of Educational Psychology & Higher Education included Jill Cohen, Joe Ervin, and Leslie Murdock (dual PhD/JD). Jill’s dissertation was titled Cognitive Differences Between High and Low Responders of Tier II Reading Intervention. Joe’s dissertation, Runnin’ with the Rebels: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Highly Identified College Student Sports Fans, examined sports fandom here at UNLV. Leslie’s dissertation, titled Effects of the JCCS Curriculum on Juveniles' Legal Knowledge, Competency, and Anxiety, examined aspects of the juvenile court system in southern Nevada.

 Kyle Kaalberg and Cynthia Kimball represented the college’s Department of Teaching & Learning. Enhancing Teaching and Learning through iPad Integration in a Clinic-based Literacy Course was the title of Kyle’s dissertation and Cynthia’s was titled An Autoethnography of Heart-based Hope Leadership: A Matter of Life or Death.

All of the Spring 2014 College of Education doctoral graduates were recognized at a gathering of family members, friends, and faculty hosted by Dean Kim Metcalf prior to the commencement ceremony. 

College of Education's Strageic Planning Symposium a Glimpse into the Future

Dr. Kim Metcalf, Dean of the College of Education

A year’s worth of diligent, spirited, and collaborative work by College of Education faculty culminated this past May with the first ever Strategic Planning Symposium. The initiative set forth by Dean Kim Metcalf, engaged seven task forces working throughout the year to identify future directions and opportunities, culminating in recommendations related to the charge of each task force. 

On May 15^th, findings were presented as part of the College of Education Symposium in the Greenspun Auditorium. A number of key education stakeholders were in attendance, including Nevada State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga.

The seven charges included:

•   Aligning promotion and tenure with merit criteria, including Tier 1 Goals and COE expectations;

•   Balancing differentiated staffing, equity and tier 1 productivity

• Expanding initial licensure programs

•  Ensuring support and engagement in research productivity

•  Growing doctoral programs

•  Expanding reach, visibility and impact of the college

• Quality assurance, accountability and SPA accreditation.

The goals of each task force were to align with the College of Education’s new vision, stated as: The College of Education will achieve prominence locally, nationally and internationally as a leading source of significant knowledge and innovative models to inform and impact policy, practice and research.

The core values driving this vision include leadership, innovation and impact. Development of a comprehensive plan to address the task force recommendations and achieve the vision is currently underway.

Teacher Pipeline: Quantity of Quality?

On April 17th, Dean Metcalf was interviewed by Las Vegas' Channel 8 News about the national decline of enrollment in Teacher Education Programs.  Clark County School District plans to hire over 2,000 new teachers in the 2014-2015 school year in order to meet the increase of expected student enrollments.  Dean Metcalf has been involved in several meetings as of late to discuss the increase in CCSD teachers, and how both traditional and alternative Teacher Education Programs can aid CCSD in the recruitment, preparation, and retainment of the projected amount of teachers needed.

As of this past year, UNLV College of Education graduated around 300 new teachers. Currently, just over 98% of our graduating teachers acquire positions in CCSD. In an e-mail to COE faculty, Dean Metcalf related his response to the reporter's request for justification at the relatively low number of teachers coming through UNLV's "teacher pipeline."

"My answer noted that the teachers who graduated from our programs last year (2012-13) would have entered the program from one to up to almost three years earlier.  At that time, school budgets were horrible, education was enforcing higher entry standards and more rigorous exit tests and assessments for licensure, and teachers and schools were continually subjected to negative critiques from nearly all quarters. In parallel to this, university budgets were reduced across the board, but in many places--UNLV included--these were focused most severely on colleges of education. As a result, the capacity of teacher education institutions to prepare educators for licensure was greatly reduced (in our own case by just less that 40%).  In this context, it isn't really surprising that the total number of teachers produced, either by our College or across the country, generally declined."

--Dean Metcalf

Despite the challenges that the country has faced in regards to preparing the next generation of educators, UNLV College of Education has remained steadfast in making sure students receive the quality of education that will produce the caring teachers CCSD needs.   While Dean Metcalf is becoming increasingly involved in the discussion on the teacher pipeline, he is adamant that the UNLV College of Education will continue to produce quality over quantity, in order to further help CCSD improve the education of young Nevadans.