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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1988)
Friday, May 6, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local irl tidbits” |J •ink ina| 1 baveaijl ■ 1'hroul courses,! nv ledge 11 and apJ be maih! l data, || n throurl classes, 11 lowledgtl •ling abol keptutj ny experl >me sporl ;r, I’ll J natics, kJ I ism. [’UJ nalisminl iope tokrl ' peeled ail ic. I iughs at J iior mad.'. ion. A&M plans curriculum changes to comply with new education law By David Stanaland Reporter Looking toward the changes in teacher-pre paration curricula mandated by the 1987 Sen ate Bill 994, Texas A&M’s College of Educa tion has made a list of proposals to satisfy the requirements of the bill. However, the proposals must be approved by the Faculty Senate, the Texas Education Agency and the Coordinating Board of Higher Education before they become policy, said Dr. Bryan Cole, associate dean of student affairs for the Department of Education. Cole said he expects the proposals to be considered by the agencies in July. S.B. 994 requires those seeking teacher cer tification to have a bachelor’s degree with an academic major or interdisciplinary academic major other than education, according to a memo sent to candidates for teaching certifi cates. The proposed changes in the curriculum would affect only those students who will graduate with teacher certification after Sept. 1, 1991, Cole said. After that date, teaching- certified students would be required to grad uate with an academic or interdisciplinary ma- jor. Elementary education majors would be af fected most by the proposed changes, he said. Those students would be restricted to earning interdisciplinary degrees in math, science, so cial studies, English or reading. If the proposed curriculum is approved, most education students would need five years to earn their degrees, he said. “In qddifior* to thoso 79 hour® fof “In terms of methodology, the pro gram is significantly weakened. It’s one thing to know the material — ifs another to be able to deliver it in a way the kids will understand it. ” — Dr. Bryan Cole, associate dean of education ciplinary study), they will have 32 hours of the core curriculum, 18 hours of education classes and 6 hours of electives,” Cole said. An addi tional 24 credit hours required for teacher certification would raise the number of credits needed to graduate from 137 to 152. However, under the provisions of S.B. 994, students still would not be eligible to receive a teaching certificate, he said. “At this point the students would still not be certified, and this is the most controversial is sue,” Cole said. “We’re proposing that our stu dents go through an elementary education program and complete an undergraduate de gree and 24 hours of graduate work.” The graduate coursework requirement would be divided into a 12-hour internship and 12 hours of classes, he said. After students complete the required grad uate work, Cole said, they would receive a probationary certificate which would allow them to go into the required “induction” year of teaching. They then would be eligible to complete an additional 21 hours to earn their master’s degrees, he said. To receive approval of their final certifica tion, the teacher would have to obtain recom mendations from A&M and the school district employing the teacher. Although the proposed curriculum would have benefits, it would not give enough em phasis to methodology, Cole said. “From a disciplinary standpoint, the bill should improve the quality of what the teacher has to teach,” Cole said. “In terms of method ology, the program is significantly weakened. It’s one thing to know the material — it’s an other to be able to deliver it in a way the kids will understand it.” S.B. 944 restricts the number of education credit hours to 18 at the undergraduate level. Twelve of these hours are for student teach ing, Cole said, which leaves six hours for methodology courses that teach classroom management and learning behavior. The reduced emphasis on methodology could jeopardize teacher evaluation scores, Cole said. Part of the education legislation, House Bill 72, established a system of teacher appraisals, he said. About 80 percent of those appraisals, he said, are based on the teacher’s ability to communicate the discipline to their students, which could mean lower scores for future tea chers since they will be tested in areas they have not studied extensively. “The general population will interpret this as ill-prepared teachers, which will result in more regulation and will continue the cycle,” Cole said. exas graduates find job market is improving LUBBOCK (AP) — College place- Iment offices are reporting increased recruiting activity that reflects a healthier Texas job market, but Isome college students are choosing Jto hunt jobs outside the state, offi- Icials said Thursday. “At Texas A&M, there’s been a ramatic increase in the past two se- lesters in recruiting activity,” said ^ou Van Pelt, the school’s director placement. “We’ve been full (with recruiters) in the placement center every day.” Despite the increased activity, however, the market is competitive. “Overall, I would see the job mar ket for an ’88 grad as competitive but improved over ’86 and ’87,” said David Kraus, director of Texas Tech University’s career planning and placement center. “There seem to be a few more companies out seeking college graduates.” Almost idle in recruiting for the past two years, oil and gas companies are once again seeking college grad uates, although competition is stiff, said career placement counselors. Meanwhile, engineering, education and accounting majors are in strong demand. But the state’s still tight job mar ket has prompted some students at Texas colleges and universities to seek greener pastures elsewhere. “More of our students have been looking out of state and we have Group to present recommendations for finals schedule been encouraging them in this,” said Terry Kepler, director of career placement at Southern Methodist University. Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tenn. and Atlanta are popular tar gets for out-of-state job-seekers, he said. “If they want to stay in Texas, they’re finding they may have to go out of state to get experience and then come back,” said Avallone. By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer After reviewing the results of its final examination survey, a joint committee of faculty and student senators has arrived at a solution it says will be acceptable to everyone involved. The committee will suggest to the Faculty Senate on Monday that next semester’s final examinations be held Monday through Friday and candidates for graduation receive empty diploma tubes at commence ment ceremonies the previous week. Diplomas would be mailed to the graduates after grade processing. A second proposal listed on the survey given to about 700 students and 300 faculty members suggested graduating seniors take finals a week before commencement. A third plan would schedule finals for Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday, with graduation held the following Friday and Saturday. The fourth option would retain the schedule used for the past two semesters, with no dead week and fi nals on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Don Russell, faculty co-chairman of the committee, said faculty mem bers strongly preferred the first plan, with the second option next in popularity. Among students, prefer ences were reversed. If the first proposal is accepted, fi nal examinations will follow the schedule used in the spring of 1987. “The big difference is that we can not have a certified graduation,” Russell said. “It would just be pomp and circumstance.” Jay Hays, the committee’s student co-chairman, said the second option stood little chance of gaining the Committee’s approval because the faculty has said scheduling two sets of final examinations is unaccepta ble. “But the only thing that we will be giving up (with the first option) is Recommendations Here are the provisions of the plan the joint committee of student and faculty senators will recom mend: • Finals would held Monday through Friday. • Graduates would receive empty diploma tubes at com mencement ceremonies, which would be held the weekend before finals. • Graduates would be mailed to graduates after grades are processed. the fact that we will not receive di plomas at graduation,” Hays said. “Whenever the situation is a choice between what we have now and an empty tube, naturally students will opt for an empty tube.” Hays said tine reason the third op tion was not acceptable to students is it does not deal with the two biggest student complaints, the elimination of dead week and graduation on a nearly-empty campus. “In option three,” Hays said, “dead week is totally disrupted. We have always had five continuous class days and two weekends to study for finals. The second problem is that it still does not address the fact that no one will be left on campus if finals end on Tuesday and gradua tion is not until Friday.” The first option allows for a five- day dead week and would allow graduation to be held either the weekend before or the weekend af ter finals. “Since w'e will be graduating with empty tubes,” Hays said, “it doesn’t: matter which weekend we graduate. If w r e have graduation the week be fore, then seniors can leave as soon as they finish with their tests.” Hays will serve on a committee es tablished by President Frank Van diver to study the finals scheduling. she ick to see# the rest ( tell her I then pi pos ■eath 'IS. The Largest Selection of Wholesale Diamonds in the area! 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