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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Global Pedagogy Symposium Opportunity

If you are interested in Global Pedagogy, the Global Studies Program at SCSU is hosting a Symposium this weekend.  The press release is below.  If you do not want to attend the entire symposium, you can attend the keynote session on Saturday morning for free.

Shawn Smallman, International Studies and Latin American Studies, Portland State University
Challenges and opportunities in Global Education                       
9:00 am—10:15 am Atwood Theatre, SCSU Campus

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Global Pedagogy Symposium
Register by Feb. 25 to participate in the Global Pedagogy Symposium, an opportunity for faculty and other professionals to present, learn and discuss what works in global education.
The symposium meets 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Welcome Center and March 1 in Atwood Memorial Center. It will focus on:
            Emerging technologies in global learning
            Engaging international students
            The world as a classroom
Keynote speaker is Shawn Smallman, a professor at Portland State University, Portland, Ore. Smallman co-authored the textbook “An Introduction to International and Global Studies,” which was published in 2011 by the University of North Carolina Press in Chapel Hill. 
Smallman has completed a book manuscript on indigenous women and spirit-beliefs in northern Canada. He works on global health and security, particularly where these topics overlap with indigenous issues in the Americas.
Registration is required and covers meals, coffee breaks and some materials. Registration is $40 for one day, $60 for both. Deadline to present a talk or a poster is Feb. 1. Register online at www.stcloudstate.edu/globalstudies.
The symposium is hosted by the Global Studies Program.
Support for Global Pedagogy Symposium 2014 is provided by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a St. Cloud State Action Grant.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Assessment Working Group Meeting Summary - 12_20_13

Summary of Most Recent AWG Meeting
December 20, 2013

Members of the Assessment Working Group met on December 20 to initiate the discussion of best practices in teacher assessment. We initiated this process by reading and discussing, chapter by chapter, Darling Hammond’s (2013) text Getting Teacher Evaluation Right. In addition, we discussed progress of our P-12 partners on the required Minnesota system for evaluating educators, reviewed the Common Metrics (Bush Foundation) metrics, talked about partnerships with the Support Working Group, and pulled together an approach for moving forward.

Darling Hammond Book
We discussed the highlights of the Darling-Hammond book on effective practice in teacher evaluation. High points of the discussion are provided below:

·       Best teacher evaluation practices are based on coherent state standards
·       Best practices assume an interface between assessment and professional development, including
     assistance for struggling teachers
·       The system ought to accommodate not just new, but struggling educators
·       Best practice in measurement as applied to teacher assessment and evaluation accommodates both entry  skills and master performance
·       The best teacher assessment systems tap student attitudes (engagement), student learning outcomes (but without overreliance on value added metrics), observation by trained evaluators, and portfolio-based authentic methods

Teacher Development and Evaluation in Minnesota
Members of the AWG noted that all partner districts were well underway in negotiating models and processes for teacher evaluations as required in Minnesota. The most difficult puzzle piece remains how to equitably employ student outcome data in teacher assessment as required.

Common Metrics
Kathy Dahlberg described data collected via the Common Metrics (CM) activities of NeXT (the Bush Foundation Grant, TPI at SCSU).  The purpose of the CM system is for the 14 “Bush” teacher preparation IHEs to collect a common set of data in a comparable fashion.  One committee goal is to emphasize the use of extant data in the development of metrics with which to meet benchmarks and to evaluate programming sponsored by the grant.  Presumably the four Common Metrics Instruments will be employed in any plans that we develop.

Process and procedure

Next meeting: Members of the working group will review the charges and benchmarks with an eye toward developing  a set of work tasks, prioritize these tasks, and set between-meeting tasks.