A Partnership on Teacher Education

n spring 2001, a small group of faculty and administrators from the three campuses of the University of Illinois began meeting under the leadership of Stan Ikenberry, former president of the University, to discuss critical issues in education, ranging from preschool through university (P-16). Among the list of issues central to the improvement of education in the state of Illinois was the shortage of certified teachers and the search for ways to better address the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students in the public schools.

The importance of creative collaboration and partnerships among community colleges and universities to meet the P-12 educational challenges in a meaningful way quickly became apparent. This led to conversations with Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) leaders about ways to build upon the already strong role of community colleges in teacher education. Many university teacher preparation programs typically admit students for the junior year. As a result, a significant percentage of students who enter into teacher education programs at some of our state universities are transfer students from community colleges. Current estimates suggest that 67% of all education majors in the state of Illinois have taken at least one course at a community college at some point in their undergraduate studies.

The transfer of community college graduates has been guided by the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) since its implementation in 1998. The IAI identifies a core of general education courses that is transferable to four-year institutions, along with courses that will transfer within specific majors. Students enrolled at community colleges can complete many of their general education requirements, typically taken during the freshman and sophomore years, prior to transfer.

A recent and important change in teacher certification in Illinois has affected the way teachers are prepared. As of this fall 2003, teacher licensure is based on standards and not on course completion. This major shift in policy requires that teacher preparation programs revise their curriculum to ensure that all state standards are addressed. Standards have become the metric for determining eligibility certification rather than the completion of specific courses. Likewise it means that community colleges will need to demonstrate how state standards are addressed in classes taken as prerequisites for teacher preparation.

The Creation of the AAT Degree

To address these changes, the P-16 partnership planning team from the University of Illinois along with Dr. Joe Cipfl and Dr. Virginia McMillan from the ICCB met with a number of community college presidents and four-year university deans and administrators about 18 months ago, to develop a model for an associate of arts degree in teaching (AAT). The group met on many occasions, face to face and via teleconference, to identify criteria for the AAT. First and foremost the group agreed to focus on teaching degrees in which the state had critical shortages. These included: math, science, special education, and bilingual education. They agreed that participation in the AAT and receipt of the AAT by community college transfers would place those students on an equal footing with students native to the four-year colleges. That is, transfer students who completed the AAT would not be required to take more courses or time in completing their baccalaureate degrees than would the native students.

During this past summer, nearly 90 faculty and administrators from community colleges and four-year universities met in an intensive work session and identified the state standards that should be addressed or met in education courses considered to be prerequisites for admission to a teacher preparation program (e.g., Foundations to Education and The Exceptional Child), as well as the prerequisites for entering a math or science teacher preparation program. As of this fall, the ICCB has approved a model program for an associate of arts in math secondary education. Community college and university faculty and administrators are continuing to collaborate on the development of AAT degrees in science, special education, and bilingual education. Their work will continue into next year as these new models are initiated.

Looking to the Future

Beginning in 2006, the University of Illinois expects to admit its first transfer students with AAT degrees in math. Shortly thereafter, the first incoming AAT students in science and special education will be welcomed. Expected benefits for the university include opportunities to prepare greater numbers of well-qualified students to teach in Illinois schools, with an emphasis on areas of scarcity such as math and science. In addition, we believe that greater diversity in the ranks of teachers will have a favorable impact on the state's students. A final benefit will be the development of new courses at both the community college and university level to address the new certification standards while also helping students to attain first the AAT and then the baccalaureate degree in education.