Friday Memo 11/18/16

Veterans' Day Celebration
Thanks to Jim Chellew's great idea to honor veterans, Marsha Tierney and the folks at the Franklin County RLC were instrumental in putting together a celebration to honor the veterans that attend the Franklin County RLC.  Thank You for Your Service gift bags were given to those that have served our country.  Pictured below are Clifford Matthews and Michael Edwards. Clifford is the son of Dr. Pat Guyton, a former educator at MBU.



APR Data Discussion
Kathleen Wendt led a discussion with me, Angela McGowan, Tina Ketterer, and Michael Broombaugh to ensure everyone is entering in completer data correctly into CAMS so that when she submits completer data every October to DESE that we have the information entered correctly.
We submitted our data in October and will see our results in December. David Collum, Assessment Director, will be attending a meeting in Jefferson City on November 29th to review the APR results and DESE will share with the group how to interpret the results. David and I will share the results with the division as soon as we can. This will be the first time the APR results will be available to the public, so needless to say, I am hopeful that we have good results!

Curriculum Committee Meeting
Here is a shout out to Tammy Cox, Director of Teacher Education, for leading the Education Division Curriculum Committee Meeting, in Carl Holschen's footsteps. This group will continue meeting regularly as we review assessment and survey results and determine how our curriculum addresses those results.

MEES Training
Jim Chellew and Jim Bimes attended the MEES Training this week.  Thank you to all for your willingness to become more familiar with this instrument.

Spring Schedule
Mary Ann Bouas and I have been working diligently on getting all spring 17 courses staffed with the most qualified faculty member. Thank you for your patience as we work through this laborious process.

CAEP Update
Alicia Noddings, David Collum, and I met to discuss our CAEP work. I look forward to our faculty meeting on Tuesday morning when we will all work together to make sure we know where the important artifacts are located. Don't assume this just means assessment results - we will also be talking about assignments from your classes that we need to track. Please come to the meeting prepared to actively participate. David Collum will be sending you an email with a document that you should print and complete any portions you can. Please bring this document to the meeting with your input noted on the document. We will be collecting this document.

CACREP Update
Clint Limoges, Christine Ward, Jan Speck, and I have been working on the curricular issues surrounding our new Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Master of Arts in School Counseling Programs.  We are finalizing an FAQ document that will be disseminated to students, staff, faculty, and administration that addresses the many issues surrounding our transition from the MAC programs to our new MACMHC & MASC programs.  Nancy Sickler is working on the curricular revision forms so we can submit for approval.  The counseling faculty will meet Tuesday morning to discuss CACREP updates.


International Education Week
The week of November 14 is International Education Week here on campus.  There were several events held including chapel on Thursday with an international theme. After chapel the International Festival was held in the Great Hall with several different booths.  Dr. Han was there to write your name in Korean and our own Mark Engelhardt dressed for the part.



CEEDAR State Leadership Team Meeting
Shelton Smith, Susan Hladky, and I are in Jefferson City today for the CEEDAR SLT Meeting. We are discussing a few items that we look forward to sharing with all of you soon.
Literacy instruction and tier one high-leverage teaching practices, in addition to evidence-based practices in tier 2 & 3 instruction are areas for which we MUST improve. CEEDAR provides us with some excellent resources to ensure our courses are including the important information. Please take a look at the following link for more information: Content Enhancement Modules for EBPs in Literacy


Recruitment Strategic Planning
Tammy Cox and I are working on our recruitment strategic planning. We are excited to begin digging into our current practices and determine ways in which we can establish measurable goals to recruit and support completion of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations to accomplish MBU's mission. We will be meeting with the admissions department and others on campus to help us demonstrate our efforts to address community, state, national, and local needs for shortage fields.

Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday, November 22:  Division Faculty/Accreditation Meeting from 10:15am - 11:45am
Wednesday, November 23 - 25:  Thanksgiving Break  
Monday, November 28:  Faculty Meeting at 3:00pm
Tuesday, November 29:  Directors' Meeting from 10:15am - 11:45am

Closing Thoughts
In the spirit of continuing to share with you the things for which I am thankful, today I am grateful for accreditation and research. When we undertake the self-study that is required for accreditation, we are indicating to the watching world that we have articulated a clear direction for our programs and are taking the time to reflect on how we are going to accomplish our mission. The process also demonstrates our desire to be held accountable for our educational activities. Yes, there is a lot of work that goes along with seeking accreditation, but the process is important to encourage us to look closely at our programs and ensure we are offering our students the best program possible.
I am also grateful for the research that has been done over the last few decades to show us practices that have proven to be effective in the classroom. We now know so much more about the brain and how learning takes place and that research should drive us to teach in ways that have proven to work.
I will probably not have a memo next week so over the Thanksgiving break, please know that I am thankful for each of you. You all bring so much to our group of educators and it is an honor to lead the charge!

Melanie

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