THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

FACULTY SENATE

Senate Document Number 5110S

Date of Senate Approval 04/08/10

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

APC Document 37: Changes to the Middle School Licensure Program

Effective Date:   Fall 2010

1. Delete: On page 120, under Areas of Major, in the fourth line, the following sentence:

They must complete two content areas of concentration from language arts, mathematics, science or social studies.

2. Delete: On page 121, under the title Middle School Licensure (6-9), the following:

All students must complete a major in an appropriate academic discipline, and must complete specific coursework for licensure in two of the following areas: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science or Social Studies.

Add: On page 121, in place of deleted entry:

All students must complete a major in an appropriate academic discipline, and must complete coursework specific for licensure in one of the following areas: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science or Social Studies. Students whose licensure area is different from their major must take the middle grade Praxis II in that field.

3. Delete: On page 121, under the title Middle School Licensure (6-9), in item I, in third line, the following:

Psychology students must complete courses in two of the content areas described in item II, below;

4. Delete: On page 121, under the title Middle School Licensure (6-9), in item II, in second line, the following:

In addition, middle school licensure students must complete coursework from two different licensure areas.

5. Delete: On page 120 under Areas of Major, in the fourth line, delete the following sentence:

They must complete two content areas of concentration from language arts, mathematics, science or social studies.

6. Delete: On page 89, under Bachelor of Arts Degree-Concentration in Chemistry with Teacher Licensure

A second area of concentration is required for Middle School Licensure.

7. Delete: On page 255 under Sociology with Teacher Licensure, in last paragraph:

"must take HIST 315 and complete requirements for a second area of licensure."

Add: On page 255, in place of deleted entry:

"must take HIST 315."

Impact:

This will likely increase our middle school licensed candidates. In addition, if we increase the number of middle school candidates, the enrollment in EDUC 320 will also increase. (EDUC 320 is the only course difference between getting a middle grades license and a secondary license in math, science, and language arts. Social studies licensure candidates must take EDUC 320 and HIST 315.) There are currently 14 students in the EDUC 320 class. The class could double before we would need to add a second session. This impact would increase our SCHs (which could be perceived as a good thing). Currently, EDUC 320 is only offered once a year. If the enrollment increases significantly, we may need to offer it in both fall and spring, which would actually help students with their course loads/expectations but would hurt our department load. Currently, we have faculty who teach in the Humanities, teach 179 and 379 courses, and this means we may have to reduce our offerings outside education courses.

Rationale:

Middle school teachers are considered “high need” in the state of North Carolina along with math, science, and special education teachers. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is calling schools of education to find ways to increase the number of middle school candidates. The State Department has eliminated the requirement of making middle grade licensure candidates have coursework in two areas. To that end they are recommending schools consider having licensure candidates receive license in one area of concentration (math, science, social studies or literature).

Because of our licensure-only model, our candidates who major in one of the four areas (math, science, language arts, social studies) meet state standards of depth of content. If a candidate wishes to be licensed in an area they are not majoring in, they may do so by taking the courses already listed in the catalogue and taking Praxis II in order to be licensed.