THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

 

FACULTY SENATE

 

 Senate Document Number    3311S

 

 Date of Senate Approval      04/07/11

 

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

 

 

APC Document 20:                                          Changes to the 9-12 Social Studies Licensure Program

                                                                                                               

Effective Date:   Fall 2011

 

 

1.    Delete:                         On page 115, under Economics with Teacher Licensure, item II:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—17 hours: HIST 101, 102; POLS 220; one course from ANTH 100, SOC 221 or 240; STAT 185 or 225.

 

        Add:                              On page 115, in place of deleted entry:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—23 hours: HIST 101, 102, 151, 152; one course from POLS 220 or 281; one course from SOC 200, 210, or 220; STAT 185 or 225.

               

                               

 

2.    Delete:                         On page 160, under History with Teacher Licensure, item II:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—10 hours: ECON 101 or 102; POLS 220; one course from ANTH 100, SOC 221 or 240.

                                                               

Add:                              On page 160, in place of deleted entry:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—10 hours: ECON 101; one course from POLS 220 or 281; one course from SOC 200, 210, or 220.

 

 

 

3.    Delete:                         On page 238, under Political Science with Teacher Licensure, item II:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—16–22 hours: ECON 101 or 102; HIST 101, 102; one course from ANTH 100, SOC 221 or 240; STAT 185. Students who have not received credit for the Humanities sequence must also complete HIST 151 and 152.

 

Add:                              On page 238, in place of deleted entry:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside the major—22 hours: ECON 101; HIST 101, 102, 151, 152; one course from SOC 200, 210, or 220; STAT 185.

 

 

 

4.    Delete:                         On page 254 under title Sociology with Teacher Licensure, delete the following:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside of the major—13–19 hours: ECON 101 or 102; HIST 101, 102; POLS 220. Students who have not received credit for the Humanities sequence must also complete HIST 151 and 152. STAT 185 is recommended for students wishing to pursue additional quantitative analysis.

 

        Add:                              On page 254, in place of deleted entry:

 

                                    II.      Required courses outside of the major—19 hours: ECON 101; HIST 101, 102, 151, 152; POLS 220 or 281. STAT 185 is recommended for students wishing to pursue additional quantitative analysis.

 

 

 

Impact:  

The requested changes include course substitutions in addition to new course requirements.  Political Science, Sociology, and Economics majors will be required to take HIST 151 and 152, for an additional 6 semester hours of course credit. However, these courses are regularly offered and there are no hidden prerequisites for any of these courses. Due to the addition of HIST 151 and 152 for Political Science, Sociology, and Economics majors, these courses might see a slight increase in enrollment (many students transfer with the equivalent of these courses). However, the vast majority of 9-12 Social Studies completers are History majors. There will also be an increase in SOC 200, 210, and 220 courses, but since there are three possible courses that can be used to fulfill one 3 credit hour requirement, that impact will be divided among the three courses.  All majors will still be able to complete the licensure program and graduate without exceeding 128 hours.

Rationale: 

These changes reflect departmental response to state mandates. In 2008, the State Board of Education set forth the requirement that all licensure programs in the state be “re-envisioned” to reflect the state’s newly adopted “21st Century Standards.” The NC Professional Teaching Standards Commission developed what they term “A New Vision of Teaching.” The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) has mandated that programs be streamlined and updated to allow us to produce more teachers faster, while still ensuring that our candidates meet the new standards. NCDPI has directed us to eliminate redundancy among courses and emphasize core content, learning and thinking skills, information and communications technology, life skills, and 21st Century Assessments. All licensure programs at UNCA were revised in keeping with this mandate.

 

ECON 101 has been made the only option because it more closely aligns with the content taught in the Civics and Economics class our candidates teach in high school.  HIST 151 and 152 has been added in for all 9-12 Social Studies candidates based on the need for this content when they teach an intensive semester-long World History course in high school.  POLS 281 has been added as an option to give students more flexibility in preparing for the Civics and Economics class that they will teach.  The Sociology classes have been changed to better reflect the content candidates need to know when teaching the criminal justice system as part of the Civics and Economics class.

 

These changes represent the efforts of a collaboration of Education Department faculty, public school personnel, current candidates, and program alumni. We have met multiple times over the last two years to develop the proposed program. Our intention is to carefully evaluate the new program for two to three years to determine their effectiveness. (Our programs are evaluated every year by surveying alumni and their employers along with student teachers.) Further, NCDPI will review our programs beginning in 2012 and we have an NCATE accreditation visit scheduled for Fall 2013. These forthcoming visits will ensure that we monitor candidates’ progress and seek candidate input regularly. We will assess the impact of these changes and revise the programs, if necessary, based on the data.