Annual Report

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

Data-Informed Practices

As a department, we continued our data-informed conversations with the goal of program improvement and a continued focus on two main areas: Praxis content knowledge examination and teacher reflection-on-action key task.

Praxis Content Knowledge Examination: Analysis of Praxis data continued in the 2018-2019 academic year as did supplemental support structures for developing TC pedagogical content knowledge. Elementary Praxis review workshops were offered each fall and spring semester to any SOE students pursuing an Elementary license. This encompasses TCs who major in Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, and Special Education. During the 2018-2019 academic year, the free review workshops were expanded to include a session on Social Studies with Dr. Todd Laugen of the MSU Denver History Department and a session on science with Cody Harrington, a Lecturer in Elementary Education.

Dr. Sue Ahrendt piloted the integration of micro review points into math methods courses, which serve TCs in both Elementary Education and Special Education. Weekly, Dr. Ahrendt embedded a focused micro review through a practice question followed by links to free web-based resources, such as Kahn Academy, for TCs to engage in self-initiated study.

Based upon data-informed practices and collaborations over the last three years, TC’s Praxis scores continue an upward trend. Following is a brief summary of the highest pass score trend comparing 2016-2017 and 2018-2019: Science 61.4% to 81.1% (state average 79.1%); Social Studies. 68.5% to 80.9% (state average 79.2%); Mathematics 60% to 84.1% (state average 78.5%); Reading/Language Arts 70.3 to 84.1% (state average 84.4%)

Teacher Reflection-on-Action Key Task: As a department, we continued our second full year of a key task woven into three junctures in our undergraduate program. The “teacher reflection on action” task is framed as a “critical incident” in which Teacher Candidates (TCs) are asked to self-identify one complex learning moment in their clinical field experience, then reflect deeply with connections to theory. The task had been designed to address a need identified in the 2015 Colorado Department of Education (CDE) reauthorization visit: to heighten TCs’ connections between theory (methods courses) and practice (clinical fields). As a department, we began disentangling how reflection varies as students shift from “I do, we do, you do” instructional models into inquiry-based practices.

Recognition of Excellence

Included in excellence is recognition, awards, and advanced credentials garnered by teacher candidates and faculty.

Teacher Candidates and Graduates: Three of our Spring 2019 Elementary Major graduates in the extended residency program were recognized by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) as

educators in Colorado: Saira Galindo Vazquez, Darlene Lopez, and Marina Ribes-Martin. In addition to earning their elementary teaching licenses, all three honorees completed the concentration for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) education. In addition to this CDHE honor, Ms. Vazquez was featured on Telemundo, as part of a story focusing on how MSU Denver serves LatinX students and Dreamers.

Another Elementary Major and extended residency graduate was McKenna Beam (Literacy concentration) who received the Spring 2019 SOE Outstanding Student Award. SOE graduate, Jacqueline Lujan, was the focus of a MSU Denver RED Story in December 2018. Ms. Lujan is a bilingual elementary teacher at Holm Elementary, one of our elementary residency partnership schools with Denver Public Schools (DPS).

Faculty: Faculty who were recognized for excellence in teaching include Dr. Ingrid Carter who was honored at “Roadrunners who Soar” for receiving a Faculty Senate Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Ingrid Carter, Associate Professor, received this honor in her teaching of elementary science methods. Sara Morris, Literacy Lecturer who joined our department in Fall 2018, was recognized for excellence in teaching through her renewal of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Literacy Reading/Language Arts, Early and Middle Childhood.

The 2018-2019 academic year included a renewed focus on the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society under the leadership of Dr. Krista Griffin. In Spring 2019, 22 SOE students were initiated into Kappa Delta Pi. At the end of academic year, Dr. Griffin was recognized by the Director and Society President of Kappa Delta Pi for the positive and substantial impact of her leadership in reestablishing a chapter of Kappa Delta Pi in the School of Education.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

Faculty in TED 2 regularly attend and present at conferences, study best practices, and conduct research in their areas of expertise.

Articles published:

• Vigil, P. M., Sanjurjo, C. H., Perry Evenstad, J., Vega, E. M., Lopez, A., Bonilla-Rodriguez, V. E., Alvarez, C., Irizarry, E. (2018). Addressing Classroom Diversity Competency: A Survey of Pre-service Candidates’ Perceptions in Puerto Rico. The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations: Annual Review, 18(1), 18.
• Whitmore, K.F., Angleton, C., Pruitt, J., & Miller-Crume, S. (2019). Putting a focus on social emotional and embodied learning with the Visual Learning Analysis (VLA). Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(5), 549-558.
• Whitmore, K.F., Chisholm, J.S., Laman, T.T. & Davis, T.R. (2019). Are we really teaching for social justice and equity? A poem for five voices. Talking Points, 30(2), 19-22.

International and national refereed presentations:

• Allen, R., Starting Strong P-3rd Grade Institute, “Equity and Excellence Conference: Expand Your Equity Toolkit, “Ensuring Equity for ALL Children,” Washington State Department of Early Learning, Lynwood, WA. (August 7, 2018).
• Anderson, P. L., International Conference on Education Research and Innovation, “Global Perspectives of Dyslexia in Adolescence,” Seville, Spain. (November 2018).
• Beneke, M., Newton, J., Blanchard, S., Williams, M. & Shapland, D., DEC 34th Annual International Conference, “Labels and Language: Transforming Conversations about Identity in Early Childhood Special Education,” The Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, Orlando, FL. (October 24, 2018).
• Canges, R. L., Halley, K. F., Gustashaw, W., Altemueller, L. M., Teacher Education Division, “Making it Work! Increasing Collaboration between our Special Education and General Education Licensure Programs at MSU Denver,” Council for Exceptional Children, Las Vegas, Nevada. (November 7, 2018).
• Canges, R. L., Halley, K. F., Buckley, P. C. M., Teacher Education Division, “Preparing Teachers to work with Students with Autism and Significant Support Needs,” Council for Exceptional Children, Las Vegas, Nevada. (November 7, 2018).
• Herring, T. J., Young, K. S., International Conference on Education and Social Development, “Culturally Responsive Teaching in Online Courses,” Institute of Business Intelligence Innovation, The Woodlands, TX. (March 1, 2019).
• Nava, R. & Vigil, P. M. XV Puerto Rican Congress on Research in Education, “First generation preservice teachers and transformative learning theory: A developmental lens towards becoming a culturally responsive educator,” Universidad de Puerto Rico , Centro de Investigaciones Educativas, Universidad de Puerto Rico , Rio Piedras. (March 2019).
• Nava, R. & Vigil, P. M. XV Puerto Rican Congress on Research in Education, “First generation preservice teachers’ culturally responsiveness, urban context, and self-efficacy: Is there a relationship?,” Universidad de Puerto Rico , Centro de Investigaciones Educativas, Universidad de Puerto Rico , Rio Piedras. (March 2019).
• Perry Evenstad, J. A., Sanjurjo, C. H., 11th Annual International Conference of Education Research and Innovation, “Barriers to Learning: Sexual Harassment and Dating Violence in K-12 Education in the United States,” IATED, Seville, Spain. (November 13, 2018).
• Shapland, D., NCTM Annual Conference, “Making Daily Routines into Thinking Rituals that Get Results: Building P-2 Number Sense Every Day,” National Conference of Teachers of Mathematics, SanDiego California. (April 5, 2019).
• Shapland, D., 9th Annual Early Childhood STEM Conference, “Integrated STEM for the Early Years,” The Children’s Center at Caltech, Pasadena, CA. (February 22, 2019).

State Presentations:

• Cook-LaPointe, S., Shapland, D., Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference, “Leaders Leading Leaders: Creating a Culture to Nourish Teacher Leaders,” Early Childhood Leadership Council Alliance, Denver, CO. (March 1, 2019).
• Shapland, D., Cook-LaPointe, S., Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference, “Teaching from Strengths: Evaluation and Planning for Growth not Gaps,” Early Childhood Leadership Council Alliance, Denver, CO. (March 1, 2019).
• Shapland, D., Courage To Risk Collaborative Conference for Special Educators, “Self-Reflection as a Tool to Develop Cultural Responsiveness,” Courage to Risk, Colorado Springs, CO. (February 2, 2019).
• Shapland, D., Colorado Association of Science Teachers Conference, “Integrated STEM for the Primary Years,” CAST, Denver, CO. (November 9, 2018).
• Shapland, D., CAGT Annual Conference: Understanding Giftedness, “Identifying Those We Don’t See,” Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, Loveland, CO. (October 23, 2018).
• Shapland, D., EC STEM symposium, “Culturally Responsive Techniques for Making Math Accessible to All Students,” Colorado Association for the Education of Young Children, Boulder, CO. (October 12, 2018).
• Shapland, D., COAEYC Fall Conference 2018, “Making Daily Routines Work for you: Building Number Sense Every Day,” Colorado Association for the Education of Young Children, Durango, CO. (September 22, 2018).
• Shapland, D., Cook-LaPointe, S., Estes Park Early Childhood Conference, “Connecting with Children’s Strengths,” Estes Park Early Childhood Council, Estes Park, CO. (April 27, 2019).

Conference Attendance (two examples from many):

• Malinda Jones attended the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association.
• Dorothy Shapland attended the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Grants Awarded:

• Jones, M. E., Allen, R., & Shapland, D. “Early Childhood Workforce Innovation Grant,” Sponsored by Early Milestones, $250,000.00. (May 1, 2018 – August 2019).
• Hinde, E., Shapland, D., Allen, R., & Jones, M. “Roadrunner Early Childhood Education Program,” Sponsored by Daniels Fund, Private, $200,000.00. (March 1, 2018 – March 30, 2021).
• Canges, R.L. “Voices from the Classroom: General Education Teacher’s Perspectives on their Preparation for Supporting Students with Disabilities Included in their Classroom,” Metropolitan State University of Denver, $1,700.00.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

Below are examples of expanding spaces for diversity and inclusivity.

International: Under the leadership of Dr. Griffin, our partnership with the Zurich University of Teacher Education (ZUTE) continued in its third year. Each fall, two education majors from ZUTE study at MSU Denver for a semester abroad. For three weeks in January, two MSU Denver Elementary majors attend Swiss Winter School during which time they teach English as a Foreign language to second through fifth grade children. In exchange, two students from ZUTE attend SOE classes for a semester. One of the students attended classes in the elementary program and the other in our secondary education program.

University: Dr. Horan was recognized in the “Roadrunners who Soar” Awards ceremony for contributions to one of the workgroups focused on MSU Denver achieving status as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Dr. Horan collaborated with colleagues in the HSI workgroup that focused on Transfer and Enrollment Management.

Course and Community: In the Spring 2019, students in Dr. Kathleen Luttenegger’s EDU 1111 Education in Diverse Communities provided more than 435 hours of community service. The goals of this service learning were to: 1) learn what community services are available and used by families in the Denver metropolitan area, 2) meet community volunteers to learn about what they do and what motivates them to serve, and 3) work with community members from different backgrounds than their own.  Examples of organizations included SAME Café, Café 180, Clothes to Kids, Healing Waters, and Jeffco Action Center.

Department: In Spring 2019, Dr. Horan received a grant through the Office of Funded Projects to facilitate a Spanish children’s book club, “Cuentos para Crecer,” for Elementary teacher candidates. Cuentos was designed to create a bilingual space to honor and expand the language repertoires of teacher candidates and increase access to books by diverse authors and illustrators (#weneeddiversebooks). In collaboration with Dr. Ofelia Schepers, the pilot meeting received positive feedback with the program to continue in the 2019-2020 academic year.

SOE: Dr. Ofelia Schepers co-chaired the SOE Diversifying the Teacher Workforce (DTW) Committee with Dr. Philip Bernhardt.

For the 2018-2019 academic year, faculty piloted a monthly community building space for SOE students. Known as Coffee, Cookies and Community (C3), the informal meetings occurred twice daily on First Tuesdays. Faculty from all SOE departments attended the sessions to converse with students and potential students. Dr. Horan proposed and coordinated C3 in response to the first annual (2017) SOE Student Climate Survey. SOE student survey responses suggested a need for our nontraditional, commuter students to develop an increased sense of belonging.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

• Lorretta Chávez completed the “MSU Denver DREAMer Network Undocupeers Training,” MSU Denver.
• Tina Herring participated in a webinar called, “Meeting the Needs of Diverse Digital Learners with the Help of Quality Matters and SoftChalk.”
• Rosemarie Allen moderated a webinar panel called, “Having Conversations about Race, Bias, and Equity” for the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.
• Lorretta Chávez was Chair of the Higher Education Linguistically Diverse Educators Committee.
• Dorothy Shapland was a member of the Inclusion, Equity and Social Justice Committee of the Division for Early Childhood.
• Peter Vigil was the Communications Officer for Higher Education & Linguistically Diverse Education.
• Rosemarie Allen gave the following keynote/plenary addresses:
  •  Allen, R., OCALICON: The Nation’s Premier Autism and Disabilities Conference, “Culturally Responsive Leadership,” Ohio Department of Education – Office for Exceptional Children, Columbus, Ohio. (November 13, 2018).
  •  Allen, R., Managing Behavior: Alternatives to Early Childhood Suspensions and Expulsions, “The Role of Implicit Bias in Early Childhood Education,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA. (October 25, 2018).
  • Allen, R., ESU Leadership InService, “Implicit Bias,” Educational Service Unit 13, Scottsbluff, NE. (October 19, 2018).
  • Allen, R., Region 9 QRIS Hub Summer Institute, “Suspending Biases, Not Children!,” Orange County Department of Education, Palm Springs, CA. (August 13, 2018).
  • Allen, R., Tennessee Department of Education, Early Childhood Summit, “Equity, Excellence, and Innovation,” Tennessee Department of Education, Nashville, TN. (July 23, 2018).
  • Allen, R., WAVE Conference (Week of Academic Vision and Excellence), “The Disproportionality in Suspensions and Expulsions: Why We Should All Care,” Wyoming Department of Education, Laramie, WY. (July 31, 2018).
• Charlie Buckley gave the following state presentations:
  • Buckley, P. C. M., Murza, K.,Tami, C., SWAAAC Summer Conference, “Communication is Everyone’s Job,” Statewide Assistive Technology, Augmentative and Alternative Communication and the Colorado Department of Education, Denver, Colorado. (June 11, 2019).
  • Buckley, P. C. M., Halley, K., Courage to Risk, “Social communication for students with SSN and ASD,” Colorado Department of Education CEC, Colorado Springs, Colorado. (February 1, 2019).

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Dr. Kathryn Young continued to contribute to the field of multicultural education. She was the recipient of the MLK Peace Award in 2018.
• Dr. Philip Bernhardt was actively involved in the Honors program, trying to bridge School of Education faculty/students and the Honors program. He will be one of the associate directors of the Honors program starting in Fall 2018.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson’s NOYCE team continued to recruit student scholars to increase the number and diversity of math and science teachers serving high need schools.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad served the CO-National Association for Multicultural Educators as a board member and co-chair, promoting multicultural education.
• The K-12 Physical Education program completed its first year in TED 3. This smooth and successful transition demonstrated inclusivity and increased the diversity of our faculty.
• Educational Technology faculty are working on a completely online instructional technology certificate program. This program is designed for anybody from everywhere who is interested in the program. It attracts a diverse group of learners, not just teacher licensure students in our department.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

District Partnerships: Expanded impact came with our second full academic year of the undergraduate Residency programs. Partner districts doubled from Fall 2017 to Fall 2018, with residency sites in Denver Public Schools (DPS), Jefferson County Public Schools (Jeffco), Brighton 27J, and Aurora Public Schools (APS). This allowed the cohort-based placement close to 30 residents, compared to 14 in Fall 2017. By the end Spring 2019, residency placements had been facilitated for almost 60 Fall 2019 residents.

With the growth of district partnerships, the need for site coordinators grew. Along with Ali O’Brien, Dr. Luttenegger played a key role in transitional leadership across Brighton 27J and Denver Public Schools in Fall 2018. In Spring 2019, two part-time Elementary Residency Site Coordinators joined our faculty: Sarah Grant and Julie Eber.

Not-for-Profit, Community Partners: In Summer 2019, Dr. Griffin continued a collaborative venture begun in Summer 2018 in which TCs in the Literacy concentration tutored children at the Arthur Johnson Boys and Girls Club. This West Colfax location was chosen in part due to its proximity to the MSU Denver and in part as the community served by this Boys and Girls Club location reflected a book desert, a geographic area where proximity to books is less than ideal. To support these efforts, Dr. Griffin was awarded a Service Learning grant to purchase children’s books for tutoring, which was a focus of her RDG 4333 Individual Assessment and Instruction in Literacy course.

Dr. Corey Sell continued his partnership with History Colorado! TCs in Dr. Sell’s undergraduate and graduate Social Studies methods courses were afforded opportunities to serve as docents who developed and implemented curricular units at the museum.

Dr. Ofelia Schepers collaborated with colleagues on a new partnership with Resilient Futures regarding Trauma Informed Practices. This included providing workshops for students and faculty.

University Collaboration: Examples of university leadership and collaboration include: Dr. Luttenegger’s role as a Faculty Fellow for the Applied Learning Center; Dr. Sell’s serving on the Advisory Board for the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Design; and Dr. Roland Schendel’s service as SOE Caucus chair for the MSU Denver Faculty Senate.

SOE Collaborative Leadership: Dr. Sell began co-chairing an SOE Assessment taskforce with Dr. Dorothy Shapland from Early Childhood Education. Under their leadership, the task force focused on designing end-of-program competencies aligned with the recently revised Teacher Quality Standards.

Mentorship and Collaboration with TCs: Dr. Griffin began her eighth year of mentoring TCs in applying for the MSU Denver Student Activities grant. Each year, ten TCs collaboratively prepare a presentation to request funding in order to attend the annual conference of the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association (CCIRA).  Dr. Griffin continues her mentorship at CCIRA where she guides TCs in developing their professional knowledge and networking with experienced educators.

Curricular Revision: In Spring 2019, Dr. Griffin coordinated a three-day faculty collaborative review and revision of literacy coursework. Faculty examined the cohesiveness of undergraduate literacy coursework across five literacy focused courses (RDG 3111 Emergent Literacy K-3, RDG 3222 Teaching Elementary School Writing, RDG 3333 Intermediate Literacy 4-6, and RDG 4444 Accountability in Literacy). Assessment.

Scholarly Collaborations: Dr. Ingrid Carter continued her local and national research collaborations related to elementary science methods, which yielded two publications in scholarly journals: “Teaching and learning Nature of Science in elementary classrooms: Research-based strategies for practical implementation” in Science & Education  and “Re-imaging and re-constructing cross-cultural research through critical personal narratives: an examination into fault lines in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

Dr. Griffin’s scholarship included a co-authored book chapter that focused on research methods for interacting with young children: “Participatory Research Interviewing Practices with Children,” in the book Participatory Research with Young Children (2019), edited by Angela Eckhoff.  In addition, Dr. Griffin collaborated with colleagues in Early Childhood Education in an international presentation in Valencia, Spain: “Free and Guided Socio-Dramatic Play as an Approach to Support the Early Literacy Development of Children Acquiring a Second Language and Those with Special Needs.”

TED2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

• William Gustashaw serves as a committee member on the University Graduate Program Review Committee which works with programs across the university to assess the needs of each program in order to make recommendations for improvement.
• Kara Halley serves on the – Significant Support Needs Task Force/Advisory Committee at the Colorado Department of Education.
• Vicki Nilles was the Faculty Advisor for the Metro Early Childhood Education Association.
• Carmen Santuro was the Faculty Advisor for the National Education Student Program.
• Lisa Altemueller was the Faculty Advisor for the Kappa Delta Pi National Honor Society.
• Lorretta Chávez was the Student Organization Advisor for the Colorado Education Association Student Program.
• Malinda Jones was the Co-Chair of the ECE Higher Education Partnership Committee.
• Malinda Jones was the Faculty Mentor for the Inclusive Higher Education Certificate Program.
• Vicki Nilles was a member of the Colorado Association of Teacher Educators Executive Committee.
• William Gustashaw served as the Secretary for John Adams High School, Douglas County, CO, and was responsible for writing the charter application and securing over $1.5 million in grants to assist the development of the school.
• Tina Herring was a Board Member on the Universal Education Foundation.
• Peter Vigil served on the Board of Trustees of the Boulder Valley Prep High School, and served as President, President Elect, and Past President.

• Kathryn Young continued the partnership with South High School, where one of our classroom management/assessment classes and its 2nd field experience were held.
• Todd Reimer continued the relationship with Pomona High School at Jeffco as a field placement site for students enrolled in EDS 3130/3140, the program’s introductory field experience course.
• Janelle Johnson worked with colleagues in Math and Earth and Aerospace Science on STEM education and grant work/writing.
• Hsin-Te Yeh and Miri Chung collaborated with Online learning office and MSU Denver instructional designers on the development and administration of Instructional Technology certificate program.
• Nhu Nguyen and Sue Barnd collaborated with K-12 physical educators on the Advisory Board to improve our K-12 Physical Education program and help our students connect with the field.
• Philip Bernhardt collaborated with other SOE colleagues on the development and leadership of Diversifying Teacher WorkForce Committee and related projects.
• Kathryn Young collaborated with other SOE colleagues on designing and developing trauma informed curricula.
• Jan Perry-Evenstad collaborated with faculty from University of Puerto Rico on projects related to multicultural education and maintain the partnership with them.
• Ellen Spitler as well as many other TED 3 faculty collaborated with scholars/faculty outside MSU Denver on research projects/presentations/manuscripts/publications.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Two faculty in Elementary Education and Literacy were recognized for their teaching excellence through the Faculty Senate Teaching Excellence Award (TEA). Dr. Corey Sell received this honor in his role as a tenure-track faculty member with his teaching that focuses on Social Studies Methods and Assessment and Instruction. Ali O’Brien was recognized for her Category II position as our Elementary Education Residency Site Coordinator and her teaching of literacy courses for both elementary and secondary students.
• As a commitment to excellence in teacher preparation, our department was enriched with the addition of Dr. Sue Ahrendt, who brings unique expertise in mathematics educators specifically for elementary educators. Dr. Ahrendt’s national presence in publications and presentation adds to our excellence.
• As a department, we continued our regular data assessment meetings that had begun the year prior. We focused on two main areas: examining Praxis data trends and examining data from a new key task that was woven into three key junctures in our program in order to capture our students’ ability to meet a Teacher Quality Standard (TQS) that focused on teacher reflection.  This critical incident task asked students to self-identify one rich, complex learning moment in their clinical field experience and reflect deeply with connections to theory. The task had been designed to address a need identified in a previous reauthorization visit to heighten our students’ connections between theory (methods courses) and practice (clinical fields).  We began the fall examining Spring 2017 data trends, then met in January to examine trends across previous semesters, including Fall 2017. Through this process, we are keenly aware of the need to teach our students how to reflect deeply and we began conversation around how reflection is taught and modeled across our field classes, including opportunities for students to self-assess their ability to reflect as educators. In the area of Praxis, we continued a pilot begun in Spring 2017 to offer Praxis workshops once a semester for students around study strategies, Language Arts, and Mathematics.  During Summer 2018, two faculty began work on creating mini-learning/review lessons that strategically connected course content to a brief practice test item and with connections to further review sources, such as mathematics content knowledge being developed through links to specific Kahn Academy lessons. The SOE assessment specialist, Bev Andes, joined us in these meetings to add insight and prompt our thinking in ways that might refine our data team. The rubric for this task was informed by key theories of teacher reflection that capture mechanical through critical teacher reflection.
• Our first round of residents began piloting our Residency Summative Task (RST)—an assessment that our department has been developing collaboratively since Summer 2017. The task is a body of evidence, similar to the portfolios required for National Board Certification and by districts in assessing their teachers’ meeting of Teacher Quality Standards. The RST is supported by the Critical Incident Task that is structured throughout our program in order to build strong teacher reflection needed to demonstrate proficiency upon completion of our program.  Data from this first year is being examined by our department data team in early Fall 2018, as a means of not only refining the assessment tool but also recognizing areas for growth in our program.
• During the last semester of the two semester Residency, students were enrolled in a co-requisite course that focused on assessment and data teams for our preservice teachers relative to their residency sites.  The instructor for the course, Dr. Kathleen Luttenegger, designed an assignment that required students to demonstrate their ability to plan a unit of study through backward design that considered the intended learning outcomes of their students.
• In an effort to identify students in residency who needed intervention support, we piloted our new benchmark, rubric-based, self-assessments that are completed at three intervals in the program. The simple benchmarks serve the function of what is known in public education as Response to Intervention (RTI). The benchmarks demonstrate minimum expectations of performance that if a student is not meeting are an indicator of the need for support.
• In Spring 2018, we met with math educators from the Department of Mathematics, who teach our students their Mathematics content knowledge courses, with one of our topics being the opportunity to share praxis score trends in mathematics. This meeting was facilitated by Drs. Deborah Horan, Ingrid Carter, and Robert Nava.
• In Spring 2018, Dr. Horan collaborated with the chair, Dr. David Ruch, of the Science Department in ensuring offerings of Integrated Science in the summer for our students. This was based upon noting a slight decrease in our science Praxis scores following a decrease in offerings in the two integrated science courses. Although we have no evidence of correlation between the two, we greatly value the integrated science courses that were specifically designed for our students, so Dr. Horan supported Dr. Ruch by emailing a survey to all Elementary and Special Education students to inquire who might enroll in one of these courses if offered in the summer.  The survey responses indicated strong interest to the degree that both courses were offered in the summer for our students.
• During the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 academic year, two faculty from Elementary Education and Literacy served on the SOE Assessment Committee: Drs. Krista Griffin and Deborah Horan.
• In order to support excellence in teaching within our new residency program, we utilized fulltime faculty as supervisors during our pilot year in order to ensure the establishment of high standards. Supervisors included Dr. Roland Schendel, Ms. Tammy Kerr, and Ms. Kathy Nelson in addition to Ms. Ali O’Brien (the latter three are Category II faculty). CLD specialist Dr. Peter Vigil from the Department of Special Education, Early Childhood, and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education served as a supplemental supervisor of our students who were seeking a CLD endorsement from the Colorado Department of Education. To further ensure that our students seeking this endorsement demonstrate their professional knowledge, Dr. Schendel designed an assignment in the co-requisite literacy course during Residency I to include a focus on each students’ concentration (CLD, Literacy, Mathematics, Psychology, or Chicano Studies).  Students in the CLD concentration are required to demonstrate their professional knowledge required for the CLD endorsement in the Residency Summative Task.
• As part of a national conversation, Dr. Rolly Schendel participated as a panelist during the AACTE Clinical Practice Commission’s presentation of findings on effective educator preparation.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

• Faculty in TED 2 regularly attend and present at conferences, study best practices, and conduct research in their areas of expertise.
• Dr. Lisa Altemueller published an article with her colleague Cindy Lindquist entitled Flipped Classroom Instruction for Inclusive Learning in the British Journal of Special Education.
• Dr. Rebecca Canges published an article with colleagues entitled Review of Single Subject Research Examining the Effectiveness of Interventions for At-Risk English Learners in the Journal Learning Disabilities Research & Practice.
• Dr. Tina Herring published an article with her colleagues entitled Take a SIP of this: Peer-to-peer Promotion of Strong Instructional Practices in the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
• Drs. Malinda Jones, Rosemarie Allen, and Dorothy Shapland received the Early Childhood Workforce Innovation Grant for $250,000.
• Drs. Dorothy Shapland, Rosemarie Allen, Malinda Jones and Elizabeth Hinde received the Roadrunner Early Childhood Education Program grant for $200,000 from Daniels’ Fund.
• Dr Tina Herring completed the ELITE Certification training program through the MSU Denver Education Technology Center.
• Drs. Kara Halley and Pamela (Charlie) Buckley worked with CDE on a state improvement project that uses data and coaching to develop model sites for students with SSN.
• Drs. Rebecca Canges, Kara Halley, and William Gustashaw presented their research entitled Voices from the classroom: Examining the perceptions of General Education teachers and their preparation for working with students with disabilities at the Council for Exceptional Children conference in Tampa, Florida.
• Dr. Vicki Nilles presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Education with The Positive Impact of Free and Guided Socio-dramatic Play on Literacy Development in Early Childhood.

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• TED 3 faculty actively participated in professional learning activities such as seminars/workshops/ conferences to gain skills and knowledge in their fields. In 2017-2018 academic year, faculty attended more than 60 learning events.
• TED 3 faculty were also actively involved in presenting research and publishing journal articles. In the 2017-2018 academic year, faculty did more than 35 refereed/non-refereed presentations and published more than 10 refereed/non-refereed journal articles/book chapters.
• In an effort to improve clinical experiences in the Secondary/K-12 program, faculty continued to implement, evaluate, and modify the lesson plan template required for teacher candidates during student teaching as part of the teacher work sample and formal observations with their university supervisor (except for math, art, & PE). TED 3 Faculty continued to offer support to university supervisors regarding lesson plan templates.
• Drs. Hsin-Te Yeh and Miri Chung (Educational Technology) initiated a plan for an Instructional Technology certificate program and proposed the plan to the Board of Trustees (BOT). This new, completely online certificate program was approved by the BOT and is now in the process of curriculum design and development. This online program will go through the curriculum review process in Fall 2018.
• Dr. Philip Bernhardt wrote and was funded with the Provost’s mini grants for both Fall 2017 (Integrating Undergraduate Research and Pre-Service Science Teacher STEM Experiences) and Spring 2018 (National Science Foundation (NSF) Master Teacher) Fellowships.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson wrote and was funded with a Provost’s mini grant for Fall 2017 (STEM Ecosystems: A Longitudinal Study with Students and Families of Color).
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad, director of the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center continued to work on the project funded by the Department of Education ($8,453,437) to provide technical assistance and training upon request, at no cost, covering the civil rights areas of Title IV, Title VI and Title IX.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson is leading a team/project funded by the National Science Foundation ($ 1,449,970) on inclusive STEM teaching preparation at an urban commuter university (U-STEM). This is a 5-year project starting in Fall 2017.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson continued to work on the ITEST project funded by the National Science Foundation to utilize a community-based approach to engage students and teachers in effective STEM education.
• Drs. Nhu Nguyen and Sue Barnd reviewed and redesigned the K-12 Physical Education program to meet the current standards/requirements. The program change will be proposed for curriculum review in Fall 2018.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson planned and organized a summer trip to Educator Academy in the Amazon. She selected 3 science students to participate. They will work together to submit a presentation proposal to a conference about this learning experience after they return.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• In Elementary Education and Literacy, we are committed to pursuing high quality hires who reflect the diversity of our student population. In Fall 2017, we were fortunate to have an exceptional graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder enrich our faculty through her professional expertise around diversity and second-hand trauma—the latter an expertise that is cutting edge in recent opportunities discussed with external collaborators around trauma-informed practices.  Dr. Ofelia Schepers’ graduation speech at CU Boulder is a mere glimpse into the nuanced insights that she has already brought to our department and students around serving diverse university students.
• Dr. Schepers is also one of three faculty who are building upon their unique professional knowledge to teach a new course: EDU 1111 Education within Diverse Communities. In Fall 2017, we submitted a new course proposal for a freshman level multicultural course that would replace our 3000-level course. Our strategic intentions included: offering a freshman level course to perhaps invite more students of color into our teacher education program and even as change agents and future collaborators if pursuing other majors. In addition, we had intended to offer this as a First Year Success Course in order to tie in support services. With the change in FYS, we nonetheless proceeded to find ways to utilize this as a recruitment opportunity as well as means to connect any students to services that support their overall success. In keeping with that, Ms. Colleen Toomy, Coordinator of First-Gen Initiatives at The Center for Equity and Student Achievement, began teaching our 3000-level Multicultural course in Spring 2017 and stepped into teaching the freshman level version when the course was approved to begin this fall.  Another rationale for creating the freshman level course was that some of our students bring in lower division courses that could be equivalent to our Multicultural course. This is an effort to be more inclusive of our transfer students, which in our particular department trends above the average for the university.
• The EDU 1111 course had been designed by Dr. Deborah Horan and Dr. Megan Lawless, who in Fall 2017 was tenure track faculty in our department. In Spring 2018, the SOE was fortunate to have Dr. Lawless assume the role of Interim Director of the Office of Clinical Experiences and Practices (OCEP), based upon her former professional experiences in a similar role at Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Dr. Megan Lawless had been intentionally hired into our department along with Dr. Ofelia Schepers, as their combined expertise in diversity and inclusive practices allowed us to strengthen our Elementary major. During Fall 2017, Dr. Lawless collaborated with Dr. Corey Sell and others in infusing inclusive practices into key methods courses.
• The expertise of Dr. Kathleen Luttenegger as a special educator continues to allow her to infuse inclusive practices into her courses and in threading differentiation into assignments for students in their culminating residency year.
• Lastly, Dr. Horan convened with a small groups of university leaders last year as part of the Executive Council of Chairs and Directors (COCD) in order to address ACCESS Accommodations from the perspective of the COCD.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

• Drs. Carmen Sanjurjo and Jan Perry Evenstad served as panelists at the ICERI 2017 10th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation Educational reforms and equity in the United States and its Territories in Seville, Spain.
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen delivered a webinar entitled Implicit Bias: From Awareness to Positive Change for the Military Families Learning Network.
• Dr. Dorothy Shapland presented at the Rocky Mountain Early Childhood conference with If All means All how do we reach each?
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen presented at the Educators of Color Summit with Suspended for what? Ending suspension/expulsion of black boys in early childhood education.
• Drs. Rebecca Canges, Kara Halley, Peggy Anderson and Tina Herring participated in the University Disability Awareness festival.
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen delivered a keynote at the 14th annual After School Zone conference for the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County entitled Recognizing your Biases when addressing challenging behavior.
• Dr. Lisa Altemueller serves on the ACCESS Center advisory board for the University.
• Dr. Peter Vigil continues to serve as a committee member on the Diversity and Inclusion committee which develops and endorses initiatives, grounded in inclusive excellence, for the office of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Dr. Tina Herring continues to serve as the Faculty Liaison for the Access Center (Fall 2013 – present) and provides academic testing to support the assessment of students with Learning Disabilities.
• Drs. Lorretta Chavez and Peter Vigil continue to serve on the Latino Graduation Committee.
• Dr. Dorothy Shapland supports students who are English Language Learners with writing (revision and editing support) during specific advising hours.
• Dr. Carmen Sanjurjo serves as a committee member on the Faculty Senate Multicultural committee which reviews curriculum in terms of qualifying for the University multicultural designation.

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Dr. Kathryn Young continued to contribute to the field of multicultural education. She was the recipient of the MLK Peace Award in 2018.
• Dr. Philip Bernhardt was actively involved in the Honors program, trying to bridge School of Education faculty/students and the Honors program. He will be one of the associate directors of the Honors program starting in Fall 2018.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson’s NOYCE team continued to recruit student scholars to increase the number and diversity of math and science teachers serving high need schools.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad served the CO-National Association for Multicultural Educators as a board member and co-chair, promoting multicultural education.
• The K-12 Physical Education program completed its first year in TED 3. This smooth and successful transition demonstrated inclusivity and increased the diversity of our faculty.
• Educational Technology faculty are working on a completely online instructional technology certificate program. This program is designed for anybody from everywhere who is interested in the program. It attracts a diverse group of learners, not just teacher licensure students in our department.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• On a department-wide level, the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 year launched our extended residency partnerships with school districts. In Fall 2017, our first cohort of residents began in two major school districts: Denver Public Schools (DPS) and Jefferson County Public Schools (Jeffco). Within DPS, we collaborated with two school sites that identified with district leadership: McGlone Elementary and Holm Elementary.  Within Jeffco, we collaborated with two schools identified: Wilmore Davis and South Lakewood Elementary.
• Our first Elementary Residency Site Coordinator, Ms. Ali O’Brien in collaboration with Dr. Megan Lawless, initiated professional development which brought together mentor teachers and residents in three meetings during the academic year.
• In Spring 2018, we added a third partner district, School District 27J, and began conversations with a fourth district, Aurora Public Schools, to begin in Fall 2018.  Collaborative efforts in 27j and Aurora were enhanced by the relationships previously formed by faculty, in particular Drs. Rolly Schendel and Corey Sell.
• In Spring 2018, several faculty joined together to present on our residency model at the American Association of the Council of Educators (AACTE): Drs. Corey Sell, Kathleen Luttenegger, Krista Griffin, Rolly Schendel, and Deborah Horan.
• In Summer 2018, Dr. Krista Griffin began a collaborative literacy tutoring course that included students in our Elementary Major, Literacy Concentration, tutoring children at the Boys and Girls Club.
• In Fall 2017, the SOE piloted an approach to the goal setting for our Annual Assessment report that was collaborative in nature. Within our department, we focused on goals that we established based upon our yearlong collaborative efforts around assessing our new Elementary major.
• Drs. Ingrid Carter and Sue Ahrendt collaborated with two part-time Category II specialist in mathematics education, Ms. Cody Jorgensen (ABD) and Dr. Dennis DeBay, in piloting a STEM team approach to teaching and supervising across the science and math methods courses and clinical experiences. Dr. Carter’s expertise in science education for elementary students continues to be demonstrated in her national publications and presentations.

TED2 – Special Education, Early Childhood and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education

• Dr. Rebecca Canges serves as Task Force Chair for the University’s initiative, One Team of Leaders Transformation Sustainability, which focuses on developing and implementing Inclusive Leadership across the university.
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen served as a panelist at the Council for Exceptional Children conference for How do we engage in collaborative consultative services: An inter-disciplinary deep dive discussion in Portland, Oregon.
• Drs. Malinda Jones, Dorothy Shapland, and Rosemarie Allen work collaboratively with the city of Denver, the United Way, and several nonprofit service agencies to plan and organize child care for Project Homeless Connect (PHC).
• Dr. Lorretta Chavez has worked collaboratively with the Department of Chicano studies and the Department of Modern Languages, serving as the committee chair to develop a Bilingual Education Specialist Certificate program.
• Dr. William Gustashaw currently serves as a committee member on the University Program Review Committee which works with programs across the university to assess the needs of each program in order to make recommendations for improvement.
• Dr. Kara Halley has served since 2006 as a member of the Significant Support Needs Advisory Committee, which serves to advise the Colorado Department of Education regarding students with significant support needs; they created “Quality Indicators for Assessing Individualized Services for Students with Significant Support Needs” to collect data for the state.
• Dr. Malinda Jones collaborated with Community Colleges to streamline Early Childhood Education transfer courses for students coming to MSU Denver.
• Dr. Peter Vigil continues to serve on the Partnership committee which is charged with refining the procedures for selecting and implementing effective partnerships with k-12 public schools.
• Collaborating on an ongoing study, Drs. Carmen Sanjurjo, Peter Vigil, Jan Perry Evanstad, and Myron Anderson collaborated on, “How Do Pre-Service Teachers’ Understandings of Cultural Diversity Evolve During their Participation in a Licensure Program: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Preparation Programs in the United States and Puerto Rico”. This is collaboration between MSU Denver and the University of Puerto Rico faculty.

TED3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Dr. Philip Bernhardt worked with faculty from the Environmental Science program on building research and integrating diversity in Geoscience education at an urban emerging Hispanic serving institution and submitted a National Science Foundation grant proposal.
• Dr. Kathryn Young continued to develop a partnership with South High School, where her classroom management class and 2nd field experience were held.
• Dr. Todd Reimer continued to establish a relationship with Pomona High School at Jeffco as a field placement site for students enrolled in EDS 3130/3140, the program’s introductory field experience course.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson continued to work with her grant team composed of faculty from different departments to establish relationships with schools that would place our students in STEM environments for field experience and student teaching. Those schools include Englewood Middle/High Schools, Northglenn High School, Vista Peak P-16, Goddard Middle School, Denver Green School and STEM Launch.
• Drs. Hsin-Te Yeh and Miri Chung collaborated with MSU Denver instructional designers on the design and development of Instructional Technology certificate program.
• Drs. Nhu Nguyen and Sue Barnd collaborated with K-12 physical educators on the Advisory Board to improve our K-12 Physical Education program and help our students connect with the field.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Last year launched the roll out of five new courses in the Elementary Major, with various faculty integrating their disciplinary expertise for the benefit of students. Dr. Corey Sell challenged our novice teachers to explore the integrative nature of the social studies with an emphasis on disciplinary content, thinking, and literacy. Dr. Sell’s focus on expanding social studies knowledge of our novice teachers speaks directly to an identified need of our students within the social studies Praxis subtest. In a time of decreasing social studies instruction in elementary schools, Dr. Sell challenges our students to teach in powerful and purposeful ways as outlined by The National Council for the Social Studies.  He collaborated with Dr. Krista Griffin last year to publish an example of such powerful and purposeful teaching.  The article was published in The Social Studies Journal and titled: Powerful Social Studies Teaching with Poetry and Primary Sources.
• For the first time, our elementary students participated in two separate methods courses to develop STEM pedagogical content knowledge: one course focuses solely on mathematics and another on science, with knowledge from both applied in a combined STEM clinical experience.  Instructors for spring’s launch of these courses included Dr. Doug VanDine, with expertise in PreK-12 mathematics, and Linda Morris, former Elementary Science Curriculum Coordinator for Denver Public Schools. Carrying this expertise forward are Dr. Ingrid Carter (elementary science expertise) and a new tenure-track faculty member, Dr. Susan Ahrendt (elementary mathematics expertise).
• Drs. Roland Schendel, Kristin Griffin, and Deborah Horan focused on both site-based and campus-based literacy methods courses that accompanied a new clinical experience in which novice teachers develop literacy content knowledge.  Dr. Schendel taught a site-based day section at Park Hill Elementary in Denver Public Schools while Drs. Griffin and Horan offered options on the main campus for evening students.
• With the new Praxis test allowing analysis of disaggregated data, elementary education faculty examined trends in the mathematics subtest. Two distinct patterns emerged around geometry and statistics/probability—which led to collaboration with the Mathematics department. This included Dr. Clark Dollard joining Dr. Krista Griffin in the implementation of her proposed support: Offer our students a free Praxis review workshop, based upon identified needs. The first Praxis workshop was launched in May 2017, with the first half of the Saturday focused on study skills and literacy knowledge, taught by Dr. Griffin, and the afternoon session on geometric concepts and statistics/probability led by Dr. Dollard. Praxis results further informed the MSU Denver math educators’ examination of key content courses.
• Drs. Roland Schendel and Corey Sell presented at the Annual Meeting of AACTE on university-school partnerships. With the facilitation of Dr. Sell, he and several other faculty began collaboratively designing a research study to examine our new residency program, with a proposal submitted and accepted for AACTE in Spring 2018.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• Faculty in TED 2 regularly attend and present at conferences, study best practices, and conduct research in their areas of expertise.  (See section on faculty and department successes and achievements for examples).
• Drs. Lisa Altemueller and Cindy Lindquist have an article In Press with the British Journal of Special Education entitled Flipped Classroom Instruction for Inclusive Learning.
• Dr. Cindy Lindquist published an article in the International Journal of Progressive Education entitled Educational Reform in Turkey.
• Dr. Rebecca Canges received the Faculty Senate Teaching Excellent Award.
• Dr. Malinda Jones served as the committee chair for the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Early Childhood Competencies Task Force to assist in developing the new CDE Professional Development Information System (PDIS).
• Drs. Brian Sevier, Cindy Lindquist, Rebecca Canges, Ellen Spitler and Krista Griffin have continued their work as one of three institutes of higher education to work with CDE and University of Central Florida on a CEEDAR grant to improve reading instruction in children PK-grade 3.
• Drs. Diane Carroll and Kara Halley worked with CDE on a state improvement project that uses data and coaching to develop model sites for students with SSN.
• Dr. Dorothy Shapland created materials for the U.S. Department of Education; Office of Special Education entitled Myth Busters: Inclusion Edition.

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad proposed to move the study abroad omnibus course from “EDS 290A – Education, Culture and Diversity: A Puerto Rican Perspective” to the regular course “EDS 3000 – Education, Culture and Politics: A Puerto Rican Perspective. The last EDS 290A took place during the spring break in 2017. Students have indicated that they enjoyed the study abroad class and learned a lot.
• In an effort to continue improving clinical experiences in the Secondary/K-12 program, department faculty worked together with CLAS faculty to design a lesson plan template that teacher candidates will be required to use during student teaching as part of the work sample and for formal observations with their university supervisor (except for math, art, & PE). The template was backwards designed and reflects the concepts, theories, and practical application of our coursework in our program. The template was developed in summer and fall 2016 and then piloted among a few faculty supervisors in spring 2017. Some slight adjustments and changes were made at the end of spring 2017 to be used in the student teaching supervisor training in summer. Secondary Education has started using this lesson plan template in Fall 2017.
• Drs. Hsin-Te Yeh and Miri Chung proposed a masters level educational technology course (EDT 6000 – Technology Integration in the 21st Century Classroom) that was approved. This elective course provides opportunities for MAT students to learn about integrating educational technology into teaching.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad was the co-principal investigator for the “Region IV Equity Assistance Center” grant ($8,453,437.00) and was appointed interim director of the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center at the university.
• Dr. Philip Bernhardt submitted a federal grant ($232,584.00) proposal “An English Language College Preparatory Program for STEM Educators” and is currently under review.
• Drs. Janelle Johnson and Philip Bernhardt are working on increasing the number and diversity of math and science teachers serving high need schools. The team recruited NOYCE scholars and this cohort of scholars just started in Fall 2017. The awarded NOYCE grant “Noyce Urban STEM at MSU Denver – Capacity Building” provides $870,000.00 in scholarships for students over five years starting in Fall 2017.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson was awarded the ITEST grant ($1,199,970.00) “A MULTI Approach to Effective STEM Education.”
• As part of the NOYCE grant, all the chosen NOYCE scholars will have the full-year clinical experience during their last year in the program with the same mentor teacher. This will give teacher candidates the full year experience of “being a teacher.”

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Two new tenure track faculty were hired to meet identified program needs, based upon 1) a survey of graduates who identified the need to better understand and apply best practices in differentiation and 2) a recommendation in the SOE’s last state reauthorization visit to further integrate applied knowledge for serving bilingual students across clinical experiences and methods courses.  Dr. Megan Lawless brings expertise in inclusive education and teacher preparation while Dr. Ofelia Schepers brings a research focus on cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Dr. Kathleen Luttenegger challenged students in her multicultural courses through service learning in the community.  Projects were designed for students to work with people different from themselves.  Video reflections of her students’ projects were hosted on the MSU Denver YouTube Channel. Dr. Luttenegger has focused her recent research on the integration of service learning in teacher education, with presentations at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Hawaiian International Conference on Education (HICE) last year. Her application for a sabbatical focusing on service learning was accepted for Fall 2017 to include language immersion as well as her own service learning experiences with a non-profit organization in Guatemala focused on education.
• Dr. Lupe Martinez continued his long-term partnership with a bilingual Denver Public School: the Math Science Leadership Academy (MSLA) in West Denver.  Students’ clinical experiences focus on serving linguistically diverse students in transitional bilingual classrooms.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• Dr. Lisa Altemueller completed the Open Safe Zone Training with the LGBTQ Resource Center.
• Dr. Rebecca Canges served as a committee member on the Faculty Senate Multicultural Curriculum Committee which reviews curriculum to assess for their Multicultural classification.
• Dr. Peter Vigil serves as a committee member on the Diversity and Inclusion committee which develops and endorses initiatives, grounded in inclusive excellence, for the office of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Dr. Tina Herring continues to serve as the Faculty Liaison for the Access Center (Fall 2013 – present) and provides academic testing to support the assessment of students with Learning Disabilities.
• Drs. Lorretta Chavez and Peter Vigil continue to serve on the Latino Graduation Committee.
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen conducted a workshop at the Massachusetts Annual Pyramid Summit entitled Culturally responsive practices: Meeting the needs of diverse children in early childhood programs.
• Drs. Peter Vigil, Carmen Sanjurjo, Jan Perry Evenstad, Rosemarie Allen, and Myron Anderson presented at the University of Puerto Rico on Educational Policy and the impact on teacher preparation and evaluation in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
• Dr. Rosemarie Allen presented at the National Association for Education of Young Children on the topic Let’s stop kicking children of color out of preschool: Using culturally responsive practices to keep children of color in school. NAEYC, Orlando, Florida.

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• As part of the NOYCE capacity building grant, a Physics Undergraduate Teacher Licensure Program was proposed and approved. This expands the current Secondary Education licensure programs to include Physics as part of the science teacher licensure program.
• The NOYCE team started the recruitment of student scholars to increase the number and diversity of math and science teachers serving high need schools.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad has been on the CO-National Association for Multicultural Educators as a board member and co-chair, promoting multicultural education.
• The K-12 Physical Education program was in the process of moving to be part of TED 3 starting in Fall 2017. This increases the diversity of our department.
• TED 3 planned on bringing in a Category II secondary education faculty member who had strong multicultural background and represented the minority group.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• New partnerships with Jefferson County Public Schools (Jeffco) and Denver Public Schools (DPS) focused specifically on creating residency sites for the Elementary Major’s extended residency program. Jeffco schools include South Lakewood Elementary, with CLD qualified teachers at each grade level to serve their highly diverse population of English Language Learners (ELLs) as well as three Autism labs. The second Jeffco residency site is Whilmore-Davis Elementary, also serving CLD students.  DPS partner schools include Holmes Elementary and McGlone Elementary—both of which include transitional bilingual programs. The highly diverse student populations at all four schools supports our residents, who are seeking endorsements in cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD).   To foster relationships with these partner schools, a new Category II position was created for a residency site coordinator. Ali O’Brien began this foundational work in spring and summer on a part-time basis with her position fully in place for Fall 2017.
• A four-day faculty retreat in May 2017 focused strategically on developing curriculum for the extended residency to begin in the fall. The daylong work sessions were co-led by Drs. Kathleen Luttenegger, Corey Sell, and Megan Lawless. Among the end results was a yearlong sequence of assignments strategically aligned with standards to develop a Body of Evidence (BOE) among residents.  The time included vetting curriculum changes based upon students’ feedback on the new major and discussion of new coaching/supervision tools. Based upon best practices at other teacher education programs, Dr. Ingrid Carter drafted a repertoire of coaching tools. Through a student focus group, Dr. Carter elicited student insight that led to further revisions Faculty input resulted in the final revisions.
• In Spring 2017, three elementary faculty piloted new electronic forms for clinical experiences. Based upon feedback from the pilot faculty and students, forms were revised in preparation for all elementary supervisors to begin implementation of the revised forms in Fall 2017.  Brian Gunther’s design of the clinical forms allows a database of clinical experiences to be automatically generated, as a means of further streamlining data collection and accuracy regarding our partnerships with schools.
• Dr. Peg Fraser has continued leading students in international experiences in the United Kingdom each May, including teaching opportunities with Mary Erskin School, a primary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here on campus, Dr. Fraser brought international expertise to our department through facilitating a guest faculty visit from the University of Shkodra; Dr. Arben Bushgjokaj shared his expertise on linguistic diversity in various courses and met with professors in sharing his international perspective on education. Dr. Fraser was a guest speaking at the University of Shkodra’s opening ceremonies in Fall 2017.
• A new partnership with the Zurich University of Teacher Education (ZUTE) involved a preliminary visit by Dean Elizabeth Hinde and Dr. Krista Griffin last spring to arrange a winter school experience for elementary students in their residency year. The three-week immersion learning includes a focus on developing knowledge around multilingual education with experiences in Swiss schools. A memorandum of understanding between ZUTE and MSU Denver’s SOE include not only the short-term learning experience for our students but also creating spaces for Swiss students as international exchange students for one semester as full-time students in MSU Denver’s SOE.  Our first two international exchange students were accepted with plans in place for Fall 2017 for one Swiss student in the elementary major and another Swiss student who focuses on secondary social studies.
• Drs. Ellen Spitler (adolescent literacy) and Krista Griffin (elementary literacy) continued their participation in the national CEEDAR grant. MSU Denver is one of three Institutions of Higher Education working with the Colorado Department of Education and CEEDAR  to reform their teacher preparation programs. This included attending the Cross-State Convening and working with Colorado members and collaborating with various other states.
• Dr. Corey Sell was selected to join the state committee on redesigning the Colorado social studies standards in the Spring of 2017. In the Fall of 2016, Dr. Sell joined a Colorado Primary Sources for Elementary School Collaborative that was tasked with writing curriculum to promote the use of primary sources within elementary schools across the state of Colorado.  In the Spring 2017, his elementary social studies methods students participated in this effort with the support of the Social Studies Content Lead Specialist from the Colorado Department of Education and staff representatives from The History of Colorado, Denver Public Library, and Colorado Historic Newspapers.  The end result entailed student work being published on the CDE website. His collaboration with Dr. Krista Griffin and an Aurora public school teacher included co-teaching an integrated civics and history 3-day lesson within a fifth-grade classroom.  This led to a professional presentation at the National Council for the Social Studies and the beginnings of a co-authored publication.

TED2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• Drs. Peter Vigil and Rebecca Canges served as committee members on the School of Education Partnership committee which worked with faculty members in programs across the School of Education on refining procedures for selecting and implementing effective partnerships with k-12 public schools.
• Dr. William Gustashaw currently serves as a committee member on the University Program Review Committee which works with programs across the university to assess the needs of each program in order to make recommendations for improvement.
• Early Childhood Education faculties, led by Dr. Mary Lee Danielson, continue to collaborate with faculty from the math department to implement two classes specific to early childhood educators.  A collaboration has been established with an exchange of ideas and materials between the two departments to offer two math courses that address the needs of children in pre-school to grade 3.
• Drs. Diane Carroll and Kara Halley have served since 2006 as members of the Significant Support Needs Advisory, which serves to advise the Colorado Department of Education regarding students with significant support needs; they created “Quality Indicators for Assessing Individualized Services for Students with Significant Support Needs” to collect data for the state.
• Drs. Peter Vigil, Vicki Nilles, and Lorretta Chavez are members of the Higher Education Linguistically Diverse Education (HELDE). Dr. Chavez has worked with Kara Viesca from CU Denver and Karla Esser from Regis for four years for HELDE.  They have done research on the origins of HELDE and it contributions and together have submitted a paper for publication. Members of this group, including Drs. Chavez and Vigil presented at AERA (Presidential session) about HELDE in 2016.
• TEDM 6400 is a co-taught class with faculty from special education and elementary education who planned, taught, and evaluated the class together.  The class models collaboration and co-teaching principles.
• Collaborating on an ongoing study, Drs. Carmen Sanjurjo, Peter Vigil, Jan Perry Evanstad, and Myron Anderson collaborated on, “How Do Pre-Service Teachers’ Understandings of Cultural Diversity Evolve During their Participation in a Licensure Program: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Preparation Programs in the United States and Puerto Rico”.  This is collaboration between MSU Denver and the University of Puerto Rico faculty.

TED3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Dr. Philip Bernhardt worked with history department on the development of a new licensure program option that has CLD endorsement course work. The new program will be submitted for review in Fall 2017.
• Dr. Kathryn Young offered EDS 1001 – Educational (In)Equality in the 21st Century for the first time in Fall 2016 that involved multiple designations (service learning, general studies, first-year success, and multicultural).
• Dr. Todd Reimer planned on starting a committee and maybe a faculty learning group that helps connect Secondary Education faculty with CLAS education faculty to ensure the consistency and quality of the advising/field experience offered to students. Hopefully this group will start some time in Fall 2017.
• Dr. Janelle Johnson worked with CLAS faculty on the implementation of NOYCE grant projects to promote STEM education and prepare science educators.
• Dr. Kathryn Young continues to develop partnership with South High. Students placed at South logged 1,244 hours in spring 2017! 166 of those hours were with AVID, going to plays, culture fest, tutoring, etc. Several teachers and administrators came to share knowledge in the EDS 3210 class over the course of the semester pertaining to DACA, classroom management, involving administration in student issues, and a student panel.
• Dr. Todd Reimer continues to establish relationship with Pomona High School at JEFFCO as a field placement site for students enrolled in EDS 3130/3140, the program’s introductory field experience course.
• As part of NOYCE Capacity grant, Drs. Janelle Johnson and Philip Bernhardt continued to establish relationships with schools that would place our students in STEM environments for field experience and student teaching. Those schools include Englewood Middle/High Schools, Northglenn High School, Vista Peak p-16, Goddard Middle School, Denver Green School and STEM Launch.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Krista Griffin’s recently published book has been on display at national literacy conferences: Griffin, K. M. (2016). Listening to the Voices of Boys: Exploring the Motivation of Primary Boys to Engage in Reading. In Dr. Wen Ma (Ed.), (pp. 142). Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.
• Ingrid Carter (Weiland)has presented and published in top international and national venues on topics related to STEM. For example:
  • Akerson, V., Weiland Carter, I., Fouad, K. (August 2015). Young children’s ideas about life science concepts. Paper presented at the conference of the European Science Education Research Association, Helsinki, Finland.
  • Amador, J., & Carter, I. (2016). Conversational affordances and constraints of professional noticing during preservice teacher lesson study. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. DOI 10.1007/s10857-016-9347-x

• Various faculty have co-presented at national venues relative to teacher residencies and field experiences. For example:
  • Luttenegger, K. C., Young, K. S. (2016). Words Matter: Looking Closely at the Language Secondary Pre-Service Teachers Use in Describing Students in their Field Placements. The Field Experience Journal, 17(Spring 2016), 51-63.
  • Altemueller, L., Heuwinkel, M., Griffin, K., Schendel, R., & Vigil, P. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Annual Conference, “Redesigning Elementary Teacher Preparation: Embedding a Clinical, Residency Model in a Traditional Elementary Licensure Program,” American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Las Vegas, NV. (February 24, 2016).

• Corey Sell, Deborah Horan, and a recent TED 1 graduate, Julia Pucket, participated in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) “All Standards, All Students” (ASAS) Summer Institute. As follow-up to the institute, Drs. Sell and Horan and Ms. Pucket are creating instructional practices that serve as resources for CDE.
• Ellen Spitler and Krista Griffin joined other SOE faculty at the CEEDAR-IRIS Cross State Convening,” CEEDAR Center, Reston, VA. (June 22, 2016 – June 24, 2016) to improve reading instruction in children PK-grade 3.

• TED 1 faculty self-selected into two professional book clubs based upon identified departmental learning goals: 1) data-driven decision making and 2) differentiating instruction based upon student needs.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• Faculty in TED 2 regularly attend and present at conferences, study best practices, and conduct research in their areas of expertise.
• Brian Sevier, Cindy Lindquist, Rebecca Canges, Ellen Spitler and Krista Griffin have been involved as one of three institutes of higher education to work with CDE and University of Central Florida on a CEEDAR grant to improve reading instruction in children PK-grade 3

• Diane Carroll and Kara Halley work with CDE on a state improvement project that uses data and coaching to develop model sites for students with SSN

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• NOYCE Scholars Grant Application: During the 2015-2016 academic year time has been spent developing a 5-year, $1.2 million grant application to fund MSU Denver STEM scholars, the 2^nd phase of the NSF grant. We will submit this application in September 2016. We hope this grant will help to increase the number of well-prepared math and science teachers graduating from MSU Denver. Additionally, we implemented the NSF capacity grant that was received for the 2015-2016 school year.
• As part of the NSF capacity building grant, a Physics Undergraduate Teacher Licensure Program was developed. The program proposal will go through the curriculum process during the 16/17 school year.
• Full-Year clinical experience: All NOYCE NSF scholars (math and science) will complete their last year in the program in one context, with the same mentor teacher. This grant has will serve as a lever to incorporate this structure into our programs.
• Secondary/K-12 program faculty members have developed a new lesson plan template that will be used during student teaching. This document was backward designed to ensure it requires students to demonstrate the knowledge and understanding gained in the program during their student teaching experience.
• Secondary/K-12 program faculty members are in the process of developing a specific training for supervisors work with student teachers in our programs to help create more alignment and fidelity to program expectations.
• Two TED 3 faculty gained early tenure (Bernhardt & Young) and two TED 3 faculty become full professors (Anderson and Chung).
• In fall 2016, we will submit a CLD Educational Technology course that will serve as an elective option in both the Special Education and Elementary master’s programs.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Deborah Horan co-led a campus-wide Faculty Learning Community with Wendolyn Weber of the English Department on serving linguistically diverse university students, with participants strategically including Evelynn Guzman, Coordinator for the Bilingual Student Orientations, and Gregor Mieder, Immigrant Services Program Coordinator as well as faculty in TED3 (Philip Bernhardt), the English department, and the Sciences.

• Deborah Horan participated in the July 2016 SEED Equity and Excellence in Education conference, as a foundation for co-leading a diversity initiative on campus.

• Lupe Martinez and Deborah Horan joined the faculty diversity initiative begun by Philip Bernhardt and Kathryn Young in collaborative response to needs shared by the Africana Studies Chair, Dr. Winston Grady, for supporting students of color in becoming teachers.

TED 2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• In the past year the FRIP program was utilized in moving Rosemarie Allen from a Category II position.  She completed her doctoral program in spring 2016 and will start fall 2016 as a first year tenure track faculty.

• TED 2 has hired a high percentage of affiliate faculty of color (in fall 2015 three out of five affiliates were faculty of color and in spring 2016 four out of six affiliates were faculty of color).

• Tina Herring has served as Faculty Liaison for the Access Center (Fall 2013 – present) and provides support for faculty members who have students with disabilities in their classes as well as provides support for students receiving services from the Access Center.

• Ann Morrison has served on the Access Center Inclusion Advisory Committee, as a committee member since October 2014.

• Lorretta Chavez and Peter Vigil serve on the Latino Graduation Committee.

TED 3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• The National Science Foundation NOYCE Scholars Grant application has focused impact in three areas of diversity:
  • Recruit science and math teachers from our MSU Denver pool of STEM majors not already considering becoming a secondary teacher.
  • The grant will specifically target students from demographic groups currently underrepresented in the teaching profession.
  • The grant has specifically targeted six area schools as grant partners that are diverse and have higher percentages (40%+) of students on free and reduced lunch.

• Kathryn Young and Philip Bernhardt worked to establish an SOE inquiry group focused on examining ways to effectively diversifying the teacher workforce.

TED 1 – Elementary Education & Literacy

• Mary Heuwinkel continued her long-term partnership with Englewood Public Schools in providing mentoring and field placements within three Englewood Elementary Schools.
• Lupe Martinez continued his field placement partnership with the Denver Public School’s (DPS) Math Science Leadership Academy (MSLA, near Alameda and Tejon), which serves Denver’s Latino population.
• Roland Schendel began a partnership with Park Hill Elementary of Denver Public Schools (DPS), as a site for field-based instruction and embedded literacy field experiences.
• TED1 faculty collaboratively conducted curriculum mapping around courses in the new elementary major.

TED2 – Special Education, Early Childhood & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education

• Early Childhood Education faculties, led by Mary Lee Danielson, continue to collaborate with faculty from the math department to implement two classes specific to early childhood educators.  A collaboration has been established with an exchange of ideas and materials between the two departments to offer two math courses that address the needs of children in pre-school to grade 3.
• Diane Carroll and Kara Halley have served since 2006 as members of the Significant Support Needs Advisory, which serves to advise the Colorado Department of Education regarding students with significant support needs; they created “Quality Indicators for Assessing Individualized Services for Students with Significant Support Needs” to collect data for the state.
• Peter Vigil and Lorretta Chavez are members of the Higher Education Linguistically Diverse Education (HELDE). MSU Denver hosted one of the metro Denver meetings in fall 2015.  Peter and Lorretta are co-chairs of HELDE for this upcoming year.  Lorretta has worked with Kara Viesca from CU Denver and Karla Esser from Regis for three years for HELDE.  They have done research on the origins of HELDE and it contributions and together have submitted a paper for publication. The three also presented at 2015 AERA on HELDE. The three collaborators and Peter Vigil presented at AERA (Presidential session) about HELDE in 2016.
• TEDM 6400 is a co-taught class with faculty from special education and elementary education who planned, taught, and evaluated the class together.  The class models collaboration and co-teaching principles.
• Collaborating on an ongoing study, Carmen Sanjurjo, Peter Vigil, Jan Perry Evanstad, Myron Anderson collaborated on,”How Do Pre-Service Teachers’ Understandings of Cultural Diversity Evolve During their Participation in a Licensure Program: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Preparation Programs in the United States and Puerto Rico”.  This is collaboration between MSU Denver and the University of Puerto Rico faculty.  The literature review, development of the research instrument, and administration of the survey is complete.  Data analysis and writing phase of the project is still underway.

TED3 – Secondary, K-12 & Educational Technology

• Working with Pomona HS, Todd Reimer has worked to establish this JEFFCO school as a field placement site for an entire class of students enrolled in EDS 3130, the program’s introductory field experience course.
• Working with South HS, Kathryn Young and Philip Bernhardt are establishing a partnership that will start in Spring 2017. One of the courses, EDS 3210 (instructional methods) will hold a number of class sessions on the South HS campus and students will be placed there in order to complete their 2nd field experience.
• NOYCE Grant Partnerships: As part of the NSF NOYCE Capacity grant, the grant team, which includes Janelle Johnson and Philip Bernhardt, relationships are being established with numerous schools and districts that have agreed to place our students in STEM environments for field experiences and student teaching. MOU’s are being developed. These partners include: Englewood Public Schools, Aurora Public School (Vista Peak P-16), and Northglenn HS.
• We are working with faculty on an ongoing basis in World Languages, Science, Mathematics, and Physical Education to develop structures and partnerships to create a full-year student teaching pathway.
• After many years in development, most of which was done in 2015-16, in fall 2016 we will be, for the first time, offering, EDS 1001, a general studies course with multiple other designations (service learning, general studies, First Year Success, and Multi-cultural). In addition to providing education in multicultural perspectives and issues, this courses is intended to recruit students into teaching and our SOE programs.
• Philip Bernhardt collaborated with history faculty to develop a new licensure program option: History Major with secondary licensure + CLD endorsement course work. This program will be submitted for curriculum review in fall 2017.
• Philip Bernhardt, Lorretta Chavez, and Peter Vigil collaborated with faculty in the Modern Languages and Chicano/a studies department to develop a bilingual certificate program. This certificate program will be submitted for curriculum review in fall 2016.