December 22, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Kelly Comments on Teacher Apprenticeship Program Grant

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Pete Kelly is dean of UMW's College of Education. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly

The University of Mary Washington received a $14,200 planning grant from the Virginia Department of Education to work with local school divisions to develop a teacher apprenticeship program.

The VDOE on Monday announced that it awarded a total of $143,000 to nine universities across the state to develop the programs, which would allow school divisions to hire classroom aides, paraprofessionals, long-term substitutes and other unlicensed school employees as teacher apprentices, paving the way for them to become licensed educators.

A year ago, the U.S. Department of Labor approved K–12 teaching as an “apprenticeable” occupation, qualifying teacher apprentice programs for funding through several federal workforce-development grants.

In January, Tennessee became the first state to be approved by the Department of Labor to establish a permanent teacher apprenticeship program. Tennessee’s “Grow Your Own” program is a collaboration between Austin Peay State University and Clarksville-Montgomery County schools.

The program has been successful because it removes the financial burden of enrolling in a traditional teacher education program, making the profession more accessible to low-income and minority adults, said Peter Kelly, dean of UMW’s College of Education.

Apprenticeships can also improve teacher retention, as teachers who are hired out of apprenticeships go into the job “with both eyes open, knowing what they are walking into,” said Kelly.

“They’ve been doing at least some measure of the job already,” he said. “Part of the idea is that teachers are also rooted to place, and so I think people see it as an effective ‘grow your own’ program.”

Kelly said UMW is working with Stafford, Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg public schools to determine the level of need for a local apprenticeship program.

“[The divisions] are primarily focusing on long-term substitutes and paraprofessionals, especially at the elementary level and in special education,” he said. Read more.

Kelly Comments on Local Teacher Shortage

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Pete Kelly is dean of UMW's College of Education. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly contributed to a Fredericksburg Today article titled “An ‘enormous hat rack’: Here’s everything educators want you to know about the local teacher shortage. At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, there were 1,000 vacant teaching positions across the state, an already untenable situation according to the University of Mary Washington’s Dean of Education, according to Kelly. Read more.

Kelly Named to National Leadership Fellowship

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Pete Kelly is dean of UMW's College of Education. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly was recently named an Impact Academy fellow through national non-profit organization Deans for Impact. Dr. Kelly joins a cohort of leaders chosen for their commitment to improving educator preparation rooted in equity. 

Educator-preparation programs today face complex challenges as they prepare teachers and K-12 leaders who are well-equipped to identify and address educational inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than ever, the field needs leaders who can foster individual and organizational learning and ensure that all children have access to rigorous, content-rich instruction. Deans for Impact aims to fill this need through its year-long Impact Academy fellowship, which empowers dean-level leaders with skills, knowledge, and strategies to pursue instructional excellence in the face of new challenges.

Dr. Kelly is one of 20 leaders announced as part of this fellowship’s seventh cohort. Since 2015, Deans for Impact has built the capacity of more than 100 leaders of educator-preparation programs through the Impact Academy, positioning them to make pedagogy a priority within their programs and advocate for more equitable systems of teaching and learning.

Kelly Featured in Fredericksburg Video Series

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College of Education Dean Pete Kelly

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly

College of Education Dean Pete Kelly was featured by City of Fredericksburg Director of Economic Development and Tourism Bill Freehling in the YouTube video series Freehling Finds. In the segment, Kelly discusses the renovation of Seacobeck Hall and the building’s purpose as a space for educating and inspiring future teachers. View the video.

College of Education Graduates to New State-of-the-Art Home

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A student passes by Seacobeck Hall, which is under construction as the new home of UMW’s College of Education and slated for completion early next year. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

A student passes by Seacobeck Hall, which is under construction as the new home of UMW’s College of Education and slated for completion early next year. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Barbara Bishop Mann ’66 remembers making peanut butter and jelly crackers on linen-clad tables. Gayle Petro ’79 pumped pink frozen yogurt from a newfangled machine. Susan Doig ’91, M.Ed. ’06, and friends got creative, making potato skins by topping tubers with salad bar staples and cranking them through a grill-type toaster.

“A lot of bonding happened in this building,” said Doig, one of several alums who studied education at Mary Washington and returned this month to their old dining hall. They came back to add their names to a beam – also signed by COE students, faculty and staff – to be hoisted onto the roof of Seacobeck, the decades-long campus hub for generations of students.

Since meal service moved to the University Center in 2015, a $24 million renovation – in starts and stops – has brought Seacobeck full circle. Its planned re-opening early next year as the new home of the recently accredited College of Education (COE) will reflect UMW’s roots as a school for teachers, with a nod to the future of academia.

The state-of-the-art facilities will be “transformational” for students, said COE Dean Pete Kelly. Read more.

College of Education Awarded Accreditation

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The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) recently announced that the University of Mary Washington was awarded accreditation for its College of Education (COE), one of the first institutions to undergo a virtual site visit through this accrediting body.

UMW's College of Education was recently awarded accreditation by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

In 2010, the same year UMW’s education program became the College of Education, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) designated CAEP as the official accreditation body for all teacher preparation programs at Virginia institutions. For the last decade, the council has given its seal of approval to schools across the country that provide aspiring teachers with the knowledge, skills and clinical training they need to serve their students and teach effectively in the classroom.

“It’s a great opportunity for our faculty and staff to take a critical look at how we prepare our students to become teachers,” said COE Dean Pete Kelly, citing UMW’s partnerships with local school divisions as one of the college’s greatest strengths. “Collectively, we emerged from the process with a richer and more holistic perspective on our work, and our students will benefit from that.”

CAEP, the only recognized national accreditor for educator preparation, awards accreditation to schools that have demonstrated excellence in the areas of content and pedagogy, clinical experiences, selectivity, program impact and capacity for continuous improvement.

“Achieving this accreditation is a major accomplishment and a testament to the outstanding and extraordinary hard work of COE faculty and staff, and the steady leadership of Dean Pete Kelly and Associate Dean Courtney Clayton,” said UMW Provost Nina Mikhalevsky. Read more.

UMW Alumna Lands National VP Position to Support Teachers

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Princess Moss, who graduated from Mary Washington in 1983, was named vice president of the National Education Association last week. Moss, who credits her success in part to leadership skills she gained in college, has served as NEA secretary-treasurer since 2014. Photo courtesy of NEA.

Princess Moss, who graduated from Mary Washington in 1983, was named vice president of the National Education Association last week. Moss, who credits her success in part to leadership skills she gained in college, has served as NEA secretary-treasurer since 2014. Photo courtesy of NEA.

A position Princess Moss won last week with the National Education Association (NEA) will give her a larger voice for teachers and students throughout the country. A 1983 Mary Washington graduate, Moss will trade her current post as secretary-treasurer of the nation’s largest professional organization, representing three million educators, to become vice president.

She was a Mary Washington music major when she began her nearly four decades of service with NEA, becoming a student member of the affiliated Virginia Education Association (VEA), of which she later served two terms as president. With the COVID-19 crisis further exposing inequities in public schools, Moss wants teachers to know that, in her new role announced last week, she will work to provide safe learning spaces for all, and that she stands with them.

She’s been there, having spent 21 years in the classroom as a public school elementary music teacher. Along the way, she’s held influential positions, supporting the NEA’s mission to ensure students receive well-rounded educations and advocating for the arts in schools. Moss credits her success, at least in part, to her undergraduate career, which gave her strong leadership and communication skills, she told University of Mary Washington Magazine in 2014. Read more.

UMW, Germanna, Stafford Schools Strive to Ease Teacher Shortage

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A new agreement between the University of Mary Washington, Germanna Community College and Stafford County Public Schools gives students who want to become teachers the opportunity to secure college credits while still in high school. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

A new agreement between the University of Mary Washington, Germanna Community College and Stafford County Public Schools gives students who want to become teachers the opportunity to secure college credits while still in high school. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

The University of Mary Washington has signed an agreement with Germanna Community College and Stafford County Public Schools to make it easier for local students to become educators and help ease the state’s teacher shortage.

Streamlining the path from high school to college, the memorandum of understanding, signed last month by UMW President Troy Paino and Germanna President Janet Gullickson, was finalized last week with the signature of Stafford County Schools Superintendent Scott Kizner.

The agreement creates dual enrollment and workforce programs to pave the way for future educators, offering pathways in education and early childhood education to participants in Stafford Schools’ Teachers for Tomorrow (TfT) initiative. The state-recognized high school curriculum has been lauded as a successful “grow your own” teacher program. UMW holds a similar partnership with Spotsylvania County Public Schools, said UMW College of Education (COE) Dean Pete Kelly.

“As a COE at a public university, we have a responsibility to help address the chronic teacher shortage in our area schools and in Virginia,” Kelly said. “We worked together to align coursework and curriculum to ensure students have the learning experiences they need to be successful in the COE at UMW, and in their work as teachers after graduation. We also worked to make sure students get credit for the courses they take.” Read more.

UMW Supports K-12 Teachers in Online Teaching

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After doing their best to teach remotely for three months due to the global pandemic, Virginia’s K-12 teachers got word in June that they likely would return to teaching this fall – and at least some of it would be online. The sudden switch in spring had been hard enough; few of the state’s teachers had been trained in remote education or in keeping off-site students engaged.

They needed help. That’s when the University of Mary Washington’s College of Education (COE) stepped up. In collaboration with Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS) at UMW, a Summer Virtual Teaching Series quickly emerged.

“It has been an exciting opportunity to share the experience and knowledge of the College of Education faculty with local schoolteachers,” said Kristina Peck, UMW’s Director of Clinical Experiences.

In just four weeks, based on local educators’ input, UMW prepared six one-credit professional-development courses providing best practices in online instruction. Despite the tight schedule, UMW didn’t sacrifice quality, said Kimberly Young, CPS executive director. The classes had to meet the same standards as other COE courses. Read more.

Through Pandemic, Research Remains Top Priority at UMW

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Held annually on campus, UMW’s Research and Creativity Day went virtual this year, due to COVID-19. The event allows students to share projects they’ve worked on all year.

Held annually on campus, UMW’s Research and Creativity Day went virtual this year, due to COVID-19. The event allows students to share projects they’ve worked on all year.

They put in the hours – late-night study sessions, one-on-one meetings with faculty members, conferences, presentations and projects. All year long, students have been working hard on one of the University of Mary Washington’s top priorities: undergraduate research.

A pandemic wasn’t about to stop the 14th annual showcase that highlights all of their efforts. Filled with posters in the form of PDF images and oral synopses on video, the UMW Research and Creativity Day Virtual Symposium covers everything from math and science to the performing and visual arts. The online event will be open tomorrow through Friday for questions and comments, and for all-around marveling over UMW students’ ingenuity and drive.

“It’s a time for all of us to pause to celebrate our students’ hard work, their creativity, and the knowledge they’ve produced,” said Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Betsy Lewis. “When it was clear we wouldn’t be able to do this face-to-face on campus this year, I really wanted to find a way to replicate that sense of community and celebration.” Read more.