Tenure Expectations (2011)

The Education Department’s Tenure Expectations for Teaching, Scholarship, and Service have been approved by the Faculty Welfare Committee and the Dean of the College, and are published on the College’s Moodle site.

 

The language from that document is reproduced below in black text, and summary statements about the progress I have made toward these expectations are shown in red text (note, as always, blue underlined text will represent hyperlinks to evidence).  As will be established, it is my contention that I have already met every expectation with the exception of attendance at all Senate meetings in each of two academic years.  This shortcoming is in progress:  I serve on the Faculty Senate this year and my attendance has been perfect.  I intend to follow up with such attendance in at least one subsequent year.

 

Teaching

• Candidate effectively utilizes and models a variety of teaching methods and, given the constructivist emphasis within the department, limits “teacher talk” time (in other words, limits lecture and knows when to listen).

• Candidate effectively engages students with the content in a variety of ways over the course of a term through activities in the classroom and assignments.

• Candidate is able to explain and document how classroom activities and assignments effectively facilitate student learning while helping students reach the goals of the course.

• Candidate effectively uses multiple means of assessment and is able to explain how the assessments appropriately document student learning while providing useful feedback to the candidate and to the students.

• Candidate’s course goals and content are fully integrated into the education program sequence. Intentional connections are made to content of courses taken previous and subsequent to the candidate’s courses. These connections are visible to the students in the syllabus, assignments, and class sessions.

• Candidate’s course content fulfills the appropriate State and National indicators as organized and agreed upon by the department faculty.

• Candidate demonstrates a willingness and ability to analyze and improve his/her teaching in light of available data including, but not limited to, feedback from department faculty and student comments as noted on the SRI.

• Candidate approaches supervision of field experience as one-on-one teaching and is able to work well with students and cooperating teachers in this setting. Helps our students make connections between the field experience and the content of education courses.

• Candidate’s SRI scores are predominantly at or above the 50th percentile.

· I have chosen to address these indicators collectively rather than individually.  I contend that, with the exception of the 2nd-to-last item on field supervision,  my case-making statements from both 2009 and 2011 explain how I have adhered to each of the indicators and, more importantly, provide convincing evidence in support of this contention.

· In terms of the indicator related to field supervision, I believe that the evaluation feedback I have received from both teacher candidates in the field and their cooperating teachers provides strong evidence that my approach to supervision meets or exceeds departmental expectations.  Ten of these educators have submitted this optional evaluative feedback.   In addition to providing (typically kind) written comments on the form, respondents were also asked to provide an “overall rating” on a 5-point scale of “Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor.”  7 of the ten respondents rated me “Excellent”, 2 seemed to indicate that my work was somewhere between “Very Good and Excellent,” and one rated my work as “Good.”

 

Professional Activity:  Expression

• Candidate has presented a paper(s) at a regional or national conference(s) in at least two different academic years. We encourage presentations beyond the dissertation to be co-authored.

· 2009-2010:  5 conference presentations were made across 3 conferences.  3 of these presentations were  made at the regional Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) conference.  2 of the ICTM presentations were invited talks completed independently and related to work accomplished before my time at Augustana.  The other talk at ICTM was a collaborative presentation with Randy Hengst pertaining to the Number Sense Project (NSP).   Randy and I also collaborated on presentations at two separate international conferences:  the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education’s (AACE) E-Learn Conference in Vancouver and the International Society of Technology  in Education’s (ISTE) conference in Denver.

· 2010-2011:  2 regional conference presentations.  The first included an NSP-related presentation produced collaboratively with Randy Hengst and Augustana undergraduates Julie Jordan and Laura Valentine at the ICTM conference.  The second was a collaborative presentation at the Western Illinois University Mathematics Teachers Conference focused on remedial mathematics teaching strategies.  I collaborated with five Augustana undergraduates on this presentation:  Brian Green, Josiah Martin, Jennie McKey, Natalie Radziejewski, and Dani Rogers.

· 2011-2012:  1 regional conference presentation pertaining to NSP-related work.  It was produced collaboratively with Randy Hengst and Augustana undergraduates Maggie Blackburn, Josh Fahs, and Christina Mazza.

• Candidate has published one article in a peer-reviewed journal, book chapter, or equivalent venue. In all likelihood, this publication will be based on the candidate’s dissertation.

· In the spring of 2009 an article I co-authored was published as a chapter in the peer-reviewed Annual Yearbook of the National Council of Teachers  of Mathematics.  Citation:  Driscoll, M., Egan, M., Wing DiMatteo, R., & Nikula, J. (2009). Fostering geometric thinking in the middle grades: Professional development for teachers in grades 5-10. In T.V. Craine (Ed.), Understanding geometry for a changing world (pp. 155-171). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

· Another aspect of my “pre-Augustana” work has proven to remain publicly relevant into my Augustana years.  A co-authored book written in 2007  went through a second printing in May 2010 and a third printing in February 2011.  As of November 2011, Google Scholar lists 9 scholarly publications that have cited the book.  The book is:  Driscoll, M., Wing DiMatteo, R., Nikula, J., & Egan, M. (2007). Fostering geometric thinking: A guide for teachers, grades 5-10. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

• Candidate has a second peer-reviewed expression consistent with those examples noted in the Faculty Handbook on page 29 under Professional Expression. We expect that this second expression would be based, in large part, on work undertaken since arriving at Augustana. We encourage professional expression beyond the dissertation to be co-authored.

· The paper that Randy Hengst and I produced and presented at the  2010 ISTE conference meets this expectation for Professional Expression perfectly.   It was a peer-reviewed expression as only 47% of all research paper proposals were accepted for the conference program.  It aligns to an example of expression noted on Page 29 of the Faculty Handbook: “The faculty member presents a paper (or poster) at a professional meeting.”     It was based on work undertaken since arriving at Augustana, and it was co-authored with an Augustana colleague.  As suggested by the presentation’s full citation, I was the lead author for this paper:  Egan, M. & Hengst, R. (2010).  Creating software with local teachers: An early childhood numeracy partnership.  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Technology in Education, Denver.

· The ISTE paper provides the best alignment to the Education Department’s expectation for a second peer-reviewed expression.  It should be noted that I have produced additional modes of Professional Expression that align to language on page 29 of the Faculty Handbook.  For example, the handbook states, “The  faculty member publishes a book (or book chapter).”  In the fall of 2010, the following book chapter was published:  Egan, M. (2010). Teaching elementary mathematics: Music and math.  In N.R. Robinson, S.N. Hall, & F.P. Spano, Teaching elementary music: Integrative connections between music and other subjects. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.  The Handbook refers to making “a contribution to an encyclopedia, gallery catalog, or brochure,” though the handbook  also emphasizes that modes of expression need “not [be] limited to” this exact language.  Randy and I have contributed a paper to the  Conference Proceedings of the 2009 AACE E-Learn conference, a mode of expression that seems analogous to “encyclopedia, gallery catalog, or brochure” publications.   The Handbook lists “paper (or poster)” presentations at professional meetings:  I have made multiple presentations across three academic years as noted above.  Finally, the Handbook mentions giving “an invited lecture  at another college.”  While I have not been invited to speak at another college, I have been invited to speak at a conference by the university-based conference organizers.  Though this is not speaking at another college, it is adequately analogous and thus reasonably falls under the Handbook’s “not limited to” caveat.

Professional Activity:  Development

• Candidate is a member of appropriate professional organizations.

· National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

· American Educational Research Association

· Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics

· Illinois Mathematics Teacher Educators

• Candidate has attended regional or national professional conferences, meetings, or workshops in at least four academic years.

· In the 2008-2009 academic year, my first year at Augustana, I attended the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference (though I did not present at the conference this year).

· My attendance (and speaking contributions)  at such conferences in each of the three subsequent years (2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012) is chronicled  in the first bullet point under “Professional Development: Expression” above.

· I have also attended conferences in  both my second and third years at Augustana as a “strict learner” (e.g., not as a speaker/participant).  These included the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) summer institute in Asheville, NC toward the end of the 2009-2010 academic year, and the Illinois Campus Compact meeting in Chicago toward the end of the 2010-2011 year.  I have written about “lessons learned” at these conferences and how I have applied them to my work on page 11 of my 2011 case-making statement.

• Candidate has participated in campus-based professional development or other similar opportunities as noted in the Faculty Handbook on pages 29-30 under Professional Development in at least two academic years.

· 2008-2009:  I was a full participant (e.g., perfectly attended and participated ) in the ACTL Teaching Circles for first-year faculty .

· 2009-2010:  Attended Dan Bernstein’s  ACTL-sponsored workshop titled “Making Learning Visible,” a workshop for Augustana faculty focused on the development of course portfolios as a means of professional expression and reflective pedagogy.    I also attended a day-long SENCER workshop on campus that was led by Marion Fass of Beloit College and organized by Dell Jensen and the CVR.  This session introduced me to SENCER’s approach to promoting civic engagement in the classroom and also inspired me to learn more about SENCER via my travel to the SENCER Summer Institute in Asheville, NC, the following summer.  Finally, I participated in the ACTL-organized teaching observation circles in the spring of 2010.

· 2010-2011:  Was invited by Augustana’s Community Engagement Center (CEC) to represent the College and participate in the inaugural Quad Cities Community Engagement Consortium meeting.  At this April 15, 2011 meeting I met, learned from, and shared ideas with other tertiary educators in the Quad Cities area (representing St. Ambrose, Black Hawk College, Scott Community College, and WIU-QC) who are involved in service-learning endeavors.

Service:  Department

• Candidate has made contributions to the review and direction of the department.

· Contributed substantially  to the Department’s recent National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) review.  My contributions included the production of a report focusing on the quality of the secondary mathematics teacher education program at Augustana.  The report was a required component of the NCATE accreditation process, representing a report to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the Specialized Professional Association (SPA) affiliated with NCATE.  Subsequent steps in this process have included the receipt of the NCTM’s response to the initial report which included suggestions for improvement.  More specifically, the NCTM has labeled our mathematics teacher education program as “Nationally Recognized with Conditions.”  These conditions can be removed if we satisfactorily address the NCTM’s suggested improvements by the fall of 2012.  In order to document our efforts toward improvement, I must produce a rejoinder report.  The bulk of this rejoinder report has already been completed, and I anticipate submitting it to the NCTM in the spring of 2012.

· In addition to my SPA report responsibilities, I contributed to the NCATE review in several other ways.  These included  the production of electronic course packets (for EDUC 310, EDUC 364, and EDUC 384)  that provided evidence requested by the NCATE Board of Examiners (BOE) for their fall 2011 visit to the College.  I participated fully in the BOE visit, interviewing with BOE members privately and attending various  “full group” meetings that occurred between the BOE and Augustana faculty.

· The NCATE review process also prompted me to make contributions to the direction of the department.   A consistent critique of our department’s secondary teacher education program emerged from the SPA reporting process.  The English, science, mathematics, and world languages programs were all critiqued for failing to utilize content-specific assessment instruments when evaluating our student teachers’ portfolios.  During the summer of 2011 I learned about an investigated a series of content-specific portfolio assessment instruments that were  developed at Stanford University.  I was impressed with the quality of these instruments (called the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC) instruments), and proposed that the department as a whole adopt them.  The department agreed, and we utilized them for the first time in the fall of 2011.

· Additional contributions I have made to the direction of the department include the development of the first-ever foreign study experience to carry the EDUC prefix (thus providing education majors a foreign term experience that is tailored to their academic interests); piloting a teacher evaluation instrument  that incorporates the latest Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (adherence to these standards will be required by law after 2012….I am the first member of the department to attempt using these standards in  practice.  My model should provide perspective for others about how to approach the new standards); and introducing an intensive, formalized embedded clinical experience into the elementary methods sequence via the Number Sense Project.

• Candidate has participated in departmental faculty meetings (usually held weekly).

· Colleagues will verify that I have been a regular participant in this meetings.

• Candidate has participated in the Teacher Ed Committee and the Subcommittee on Admission to and Retention in Teacher Education.

· Colleagues will verify that I have been a regular participant in this meetings.

• Candidate has advised education certification students (secondary) or majors (elementary).

· I have served as academic advisor to secondary mathematics teaching majors every year academic year, beginning with my first set of newly declared majors in the spring of my first year, 2009.

• Candidate has maintained a presence in the office or at supervision site on a daily basis.

· Colleagues will verify that I am highly present and visible in the office and at supervision sites.  Given my extensive responsibilities beyond teaching and research (including the production of NCATE reports, pre-tenure review materials, summer and weekend student recruiting events, etc.), my regular presence in the office tends to occur in the summer and over breaks in addition to regular working hours. 

Service:  College

• Candidate has attended all Senate meetings in each of two academic years as an elected member of the Senate or non-voting faculty member.

· As alluded to at the top of this page, this is the one expectation that I have not yet met.  I am a Senator this year (it is the first year I have been chosen as a Senator), and have attended all Senate meetings so far this year.  While I have attended Senate meetings prior to the 2011-2012 year, I have never had perfect attendance for an entire year.  As a serving Senator, it is my intention to attend all meetings this year (legitimate absences excepted) .  I also intend to attend all meetings during the 2012-2013 year so that I will be able to report that I met this expectation during my tenure review in 2013-2014.

• Candidate has participated in the campus community through work on a committee, task force, or other campus-wide initiative.

· Academic Computer Committee (3-year term expires 2012)

· General Education Committee (3-year term expires 2013)

· Co-presented, along with Steve Hager and Lendol Calder, two sessions to the faculty on the topic of course/career portfolios.  The first event (on 9/30/09) was part of a New Faculty Teaching Circle; the second (on 10/1/09) was an ACTL workshop for the entire faculty.

· On 10/7/09 (one year prior to my Gen Ed membership), I co-presented, along with Becca Poock of the CVR, a proposal to the Gen Ed committee calling for a new Learning Community model at Augustana that would involve pairing an academic course with an extensive service-learning experience or internship.  The proposal was well received by the Committee and eventually became Augustana policy as indicated in the Evergreen II report.

· On 3/12/10 I co-led a Friday Conversation on integrating teaching and scholarship.

· On 3/17/10 I co-led, along with Jon Clauss, a faculty workshop on building e-portfolios.

· Conducted a similar session on e-portfolios on 4/7/11.

• Candidate has participated in prospective student events each year.

· 2008-2009:  Admissions Department Scholarship Competition (1/24/09); Admissions Department Scholarship Reception (3/15/09);   Admissions Department Luncheon for Prospective Students and Parents (3/23/09); Admissions Department Visit Day (4/25/09); Education Department Visit Day (6/25/09);   Called Prospective Students at the Request of the Admissions Department (Spring, 2009);   Interviewed 4 Prospective Honors Students (Spring, 2009); Prospective Student Attended My Class (4/6/09); Met with a Prospective Student and Her  Parents over the summer (7/28/09)

· 2009-2010:  Admissions Department Scholarship Competition (1/16/10); Admissions Department Scholarship Reception (3/14/10); Met individually with our prospective students and their families during the year; Interviewed 7  Prospective Honors Students (Spring, 2010);  Admissions Department Summer Visit Day (7/27/10)

· 2010-2011:  Personally invited by the Admissions Department to lead a recruiting event for transfer students interested in the Education major….the event never occurred due to lack of numbers, but I was one of four faculty members to be invited to the event and the only non-tenured faculty member invited;  Interviewed 7  Prospective Honors Students (Spring, 2011);  Welcomed several prospective students into my spring 2011 class and spoke with them individually; Admissions Department Scholarship Competition (1/15/11);

· 2011-2012:  Admissions Fair (10/31/11) ;Welcomed a women’s lacrosse recruit to an NSP kindergarten teaching session,  met with her individually afterward (Fall 2011);  Met with a second women’s lacrosse recruit and her parents in my office (Fall 2011)

• Candidate has served as a first-year advisor at least one academic year (not year one or year of pre-tenure leave).

· I have served as a first-year advisor each year since my second year on campus.  This INCLUDES the year I was on pre-tenure leave (2010-2011).  During the winter term of that year when I was on leave, I still held regular meetings with my advisees (including a whole-group “social meeting” and required individual advising meetings) , held meetings with individual advisees on request, and communicated with advisees via email.  Evidence suggests that my first-year advisees appreciate the work I devote to them.

Service:  Community

The Education Department provides no specific performance indicators related to Community Service, but the fact that “Service: Community” is listed  on the  Tenure Expectations document shows that my departmental colleagues value the work that individuals devote to their communities outside of college-related work.   I concur that participation in community service endeavors is a powerful mark of character, and am pleased that this is included as an important (if non-specific) expectation for association in the department.

My community  service endeavors are organized primarily within the context of my church (St. Pius X Catholic Church in Rock Island) and my children’s school (Jordan Catholic School in Rock Island).  Activities include:

· St. Pius Parish Council member since 2010; Secretary of the Council since 2011; term expires in 2012.

· St. Pius Faith in Action Committee member since 2010; Chair of the Committee since 2010.

· St. Pius Volunteer Coordinator:  I maintain a database of parishioners who are willing to serve other parishioners in need (e.g., elderly parishioners who require help with leaf raking or snow removal; parishioners requiring help with transportation; parishioners requiring help with household tasks due to old age or disability, etc.).  Parishioners in need contact me, and then I put them in touch with a parish volunteer who can help them.  In many cases, I become the volunteer helper myself.

· Coach Jordan girls’ softball in the Moline Dad’s League

· Serve on the Jordan School Grant-Writing Committee

· Parent leader of the recent Jordan School Capital Campaign that successfully raised over $1.9 million in order to build an extension to the school campus

Mike Egan

Assistant Professor of Education

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