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The unit designs, implements and evaluates curriculum and experiences for candidates to acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn. These experiences include working with diverse higher education and school faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse students in P-12 schools.
The Education Department of Loyola College understands and subscribes without reservation to the Catholic and Jesuit traditions of the institution, which maintain the equality and worth of every human being, without respect to race, ethnicity, sex, age, or other unique individual characteristics. This commitment to diversity finds its justification and driving force in the theological and philosophical heritage of the institution, a commitment reaffirmed in the important strategic planning of the institution and in the conceptual framework of the department.
In the 1989 Loyola Strategic Plan (4.1) the college not only recognized its responsibility to provide first-rate education to underrepresented minorities and to instill in all students a sensitivity to racial and cultural diversity, but gave special emphasis to its commitment by creating an Office of Multicultural Affairs and an increased effort to recruit underrepresented minorities to its campus.
Similarly, in its 1997 Strategic Plan (G.92), the college broadened its focus on diversity to include an international dimension, an effort to challenge students to lead in a diverse and changing world and to embrace an environment "where a diversity of talents, races and religious beliefs is both welcomed and valued."
The draft of the 2002-2007 Strategic Plan (G.94), which is nearing completion and is expected to be adopted by the Board of Trustees this spring, continues Loyola's commitment to diversity and includes a number of specific initiatives that are designed to address diversity issues. Goal 1 includes a strategy aimed at doubling the undergraduate minority enrollments. Goal 2 focuses on retention of students and has specific targets for retention of students from underrepresented groups. Goal 3 sets the ambitious standard of moving into the first quartile of schools in educating students on diversity-related issues. Goal 4 includes plans to develop a more diverse applicant pool. Finally, Goal 7 presents a number of strategies for increasing minority representation among the regular faculty of the college.
At the undergraduate level, several courses and field experiences directly and explicitly address cultural, racial, ethnic and learning style differences in order to prepare beginning teachers adequately and comprehensively to meet the needs of diverse student populations.
ED 300: Learning Theory explores a dozen distinct learning theories, from the classical theorists (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), to Behaviorism, Social Learning, Information Processing, Constructivism and brain-based learning, with emphasis on those learning theorists (e.g., Gardner) who target a diversity of learning styles appropriate for a multicultural population. In addition, special attention is given to learners with special needs, including the gifted and the physically and emotionally challenged. Candidates are required to produce "Organizer Guidelines" for each theory discussed, including major assumptions and principles, classroom applications of each theory, and personal reactions to each theory. Candidates must submit a Portfolio reflecting his/her understanding of and ability to incorporate appropriate learning theories in a classroom situation.
ED 301: Educational Psychology explores not only the broad range of psychological theory as it applies to a cross section of students at the middle school and secondary level, but also focuses on the special characteristics of the exceptional students, individual differences and the cultural, racial and ethnic diversity among students. Specific treatment of multicultural theorists such as James Banks is included as part of classroom work and candidates are encouraged to explore the implications of their own unique characteristics as they affect their world view and their interactions with students
RS 496: Introduction to Special Education recognizes that an adequate understanding of diverse student populations must include an ability to address a number of exceptionalities, most notably hearing and speech disorders, retardation, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairment and autism.
Field-based experiences at Professional Development Schools offer candidates for both the elementary and secondary levels the opportunity to observe and actively implement the concepts, theories and practical strategies presented in previous course work in a variety of urban and suburban public school settings representing a wide range of students and faculty. These field observations and experiences are built upon the principles and expectations of the Interstate New Teachers Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) or the Essential Dimensions of Teaching (EDOT), both of which set standards for diversity.
ED 431: Field Experience - Elementary and ED 432: Field Experience - Secondary orient the candidate to diverse student populations by studying demographic information, cultural and ethnic composition and other aspects of the community that affect educational strategies and outcomes. Candidates are expected to be active participants in classroom activities, including the construction of lesson plans and the compilation of a weekly log of activities and reflections, all of which are employed as indicators of an understanding of and appreciation for differences and similarities among diverse student populations.
ED 434: Phase II Internship presents the candidate with a full-time teaching experience, under the guidance of mentors and a college coordinator. Among other expected outcomes of the internship is the incorporation of a multicultural perspective integrating culturally diverse resources, including those from the learner's family and community. The evaluation of the candidates success during the internship is based upon a variety of strategies, including the production of weekly logs reflecting on a variety of experiences in at least two school settings and a professional portfolio demonstrating competency in each of the EDOT or INTASC standards, which include an understanding and appreciation of the differences and similarities in the needs of a diverse student population.
At the graduate level, a number of courses in various master's degree concentrations and advanced graduate work treat explicitly issues involving diverse populations.
ED 601: Philosophy and Education is a foundational course that seeks to acquaint the student with both the historical heritage of important philosophers who have directed attention to the educational enterprise as well as current philosophical analysis of curriculum content and teacher-student relationships. Special emphasis is placed on such issues as social equality, the primacy of the human condition, moral responsibility for the well-being of every individual, mutual inclusiveness in the teacher-student relationship and a recognition of the unique value of every student.
ED 606: Educational Testing and Measurement devotes considerable attention to appropriate testing techniques for special populations: diverse cultural groups, the physically challenged, and gender, ethnicity and language differences among student populations.
AD/ED 668: The Law, The Courts and The School is designed primarily to present teachers and future administrators with the practical implications for the day-to-day operation of the school that evolve from statutory and case law. Anti-discrimination Equal Protection law receives careful scrutiny particularly as it applies to hiring, promotion and dismissal procedures and disciplinary policies. Freedom of speech and due process protections are applied to a variety of classroom and administrative situations, as well as field trip experiences and after school programs. Mid-semester and final examinations require each candidate to not only understand the demands of the law, but also to be able to appropriately apply principles of fairness and equality in typical school related situations.
AD 669: Constitutional Law and The Schools brings to the candidate's attention standing U.S. Supreme Court decisions that, among others, have immediate relevance to issues involving diverse student and faculty populations. Critical decisions of the Court interpreting the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment protections against discrimination are applied to a variety of school situations to assist the candidate to evaluate current school policy and practice in terms of the requirements of law. Candidates are expected to bring to classroom discussion ongoing school-related situations that demand careful analysis in view of the applicable decisions of the Court.
AD 674: Human Relations in School Management examines human relationships in the school setting from philosophical, psychological and sociological perspectives, with special attention to issues involving racism, sexism and classism. Candidates are responsible for position papers clarifying their understanding of the principles involved and their ability to apply them to school situations.
Several additional graduate courses clearly focus on topics of paramount importance in helping candidates understand and deal effectively and fairly with diversity issues: AD 658 Seminar in Curriculum and Instruction - Racism in the Curriculum; ED 673 Multicultural Relations in the Urban School; ED 674 Education of the Minority Child; GC 708 Cross-Cultural Counseling; and GC 754: Multi-Cultural Family Systems and Gender Issues in the School Setting.
Candidates learn to develop and teach lessons that incorporate diversity and become aware of different teaching and learning styles shaped by cultural issues in a variety of courses. In ED 442, for example, candidates complete three projects (Literacy-at-home Calendar, Book Project, and Student Interview) that each require attention to issues raised by language differences, learning style differences, and developmental disability. In ED 301 and ED 601, candidates explore and discuss the effect that time, place, and culture had on the philosophical and theoretical views held by influential theorists. Each candidate portfolio in the exhibit room contains samples of candidate work that reflects these concepts as part of the documentation for achievement in EDOT 3 and 9 (elementary education) and INTASC standards 3, 7 and 9 (D.1).
Loyola candidates demonstrate dispositions that indicate that they value all learners and can adapt instruction to meet their needs. Exhibit 1.53 shows the distribution of evaluators' comments for each of the EDOT dimensions for a sample of elementary portfolio reviews conducted in spring 2001. Of those comments, 53% noted exemplary performance, 37% good performance, and 10% problematic performance on EDOT 2, 3, and 4, the dimensions most closely related to the conceptual framework outcomes I.B.1 (Adapts instruction/service to students needs) and III.A.3 (Shows concern for all students). Similar data will be available from the portfolio reviews of secondary students. While these data are strong, the 10% of reviewer comments that suggest relative weakness in this area suggests this is an area that requires greater attention in field placements and internships.
According to the Fall 2000 Loyola College Fact Book (G.95) Loyola College has 246 full-time and 198 part-time faculty members. Minority representation on the faculty stands at 5% overall (5% of full-time and 4% of part-time faculty). Women constitute 35% of the full-time faculty and 45% of the part-time faculty.
Within the Professional Education faculty there are 25 full-time/core faculty members for Academic Year 2001-2002. Of this group, 3 (12%) are from underrepresented minority groups and 15 (60%) are women. The department also employs qualified adjunct faculty as needed to serve as instructors for courses that can not be covered by full-time faculty. Of the 76 adjunct faculty teaching during the current academic year, 2 (2.5%) are of minority status and 39 (51%) are women (5.20). Mentor teachers in the PDS schools are 8.5% minority and 88.5% women (5.6).
Under the leadership of Dr. Pamela Paul, the college initiated a program of multicultural infusion. Since 1996, 46 faculty and 4 administrators have attended seven Curriculum Infusion Institutes. Participants hear from speakers about multicultural perspectives, read and discuss theoretical texts and articles on multiculturalism, and redesign a course to reflect these perspectives. These institutes have directly affected 44 courses. Many other courses have been indirectly affected. (4.3).
At the graduate level, various practicum experiences required for certification programs in Elementary Education, Secondary Education, the Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction and the M.Ed. in Reading and Special Education, as well as the internship in Administration and Supervision provide the unit faculty, clinical faculty and school faculty significant opportunities to interact with diverse candidates and P-12 students in a variety of school settings.
The college has embarked upon a realistic effort to increase the number of faculty of color. Individual departments that do not have a current vacancy can supplement normal recruitment policies and procedures to hire an African-American faculty member, who will thereafter fill a spot that will result in a permanent expansion of faculty positions for that department (4.4). In implementing this policy, the Office of Multicultural Affairs has been very active in helping departments recruit faculty of color. To augment its efforts to diversify the Loyola faculty, the college has developed an additional program, known as the Loyola Teaching Fellowship (4.5). This program supports for one or two years an African-American Ph.D. candidate who is completing work on the doctoral dissertation, by giving the candidate faculty status, with a teaching load of two or three courses. Upon completion of the doctoral degree and assuming a good teaching record, the fellow is offered a tenure-track position.
As mentioned above, in order to make the college's commitment to diversity meaningful at the classroom level, a number of Curriculum Infusion Institutes have been organized through the Department of Multicultural Affairs, providing the opportunity for small-group workshops to focus on the meaning of diversity in a multicultural democracy and on practical ways in which a sensitivity to diversity can be become a realistic ingredient in teaching and learning strategies. These institutes have attracted not only a significant number of faculty and departments, but also members of Student Development, Minority Student Services, Campus Ministries and the Center for Values and Service. One result of the increased emphasis on diversity campus-wide has been the implementation of two new minors: a Gender Studies Minor and an Asian Studies Minor.
With the ongoing support of the college, the Education Department both at the undergraduate and graduate levels has consistently made an effort to attract minority applicants to both faculty and professional positions. Through the broad and national advertisement of faculty positions conscientious efforts have been made over the years to create a diverse faculty (4.2).
Candidates at the undergraduate level are afforded the opportunity of working with diverse higher education clinical and school faculty primarily through their involvement in observation and field experience and in the Phase I and Phase II internship activities in the Professional Development Schools. The faculty of The Professional Development Schools to which candidates are assigned represent a realistic cross-section of racial, cultural, age and sex diversity in both urban and suburban settings (5.6).
For the fall 2000 semester the undergraduate student body of the college was 88% white, 8.3% African American/Asian/Latino, and 3.6% non-resident alien/other. Women made up 56% of these undergraduates (4.7). At the graduate level 80.5% were white, 10.1% were African American/Asian/Latino, and 9.3% were non-resident alien/other.
The 177 undergraduate elementary education majors currently enrolled are 95% female and 5% male; 94% are white, and 4% are of various minority backgrounds, primarily African American (G.105). Undergraduates come primarily from the Northeastern United States, with 4% from the greater Baltimore area (Baltimore City and County).
Graduate students are 84% female and 16% male; 85% are white, and 9% are of various minority backgrounds, primarily African American. Almost all of the graduate population is from the greater Baltimore area, with the exception of students in the full-time Montessori program who come from all over the United States and from many other countries.
A commitment to serving diverse students is a central element of the department's conceptual framework. Teacher Education candidates at Loyola gain experience working with students who are diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and special needs. Schools have been approached to join in partnerships with Loyola with the conscious intent to ensure experiences with a diverse population of k-12 students. Data from the School Improvement Plans of 12 of Loyola's Professional Development Schools are contained in Exhibit 4.8. These data show that, across these schools, 57.3% of the students are white, with specific schools ranging between 5% and 92.6%. African American students make up 34.1% of the total student body in these schools, with individual schools enrolling between 3.8% and 95% African Americans. Other underrepresented groups make up 8.8% of the students served, with a range of 3% - 20% in individual schools. Special Education eligible students make up 7.2% of the overall enrollments in these Professional Development Schools, with a range between <1% - 12.5%. The best available indicator of material poverty in Loyola's partner schools is the percentage of students who are eligible for the Free/Reduced Lunch program. In the schools reporting this data, 30.9% of the student body is eligible for these programs, with a range of 2% - 59.8% in specific schools. Candidates are exposed to diverse schools throughout their field placements and service learning experiences, well before they are placed for their internships. Schools selected for service learning and field experience also enroll diverse student populations.
In both the Professional Development Schools where candidates pursue field experiences and internships and in a variety of urban and suburban public school locations where graduate students are involved in other experiences working directly with students, parents and administrators, candidates take advantage of opportunities to put into practice the skills they have acquired to work with diverse student populations. In the various practica and internship situations, candidates are required to complete logs and/or portfolios providing feedback to both clinical faculty and on-site mentors as evidence of their skills in dealing with cultural, ethnic, and racial differences among P-12 students (D.1,2,3).
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Last Modified: March 15, 2002 based on the February 25, 2002
Institutional Report
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