BY APRILL EMIG | The Statesman
As of November 13, all fall 2015 graduates of education programs will be eligible for full licensure. This news comes after months of highly publicized stress within the College of Education and Human Service Professions (CEHSP) department.
The trouble began in 2012 when the Minnesota Board of Teaching noticed a failure to properly document a course within the Integrated Special and Elementary Education (IESE) dual-license program. A middle-level methods course that hadn’t been taught for nearly six years was still being documented in the degree.
“Students weren’t taking that class anymore, they were taking other classes,” CEHSP Dean Jill Pinkney Pastrana said. “The same content and standards were being met in these other courses but it hadn’t been changed in the system,”
The issue was raised in March 2013 but Pinkney Pastrana was not aware of the issue until October 2014; she became dean of CEHSP in the summer of 2013. The previous deans held the position interimly and may have been part of the cause for miscommunication within the department.
“Frankly, it’s not the faculty’s fault, and we can’t blame it on one person--it was just misreported information,” Pinkney Pastrana said.
The dean thought the error would be fixed quickly, an email sent to education students on January 14, 2015 indicated.
“The recently graduated cohort is indeed experiencing complications in securing their full licensure,” Pinkney Pastrana said in the email. “The problem has been resolved.”
But the problem wasn’t resolved. The next memo to be sent out was on March 6 when executive vice chancellor of academic affairs Andrea Schokker alerted students that the delay would take longer than expected.
“We’ve now learned that students graduating in May 2015 may also experience this (licensing) delay,” the memo said. “First and foremost, this situation is unacceptable and we take full responsibility.”
Though the initial problem was only found in the IESE program, Pinkney Pastrana decided to look at all the other education programs. Similar errors were spotted in almost every degree. Prior to 2013, all education standards forms were submitted on paper, allowing for human error to miss things that the new electronic system easily picks up.
Both Schokker and Pinkney Pastrana (along with other education faculty) did their best to soothe the worries of education students. But the controversy was almost impossible to prevent.
Third year IESE student Casey Meile says that she’s not worried about her licensing prospects--she is sure the issue will be resolved by the time she graduates--but she struggles with the way the situation is handled.
“The professors literally aren't allowed to discuss it with us, which upsets me,” Meile said. “What are they trying to hide from us? We are paying loads of money and time to get this degree, and we deserve to at least be in the loop.”
A total of eight memos were sent out between January and April this year to various education students. There was also a website with updates beginning in July of 2015 and the most recent includes the note about all 2015 graduates being eligible for full licensure.
However, these memos were often not able to keep up with the media presence surrounding the controversy. Matters continued to get worse when 13 students filed a lawsuit against UMD on October 15, claiming fraud. These students belong to the fall 2014 cohort, the first class to be impacted by the licensing delay.
Fall 2014 graduates were able to secure temporary teaching licenses that would last for one year and be available for renewal with the condition that they would become full licenses on approval of the education programs.