Advisory Council

The Institute of Professional Educator Development (IPED) Advisory Council reviews evidence of the impact of Educator Preparation and Advanced Professional Development programs on stakeholder learning outcomes. The council makes recommendations for changes in the design, delivery, and structure of programs in IPED to the department. All recommendations are based on evidence of achievement in relation to program performance benchmarks established by the department in consultation with the Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies. The advisory purview of the council will focus on shaping the content and delivery of the Educator Preparation and Professional Development initiatives and the design of resources relevant to the transformation of curriculum and sustainability initiatives in higher education. The Advisory Council may be requested to provide feedback on topics such as educational offerings, initiatives, partnerships and other activities related to the success of the program. 

The Advisory Council works collaboratively with the faculty and staff of UW-Parkside’s Institute of Professional Educator Development to recommend performance expectations for all aspects of IPED, including advanced professional development and teacher education. Evidence for achieving these expectations is collected and collated through the institute assessment system, and reported regularly to the Advisor Council. Members of the council will review and analyze evidence, and work with IPED to make recommendations for programmatic change and development. Decisions of the Advisory Council will be made during scheduled meetings, in accordance with the laws of the State of Wisconsin and the policies of the University of Wisconsin System and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. 

The mission of the Institute of Professional Educator Development is to collaborate with community partners in order to provide innovative, career-long educator development experiences that respond to the needs of all learners.

In Advanced Professional Development, we believe in drawing on current research and collaborative partnerships to support educators’ personal and professional growth and to promote effective teaching and learning within the PK-12 classroom. 

The work of the Advisory Council reflects the shared values first recognized and affirmed by the 21st Century Coordinating Council as essential to our work.

Vision

Collaborative. Reflective. Responsive. Innovative. 
These four interrelated program themes provide lenses through which we filter our practice in the college classroom and to which we support your practice as teacher candidates during student teaching.

Collaborative Relationships
Learning is relational and communal. Responsive teachers create significant relationships with their students, colleagues, and community partners by developing learning communities. These nurturing learning communities provide a safe, trustworthy place where challenging and engaging questions can be considered. We model the kinds of learning communities that we expect our graduates to create. We share with our students a learning model that connects content, theory, and practice in an ongoing cycle. Students and their learning are the focus for responsive teachers. Therefore, we embrace and foster a progressive and constructivist orientation.

Reflection and Inquiry
Responsive teachers are reflective practitioners who are students of teaching and learning. Providing numerous frameworks through which to filter our experience encourages intentional and thoughtful inquiry. Through field placements, service learning, generative questions, and classroom experiences, students and faculty develop their perspectives about teaching and learning. Critical reflection allows us to examine content, theory, and practice in ways that transform our practice. We think it is important to understand and learn how to manage the many polarities inherent in the teaching and learning process.

Responsive Teaching
Responsive teachers embrace diversity and intentionally work to ensure that all learners, especially those who for some reason have been marginalized, learn and develop in powerful ways. We recognize that each student is unique, shaped by culture and experience, therefore differentiating instruction is essential. The perspective of multiple intelligences, learning style theory, and teaching for understanding help us differentiate and enable us to provide choice, variety, and flexibility. Response teachers believe that all students can learn. They also have a sense of efficacy and believe that they can help all students learn.

Innovative Leadership
Responsive teachers recognize that becoming a learning leader is a developmental process, which begins in pre-service education and continues throughout one's career. Teachers serve as innovative leaders within the classroom, and with experience, increased confidence, and professional development become leaders within the school, the district, and the community. Teacher leaders view themselves as life long learners. They become role models committed to their profession as a vocation rather than a job. Emerging teacher leaders keep student learning at the center of their work while advocating for instructional innovation, constructivist curricular development, and systematic change.

The work of the Advisory Council is guided by the following principles:

• Our work will be scholarly, based on the best that is known through research and practice about the core competencies of 21st century educators.
• Our work will be strongly collaborative, involving UW-Parkside faculty and staff working with every agency and constituency that is personally and professionally responsible for learning in the community.
• Our work will be continuously responsive to the needs of the region, with an initial focus on PK-12 learning to support lifelong development.
• Our decisions will be driven by data, facilitated by the best learning and data management technologies.
• Our work will result in a new system of lifelong educator development.  It will involve working with individuals from the moment that they say “I want to be an educator” and continue through all phases of their development and practice as education professionals.

The Advisory Council is comprised of IPED faculty and professional staff, the Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies, a faculty representative from each of the colleges within UW-Parkside, a member of the IPED Executive Committee, professional staff in key offices on campus, community members with a stake in educator preparation, higher education representation outside of UW-Parkside, business community members, K-12 education leaders to include Superintendents, Curriculum and Instruction, human capital, principals, current teachers, and a current UW-Parkside student.  

Membership will represent the communities that UW-Parkside serves including Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, and Milwaukee Counties.

All members of the Advisory Council are committed to working collaboratively with members of the regional community to design a career-long system of educator preparation and development. They are leaders within their own departments and professional organizations, able to motivate and work with others to make necessary changes happen.  They are also willing to suspend and challenge their own assumptions and learn from the work of others who are also engaged in the transformation of education for the Innovation Age. As a whole, affiliates of IPED represent the diversity of people of UW-Parkside, all of whom are stakeholders in this endeavor.

It is expected as IPED continues to grow their will be a need to create sub-committees from the larger Advisory Council. Sub-committees may allow membership from subject experts from outside of the Advisory Council to facilitate the scope of work within the committee. 

The Advisory Council will meet twice a year. Members will be expected to attend each meeting and contribute the necessary time to address the continued development and strategic positioning of educator preparation and professional development programs and initiatives.  

Sub-committees may meet outside of the regularly scheduled Advisory Council meetings.  

Members of the Advisory Council and/or Sub-committee receive no remuneration for their services. 

The Advisory Council will meet once each academic semester, on the third Thursday in October and third Thursday in April. Meetings will be held from 4:00pm-6:00pm at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. 

The meeting agenda and materials will be provided to the council membership prior to the meeting for review. 

• University overview 
• IPED overview will be sent prior to the regularly scheduled meetings
• Roundtable discussions 

Term limits for Advisory Council members are up to three years (normally terms will be for 3 years; however, initially some terms will be one or two years to create the staggering of terms) and members may be reappointed for a second term (not to exceed 6 years). The Leadership Team in coordination with the Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies reserves the right to remove an Advisory Council member from the position without cause. The ending date of the term will be established in the appointment letter.