Marta Adair on the Secondary Education Redesign Committee

Marta Adair, Professional Assistant Professor in the Integrative Biology Department, has been working closely with the McKay School of Education to prepare for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) review. She is a member of the Secondary Education Redesign Committee, a committee that, she says, is seeking to create an aligned curriculum for the department of teacher education, create authentic and consistent assessments with measurable outcomes, and coordinate curriculum across departments. Their main goal, Adair says, has been to develop a tripartite system between the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, and public schools.

This year in the Annual University Conference, President Samuelson stated that in order to make BYU the best it can be is to clearly define and follow objectives and goals. With her duties on the Secondary Education Redesign Committee, Marta Adair is helping to do that. When BYU was reviewed for accreditation by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and University (NWCCU) more commendations than usual were rewarded, and fewer recommendations were given. The McKay School of Education's Educator Preparation Program for Future Teachers was one of six areas praised by the NWCCU.

Adair notes that in university settings it is unusual to the extreme to have conversations, let alone collaboration, between education departments and content area departments. Adair has helped to build a bridge between these areas and states that "no where has the collaboration been stronger than between education and the sciences."

Adair, along with some of her colleagues, Newell Dayley, professor of Music and Associate Academic Vice President for Undergraduate Studies; and Earl Woolley, Dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and professor in the Department of Chemistry and BioChemistry; has been invited by Winn Egan, chair of the McKay School of Education, to present the results of the committee at the National Network for Educational Renewal Conference which will be held October 18-21, 2006 in Cincinnati. The presenters will be speaking about how they successfully developed relationships of trust between the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, public schools and community members.

By Nancy Heiss, October 9, 2006