Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, January 26, 1988
3
Education school considers new undergraduate degree
Plan would lower special education requirements
By Kathleen Faddis
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas education majors may soon be able to teach special education with an undergraduate degree instead of being required to complete a master's.
An education faculty assembly will consider in February or March a proposal to offer an undergraduate degree in special education, said Richard Whelan, chairman of the special education department. The proposal was presented to a School of Education committee last fall.
Whelan said he wanted to start the program in fall 1988 if the proposal was approved.
The school now offers special education degrees only at the master's, education specialist and doctorate levels.
One of the main purposes of the proposal is to increase the number of persons coming into the program, said Douglas Guess, professor of
1.
It will increase the pool of teachers, but we don't know how much.'
— Richard Whelan
chairman of the special education department
special education.
Whelan said, "It will increase the pool of teachers, but we don't know how much."
An annual education study by Emporia State University this year showed a shortage of special education teachers in Kansas.
Whelan said that special education teachers left the field for the same reasons other teachers did. If school boards could improve salaries and recognition, and develop career ladder, it would improve the morale and longevity of teachers across the board, he said.
Also, there are no salary incentives for teachers to go into special education. Whelan said.
Too few teachers can lead some school administrators to attempt to reduce the core requirements for teacher certification, Guess said.
A candidate for the proposed program would have to complete 12 hours of special education courses and a practicum during the five-year program required for regular teacher certification.
Graduates would be able to obtain temporary endorsement as certified special education teachers. They would be qualified to teach regular or special education classes. The graduates would be competitive in both situations, Whelan said, because many students with special problems are also found in regular classrooms.
To maintain their certification, graduates would have to complete the requirements for full endorsement within three or four years, Whelan said. To get full endorsement, teachers would have to take nine additional hours in special education and complete an additional practicum.
"We think, based on preliminary assessments, there's quite a bit of interest." Whelan said.
He said that professors had informally questioned students already in the school. He said he thought there were at least 20 or 30 students who had expressed interest.
No other Regents school in Kansas offers undergraduate degrees in special education, Whelan said. The proposed program would not require new faculty or added costs to administer.
"The faculty believes this is a very positive move and we would like to give it a chance." Whelan said.
Demand for night classes is low
Half those offered are grad classes
Bv Rebecca J. Cisek
Kansan staff writer
If you are busy between 8 a.m. an.
5 p.m., taking classes at the KU's
Lawrence campus probably isn't for
you.
Brower Burchill, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that typically night classes at KU were unfilled.
"Our population prefers day classes," he said.
Gary Thompson, director of student records, said KU offered about 240 night courses, more than half of which were graduate classes in education.
But demand for and availability of night classes varies from school to
Tom Mulinazzi, associate dean of engineering, said he had received an average of three complaints a semester because of the lack of undergraduate and graduate night courses in engineering.
"We can't do everything with the resources we have." Mulingzi said.
Mulinazzi said that not offering night courses was a question of catering to full- or part-time students. Offering both day and night classes would require two groups of faculty, he said.
"I've recommended that some students go to the University of Missouri-Kansas City," he said.
Vernon Schindler, a former KU student from Lawrence, is one student who has looked to Kansas City. But the question he can't get at night in Lawrence.
If a university is in an urban area
Schindler said he would like to go to engineering school at KU's Lawrence campus, but only night classes would accommodate his full-time job.
"I don't believe they will change enrolment starts to drop," he said.
The School of Business offers night classes to its graduate students at the Regents Center in Overland Park.
Ronna Robertson, assistant director of the master's program at the school, said that occasionally students commuting from Topeka to the center complained, but that the center was the school's outlet for students who wanted night classes.
'KU is primarily a university for the traditional college student.
Pam Houston
assistant to the dean of science
assistant to the dean of liberal arts and
Pam Houston, assistant to the dean of liberal arts and sciences, said that she had heard some complaints regarding the lack of night classes, but said that there might be more people who wanted them. She said complaints generally came from people who worked during the day.
"KU is primarily a university for the traditional college student," she
Houston said that with the current budget limitations, the college wasn't offering many classes at night.
The college now offers about 65 night courses.
But, she said, the college might consider holding more night classes in classroom
space during the day.
James B. Carothers, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences, said that night classes were offered at different times. In the past, night classes met once a week for two and a half hours, but now some meet for an hour and 20 minutes twice a week or for an hour four times a week.
He said that two types of students took night classes: non-traditional students who worked during the day and traditional students who were willing to take night classes if they could get the classes they needed.
But he said that the more night classes the college offered, the more scheduling conflicts there were at exam times because many departments held their exams at night.
Carothers said that basic English classes were offered, and language classes were offered as well.
Working full time at KU and going to school at night was not a problem for Ola Faucher, assistant director of personnel services.
Faucher completed a master's degree in public administration taking late-afternoon and night classes that accommodated her job and parenting responsibilities. But she said her situation was unusual.
Lawrence School Board President Barbara Ballard Istens to discussions on school pairing.
School boundaries will ease crowding
Bv Kevin Dilmore
Kansan staff writer
More than 200 children will be going to different elementary schools next fall because of boundary changes, but not because of any school pairings, the Lawrence School Board decided last night.
The board voted to accept a boundary realignment proposal submitted in November. The proposal drew new boundaries for most of Lawrence's 16 elementary schools.
some families had protested the changes. Parents in Gaslight Village, who did not want children in the neighborhood going to two different schools, petitioned against the new boundaries. About 100 children live in Gaslight Village.
The boundaries were created not only to ease overcrowding but to determine the enrollment of the new Quail Run Elementary School in west Lawrence, which will open next fall.
Barbara Ballard, school board president, said that although not everyone would be happy with the changes, the board would try to do what was best for the district.
After approving the new boundaries, the board considered the
school pairings, one set at a time.
The proposal recommended that six elementary schools be paired. One school in each pair would have housed kindergarten through second grades, and the other would have housed third through sixth grades.
The proposed pairs were: Pinckney and Riverside, Grant and Woodlaunch, and New York and East Heights elementary schools.
Maggie Cartart, board member,
proposed that Woodlawn and
Grant schools be turned into
multi-section schools by merging
instead of pairing. She moved to
house students from both schools
In Woodlawn, and put non-teaching
staff and consultants in Grant.
But board member Larry Moran said, "We would be looking at closing a school during a time of crisis. This seems not the time to do it."
The proposal was voted down 5-2, with Cartar and Mary Lou Wright dissenting.
After the votes were recorded, Ballard summed up her feelings: "I think it would have worked, and other people think it would have worked. But it was a change that no one could put together satisfactorily in their minds.
Paul Taylor Dance Company to perform once-controversial work at KU tonight
Kansan staff writer
The Paul Taylor Dance Company will perform at 8 p.m. today in Hoch Auditorium.
The company, which is in its 33rd season, will perform three dances at the public concert, including "Lost, Found and Lost," a partial reconstruction of Paul Taylor's controversial 1957 work, "7 New Dances."
Janet Hamburg, associate professor of dance, said the dance was controversial because Taylor had used everyday movements in the work.
"One dance had very little actual dancing," Hamburg said. "People were not used to that 30 years ago, so they left the performance.
"No one leaves today. He is simply a phenomenal choreographer. He has chosen to integrate pedestrian movements with dancing. It's captivating to look at."
The troupe also will dance to the music of Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" and Baermann's Adagio for Clarinet and Strings, and will close with the entire company dancing "Le Sacre Du Prunetem," a work depicting a ballet school rehearsal interrupted by crooks, cops and dancers.
"This would be a highlight for any dance department anywhere in the country," Hamburg said.
Eighteen dancers perform in the company and have a repertoire of more than 90 dances, all of which were choreographed by Taylor. One of the dancers is Francis Huber, a native of Kansas City, Mo., who made her debut with the company last fall.
In its 32-year history, the company has performed in more than 300 U.S. cities and has visited 52 nations during 32 foreign tours.
In addition to the public concert, the troupe will give a closed, shortened version of the concert tomorrow at 1:45 p.m. to area sixth graders. The special showing is part of an educational outreach program sponsored by the Swarthout Society of KU.
Regents revise building plans
The Board of Regents recently revised its five-year capital improvements plan to eliminate challenges to the Margin of Excellence proposal
Stanley Koplik, executive director of the Regents, said yesterday that $13 million had been eliminated from the state general fund request for campus building programs.
Kopikl said that by eliminating the requests from the general fund, the money could be used for the Margin of Excellence. He said that the capital improvement plan would now rely on money from the Educational Building Fund, private sources, fee revenue and federal grants.
By Joel Zeff
"We're giving up state improvements for Margin of Excellence," Koplik said. "The sum total of the $13
Koplik said that the revision would cause only minor delays in new building and renovation proposals. He said current projects would not be affected.
Kansan staff writer
"Nothing is being eliminated. We're just reorganizing the five-year plan. Some of the projects will just be shifted from one year to another," Koplik said.
Allen Wiechert, director of facilities planning, said that the plan would not affect KU in the next fiscal year. Only future projects are in jeopardy, he said. Some of the projects that could be put on hold are the renovation of Broadcasting Hall (KANU) and an upgrade of major
million will be funneled to the Margin of Excellence. Therefore, the Margin of Excellence will have no challenges."
"The chairman of the board thought that other things interfered with the Margin of Excellence. Thus, change." Koplik said.
Donald Slawson, chairman of the Regents, was unavailable for comment but said in a news release that nothing was more important than faculty salaries. He said the Regents were willing to sacrifice new building construction to avoid jeopardizing funding for the Margin of Excellence.
Koplik said the revised plan would not only make the Margin of Excellence plan more attractive, but would show Regents support.
Applications now available for SUA Officer & Board Positions
STUDENT UNION ACTIVITIES
- Deadline For Officers
Applications: Feb. 15
Interviews: Feb. 17
- Deadline For Board
"This is consistent with what the Regents said all along." Wiechert said. "We still have the same needs, just nothing will be funded from the general revenue fund."
- Deadline For Board Applications: Feb. 18 Interviews: Feb. 21
For Info:
SUA Office, 4th Floor
Kansas Union
864-3477
For more info:
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