UAB reports enrollment, field-experience and program changes to state board

The University of Alabama at Birmingham told the Alabama State Board of Education that it currently has 447 candidates enrolled in initial teacher certification programs and is revising several program and clinical-practice policies to boost recruitment and completion.

UAB assistant dean for accreditation and assessment Leslie Shih spoke to the board about enrollment, program strengths and planned changes. She said UAB’s largest initial-certification program is elementary education with 69 candidates; the university’s advanced programs include 122 students in master’s programs and 97 in educational specialist (EdS) programs. Special education is the largest master’s program and TESOL is the largest EdS program.

Shih said UAB’s recent enrollment initiatives include a special-education cohort run in partnership with Hoover City Schools and described UAB’s “Blazer Core,” a revamped general education curriculum that offers courses such as “Disabilities in Society” and a graphic-novels literacy course for a broad student audience.

Shih told the board that UAB is revising sequencing for newer assessments such as foundations of reading so candidates take the exam after completing required coursework; the university also has increased faculty support during field experiences and is improving edTPA supports. She said UAB has seen “improvements in field experience” where faculty accompany and mentor candidates in classrooms.

On program size and sustainability, Shih said UAB had asked to discontinue five programs this year because those programs averaged 2.6 students each. She described that as “just too small to maintain” and said the university used institutional-effectiveness data and a rubric on professional dispositions to inform program decisions.

To boost early exposure and completion, Shih said UAB will pilot a practice-focused course (EDU 100) for elementary majors that will include vouchers to pay for practice-test attempts in students’ freshman year. She also described expanded advising, a February career fair, and plans to hire about 10 faculty or staff over the next year, some to replace retirees and some to support growth.

Shih described UAB’s role in state literacy and numeracy efforts and thanked the Alabama State Department of Education for guidance. She said the institution is continuing to refine assessments and curricular sequencing after state reviews and is developing common assessments across master’s coursework to produce more analyzable data on candidate performance.

Board members asked about field-experience timing and length. Shih said the first supervised field experience is EDU 200, typically taken in the sophomore year but available in the freshman year; that experience involves at least 10 hours of in-school contact. Subsequent courses increase placement time (e.g., an introductory course with 15 hours, methods blocks with weekly placements and two full weeks at the end, and more than 300 hours of total field experience before student teaching). Shih said UAB ensures placements include a variety of settings and grade levels and uses Title II reporting to track completers entering the workforce.

Shih also reported improvements to communications—UAB recently hired a new communications specialist—and said the institution is adding faculty to meet demand in programs that exceed current capacity (for example, an educational psychology program that has enrolled two cohorts beyond its current faculty-based cap). She closed by thanking certification staff and the board for their review and feedback.

Board action: the presentation was informational; no vote was recorded on the items Shih described.

Ending — Next steps: UAB said it will submit formal paperwork for program discontinuations and continue reporting data to the department; the board and staff indicated they expect follow-up as program approvals and accreditation tasks proceed.