Professional Development SIG: ACTFL 2002 Meeting Minutes

Present: 22 SIG members and Susan Schmidt (AATJ)

1. Tohsaku called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m.
2. Tohsaku explained the agenda.
3. Current Issues.
1. NBPTS. The Japanese Teacher Certification of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (http://www.nbpts.org/) started this Fall. Only one Japanese teacher signed up for certification thus far. Unless we have more applicants, there is a strong possibility that the Japanese certification program is permanently suspended. NBPTS certification is an effective way to raise the quality of language teachers. AATJ will send all NCJLT members a letter encouraging them to sign up for the program. SIG members should also encourage K-12 teachers to get an NBPTS certification. SIG should work as a support group for those who go through the certification process. We will start a web site to support NBPTS certification applications.
2. NCATE. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Board (http://www.ncate.org/) approved the NCATE Standards for Foreign Languages on October, 19. Professor Laurel Rodd was on the standards drafting committee. The Standards document is sold through ACTFL and it is available at the NCATE web site. The quality of NCATE-member schools/faculty/department of education that provides teacher education will be evaluated based on the NCATE Standards from now on. Professor Ryuko Kubota (University of North Caroline, SIG member) has been on an evaluation team the past two years. This year, Professor Yasuko Ito Watt (Indiana University, SIG member) joined the team. We will need more evaluation team members. Tohsaku encouraged other SIG members to apply to become an evaluator. Application is available at http://www.actfl.org/.
3. INTASC. The draft standards for the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium for foreign languages was just published. Ms. Lynn Sessler-Schmaling (Menasha Joint School District, Wisconsin) was on the standards committee. The draft will be reviewed by the field in the next 18 months. Tohsaku encouraged SIG members to read the draft and send their comments to INTASC. The draft is available on the INTASC web. (http://www.ccsso.org/intaspub.html#ForLang) Tohsaku also mentioned that the draft was very well-written and is a very useful document for anyone who is involved in teacher training.
4. SIG Administrative Structure. In the next meeting (discussed below), we will discuss what activities we should do in the future more in detail. Until then, we will set up a mailing list as a communication tool among SIG members. Keiko Schneider (SIG web master) and Tohsaku have been discussing how to set up and maintain it. More information will be sent to SIG members shortly. Also, SIG web site already opened at ATJ web site. We will add more information to the site soon.
5. Future Activities
   1. SIG member recruitment. More than ATJ 200 members indicated that they are interested in professional development. We will send information about this SIG and encourage them to become a member.
   2. At this moment, we don't know exactly what are members' interests and specializations; what professional development activities they are involved in; etc. Tohsaku will develop a survey sheet to collect information on members' profile. Eventually, we would like to develop expert information database.
   3. When we talk about professional development, we mostly refer to the training of K-12 teachers. In our field, however, professional development of university-level instructors (including TA's) is an important issue. It was suggested that SIG will do some activities in this regard. Also, we should promote the awareness of standards movement among college and university teachers.
   4. Future activities will be discussed via our mailing list.
6. Professional Development E-Newsletter This SIG is responsible for publishing ATJ Professional Development E-Newsletter. So far, Tohsaku edited one issue. He will edit one more issue, after which Professor Ryuko Kubota will work as an editor. SIG members are encouraged to submit articles and news items to Professor Kubota.
7. Next Meeting. Our next SIG meeting will take place on Friday, March 28, at New York Hilton, in conjunction with an annual meeting of AAS. Thanks to the help of Susan Schmidt, we will be able to use a hotel meeting room from 7 to 11 p.m. Because this SIG didn't propose any panel at ATJ Thursday Seminar. Tohsaku proposed to include paper presentations in the next SIG meeting and everybody enthusiastically supported the idea. Professor Masako Douglas (California State University, Long Beach) was appointed to chair the review committee. Call for papers will be sent in December.
8. Others
   1. In 2000, ATJ published a volume on professional development in the United States as ATJ Occasional Papers. This volume was translated into Japanese by Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai. Tohsaku is now adding papers related to NBPTS, NCATE, INTASC, and technology training. This expanded volume will be published in Japan early next year. Tohsaku will keep SIG members updated of the development.
   2. Tohsaku mentioned that the funding available for professional development of Japanese teachers has been decreasing considerably recently due to the Japanese economical situation, etc. Our SIG should think how we will be able to maintain and expand our professional development efforts under this circumstances.
   3. The Japan Foundation Los Angeles Language Center agreed to publicize NBPTS certification, etc. through their publication, Breeze. Also, their web site will publicize it. d. Professors Akiko Kakutani (Earlham College) and Yasuko Ito Watt (Indiana University) said that she would like to know what kinds of syllabi and reading lists are used in Japanese language and culture courses taught in English. More information about such courses would help them develop more effective curricula.
   4. Professor Shingo Satsutani (College of DuPage) said that it would be helpful for us to know what local and state organizations and other language organizations have been doing for professional development.. Tohsaku mentioned that because he has lots of interactions with other language associations on the National Standards Collaborative Project Board, he would compile and present data on professional development activities of other language organizations in the next business meeting at AAS. He will also plan to ask some participants of the next business meeting to discuss professional development activities in their states and by their local organizations. In this regard, Tohsaku will contact some SIG members before the next meeting.
9. Next meeting will be on Friday, March 28, at Murray Hill B, New York Hilton. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. More information will be sent to SIG members later. Tohsaku thanked Susan Schmidt for her arrangement of the hotel meeting room.
10. SIG members thanked Keiko Schneider for taking meeting notes. There was no further business and the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 a.m.

Prepared by Y.-H. Tohsaku based on Keiko Schneider's notes.

December 18, 2002

Back to Business Meetings page
Back to Professional Development SIG main page
Back to ATJ SIG Main Page
Back to ATJ Main Page