Elements of Conceptual Framework

The University Mission Statement
The conceptual framework begins with the mission statement for the University: "Seattle Pacific University seeks to be a premier Christian university fully committed to engaging the culture and changing the world by graduating people of competence and character, becoming people of wisdom, and modeling grace-filled community."

Under the leadership of the University president, Seattle Pacific has developed an Education Plan to operationalize the mission statement and to guide the work of the University as it enters the 21 st Century. The plan, entitled “Engaging the Culture-Changing the World” was adopted by the University Board of Trustees in November of 1998, and included a set of three outcomes sought by the University: We seek to graduate students of competence and character. We seek to become people of wisdom; and we seek to become a grace-filled community. The goals implicit in the title of the plan, and explicit in its goals: graduates of competence and character, becoming a people of wisdom, engaging the culture, and exemplifying a community of learners, underwrite and give direction to the work of the School of Education . Currently, the university is developing a Blueprint for Excellence, and extension and updating of the Education Plan, that will serve to guide its work for the next ten years.

The School of Education Mission Statement
The Mission of the Seattle Pacific University School of Education is to prepare educators for service and leadership in schools and communities by developing their professional competence and character within a framework of Christian faith and values.

The School mission statement and the mission statement and Education Plan of the University share a commitment to common themes, informed by our Christian faith and values: the commitment to leadership and service in the community, and the commitment to character and competence. These four commitments form the essence of the School of Education conceptual framework. All of these commitments are focused on the professional and personal growth of our graduates, in the interest of positive impact on the learning and development of K-12 students. 

The School of Education Vision Statement
The Vision of the Seattle Pacific University School of Education is to influence the region, the nation, and the world through the preparation of educational leaders for public and private schools.

Seattle Pacific University is located in a vibrant city on the Pacific Rim . The Education Plan for the University speaks of the need for cultural engagement, and cites the location of the University “in the world-class city of Seattle, sitting at the crossroads of the Pacific Rim.” The document states, “We propose” fresh new ways for Seattle Pacific University to be engaged in the work of our city, our church, and the world: graduates who can lead the way toward meaningful change in our communities, scholarship that is relevant and compelling, a group of people modeling genuine community. We seek to be change-agents in a world that needs leadership and hope.” The School of Education is committed through scholarship to teaching, consultation, and leadership in professional organizations to influencing the Northwest, and the world. Significant evidence is already available that the School is on target for accomplishment of its mission, but the vision statement calls us to keep the challenge of regional and world impact before us.

The Four Commitments
The four commitments of the School of Education Conceptual Framework speak to the conception of educator as master of a particular discipline, but also as a person who finds meaning and hope in a professional vocation, a “calling.” For this reason, the commitments include professional competence, and leadership in one's area of responsibility, but they also include a commitment to character and to a larger vision of service to the educational community and beyond. Through its integration of service, leadership, character and competence, the School of Education 's mission captures the distinctiveness of preparing Christian educators for 21st century.

Service
for SPU is more than simply educating students. It is bringing together Christian faith and educational objectives to meet the educational needs of the whole community; working within the secular community in the service of Christ to meet the needs of all. The SPU alumni volunteer rate of 80%, over 30% more than the general population, points to the deep commitment to service, and the success of the School of Education and University in its emphasis on lifelong service.

Research base: The idea of service is deeply imbedded in the language of education. Teachers and other school staff are seen as members of one of the service professions. The goal at Seattle Pacific, however, is to find ways to integrate the idea of “vocation” and Christian service in a winsome and appropriate way in the predominantly secular field of education.  This need has prompted such terms as “servant leadership,” an approach to leadership and service in which serving others is emphasized (Greenleaf, 1977; Spears, 1996; Seitz & Pepitone, 1996) and “service learning,” a form of experiential education that combines occupational and/or academic learning with service to community (Prentice & Garcia, 2000).  Both of these aspects of service shed light on ways in which SPU candidates can fulfill their mission of service in an ever-changing world.

Educators can become actively involved in the community in which they reside (Ward, 1985) and in the school districts which they serve (Fortune, 1985), students can combine academics and service through service learning (Prentice & Garcia, 2000; Ward, 1985), and all can approach their work through a paradigm of servanthood (Fortune, 1985; Greenleaf, 1977; Seitz, & Pepitone, 1996; Spears, 1996), of putting the needs of schools and the community before the needs of the individual and university.

Ward (1985) notes that it could be argued that “service can be assumed merely to be the consequent behavior of the adequately informed person” (p. 2).  Seattle Pacific University 's School of Education , however, professes a deeper meaning and definition of service: service means asserting one's faith through meeting the needs of the educational community and by building personal relationship between individuals.  Former SPU School of Education Director of Undergraduate Studies, Judith Fortune (1985), suggested this can be done through “being responsive to the educational needs of the public school teachers” (p. 59), “responding to the expressed educational needs of the schools in an attitude of service” (p. 60), and through building relationships with individuals in the educational community.

Leadership
for candidates in the School of Education acknowledges the responsibility of each educator for the learning and growth of children. It is inspirational, but also participatory. It includes demonstration of the ability to motivate and direct others, to create and support principle-based ideas, to accomplish tasks in group situations, to help teams work toward goals, and to manage them to completion.

Research base: In 1985 Bennis and Bert Nanus located over 350 different definitions of leadership.  With so many definitions it is clear that leadership is a very complex idea and that it would be difficult to reduce the concept to a single definition or simple statement. (Owens 1991)  Current leadership theory emphasizes a broad understanding that leadership is connecting people to each other, and connecting people to their work. (Sergiovanni 1996)

In the field of education, the concept of leadership is expanding to include many more people.  Traditionally, the principal has led schools, but today teachers and other staff members are taking leadership roles.  The leaders in today's schools are bringing people together in order to share learning, and construct meaning and knowledge collectively and collaboratively.

It is no longer acceptable for leadership authority and responsibility to rest with the central office and with the school administrator alone.  Leadership needs to be moved to the school department chairs, teachers, counselors, and school psychologists, as well as to students, families, and community to increase student achievement. (English, Frase, Arhar 1992)

Teachers have the major responsibility for leading children academically, socially, and spiritually through the world of childhood and into the world of adulthood.  Indeed, the process of education implies leadership. (Sergiovanni 1996)  Teachers serve leadership roles when they create strong educational environments with their curriculum and through positive relationships.  This healthy environment assists people in becoming functional members of our society.  Teachers practice pedagogical leadership directly since they stand first and closest to the student in a caring relationship.

There has been a call for school reform to increase student achievement.  Leadership reform can bring education closer to that goal.  Educational leadership change needs to be productive, comprehensive, systematic, and paradigm breaking. (Schwahn, Spady 1998)

Competence
is also deeply imbedded in programs in the School of Education . It moves beyond the lay definition of the term to encompass excellence and mastery.  As demonstrated in SPU intern evaluation sheets for pre-service teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, principals and superintendent intern competencies are evaluated on a combination of academic and ethical standards.   All interns, regardless of program, participate in an evaluation process that includes input from self, the coordinating teacher or administrator and university supervisor.  Knowledge, skills and dispositional behavior are all addressed in all intern evaluation forms.

Research base: The SOE defines competence in a much broader context than most traditional definitions.  Traditionally, competence has a connotation of adequate or sufficient skills to perform a particular task.  For the SOE, competence is much more than a skill.  Within a framework of Christian faith and values, competence extends to all aspects of life.  It is integrally related to service, leadership and character.

Bandura (1990) defines competence as a generative capability in which cognitive, social and behavioral skills must be organized effectively and effectively orchestrated to serve innumerable purposes.  There is a marked difference between possessing knowledge and skills and being able to use them well under diverse circumstances, many of which contain ambiguous, unpredictable and stressful elements (p.315).

Much of the debate surrounding professional competence in education centers on the issue of knowledge.  What do teachers and other educational professionals need to know in order to be effective?   A long held, underlying assumption according to an editorial in Urban Education (1990) is that “a teacher should have mastered the three R's, be literate, and be widely informed” (p.109). Urban Education (1990) holds that this is based on unexamined tradition and is a difficult belief to shake.

Wise and Leibbrand (2000) noted that while some educators and policy makers continue to believe that “teachers need only subject-matter knowledge in order to teach well” (p.612), proposed changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act call for “fully licensed” teachers in the classroom based on research suggesting that fully licensed teachers are more effective (Wise & Leibbrand, 2000).  Fully licensed in this sense means that a teacher is both well grounded in content and how to teach it to a community of students with diverse needs (Wise & Leibbrand, 2000).  Wise & Leibbrand (2000) point out that the “how to” part includes knowledge of child development; instructional strategies to meet the diverse needs of learners, including exceptional students; assessment and evaluation strategies; and classroom management strategies.

In a move to address the needs of subject matter and educational practice knowledge, current measures of teacher competency tend to focus on a combination of factors that include basic mastery of the three R's, but also attempt to reflect both delivery of material as well as the intangible value of relationship.  This is particularly evident in the revised teacher certification guidelines for the State of Washington .  In a marked change from the past, the State of Washington is no longer basing certification solely on a combination of the number of paid teaching hours and credits obtained post- graduate, but is focusing instead on the successful development and completion of a personal growth plan that includes some additional coursework.  The revised guidelines call for a demonstration of effective teaching as measured by knowledge, skills and “cultural sensitivity in teaching and in relationships with students, parents and community members” as observed by mentor teachers and/or administrators (See Appendix A).   This proposed change to teacher preparation reflects both the work of the standards movement of the 1980's and subsequent promotion by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) that recognizes the strengths and limitations of beginning teachers (Wise & Leibbrand, 2000).  Self-evaluation is considered to be a key component to effective teaching (Airasian & Gullickson, 1997; Cheng & Tsui, 1999;  Simplico. 2000; Wise & Leibbrand, 2000).

Character
is a commitment for programs and candidates in the School of Education which acknowledges the dispositional implications of teaching and learning. Educators must be able to motivate and lead people, they must have a heart for service to students and the community, and they must be able to demonstrate significant professional expertise, but all of these within a framework of strong personal values and support for the explicit and implicit ethical standards for professional educators.

Research base: The theme of modern educational philosophy is not so different from ancient philosophies. From Aristotle to Dewey, education has been seen as more than the mere delivery of knowledge. It is seen as moral endeavor (Strike, Fernsmaster, Bull, etc). In his speech, “Character Counts", National Educators Association (NEA) President Bob Chase said, “We are an association of more than 2.3 million "character educators."” The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education speaks to character in its definition of professional “dispositions”: The values, commitments, and professional ethics that influence behaviors toward students, families, colleagues, and communities, and affect student learning, motivation, and development as well as the educator's own professional growth. Dispositions are guided by beliefs and attitudes related to values such as caring, fairness, honesty, responsibility, and social justice.

Interwoven in the Codes of Ethics of The National Educator's Association, the National Teacher's Federation, and the Washington Educator's Association is an expectation of good character.  School counselors and school psychologists; adhere to codes of ethics of American Counseling Association (ACA), American School Counselors Association (ASCA), and National Association of School psychologists (NASP). Candidates in the School of Education are presented with the ethical concepts imbedded in these codes.

The commitment to character for SOE extends to how the educators will deal with moral and ethical questions pertaining to their students, and to the education of those students in regards to character. Social and educational researchers deal not so much with the abstract idea of character as they do with moral development, ethical behavior, and character education.