USM News--Southern Miss Teacher Education Program Ranked in Top 10 Nationally - USM Forum -- Message Board

Reporter · Status: Offline

USM News--Southern Miss Teacher Education Program Ranked in Top 10 Nationally

Reporter · Status: Offline

The Chronicle article on the rating system:

A New Standard for Measuring Doctoral Programs

Annual index ranks departments according to their scholarly output — but its methods rankle some college officials

http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i19/19a00801.htm

"Not everyone in academe is singing the index's praises. Some graduate-school officials complain the data are flawed. Since the company compiles names of faculty members from university Web sites, which can be incomplete or outdated, these critics say the whole ranking system is skewed. Others say the index costs enough that it ought to include data on individuals. The surprisingly high rankings of some programs have made some academics skeptical, while many others turn up their noses because they view the index as too commercial."

-- Edited by Reporter at 14:34, 2007-01-31

BAD · Status: Offline

I am very skeptical...unless of course conference abstracts are weighted equally w/ peer reviewed publications.

asdf · Status: Offline

The "Teacher education and professional development" subcategory of Education is the only thing USM is ranked for. Polymer is not ranked among the top material science programs?

http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/page.php?primary=5&secondary=54&bycat=Go

I would almost be willing to spend money just to see where they do rank...almost.

Reporter · Status: Offline

The data on this link http://www.academicanalytics.com/Education.pdf
does not list USM in the top ten for
1) Curriculum and Instruction
2) Educational Leadership
3) Special Education
4) Counseling Educ./ Couns. & Guidance.

But it does list USM # 10 under Teacher Education and Professional Development.

So why does the news article have Dana Thames quoted:

"Dr. Dana Thames, chair of the Southern Miss Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Education, praised the faculty for the accomplishment.

“Our faculty members have definitely earned these accolades through their tireless efforts, and I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to work with them,” Thames said. “We intend to maintain this level of productivity and continue to offer premier graduate programs in teacher education.”?

Can somebody explain this for me?

Godless Liberal · Status: Offline

Reporter wrote:
The data on this link http://www.academicanalytics.com/Education.pdf
does not list USM in the top ten for
1) Curriculum and Instruction
2) Educational Leadership
3) Special Education
4) Counseling Educ./ Couns. & Guidance.

But it does list USM # 10 under Teacher Education and Professional Development.

So why does the news article have Dana Thames quoted:

"Dr. Dana Thames, chair of the Southern Miss Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Education, praised the faculty for the accomplishment.

“Our faculty members have definitely earned these accolades through their tireless efforts, and I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to work with them,” Thames said. “We intend to maintain this level of productivity and continue to offer premier graduate programs in teacher education.”?

Can somebody explain this for me?

I was told that Wanda Maulding of COEP contacted these folks and was told that TEPD was indeed CISE. If so, there was a misclassification by the AA folks. Regardless, a lot of good folks and productive who were around in 2003-2004 in CISE are gone. In addition, why ask a Dean to step down when the major teacher ed program in his college achieved top 10 prominence under his leadership? Indeed, why is Dr. Maulding listed as "Interim Dean" in this press release? Dr. Pierce is still the Dean as of this writing. Why is she commenting on this? Sad, sad, sad, as is so often said.

Emma · Status: Offline

Talked to my Chronicle contacts. LOL. This is a joke. Everyone is so apologetic of DT's misinterpretation of the data. Two words resound: Diploma Mill.

Obviousman · Status: Offline

Interesting observation - All on-line NCATE data, too include all faculty Vitas, departmental productivity etc etc, disappeared with the appearance of the news release. Don't want any to have an easy time of checking data or see the goofy publications that count.

>80% of grant dollars are in Thames - McDowell. The former's are all pork.

Godless Liberal · Status: Offline

Obviousman wrote:

Interesting observation - All on-line NCATE data, too include all faculty Vitas, departmental productivity etc etc, disappeared with the appearance of the news release. Don't want any to have an easy time of checking data or see the goofy publications that count.

>80% of grant dollars are in Thames - McDowell. The former's are all pork.

Linda McDowell is a "white hat" and was instrumental in writing many, if not most, of these proposals. Hang in there Linda. Eric Luce is still up on the website--but moved on to greener pastures a half year ago. Another "white hat." Also, in 2003-2004, Julie Cwikla's grants and pubs might have been counted in this survey (she was hounded until she left for COST). Sheila Alber and Doug Feldman, long gone but very good researchers, would have pumped these numbers up also. Frances Karnes also works hard and has a good rep, but is far from a favorite of DT. Her work could have been acknowledged in the press release.

It would be interesting to get a screen shot of the website at the time--to see what the AA folks had to work with and how accurate it was. PR's line is that the university had nothing to do with this--all information was "public." Unfortunately, if the primary source of information (a website) is inaccurate, so will be the survey. THAT is a university responsibility.

If you want some insight into the actual number of doc graduate students produced each year by CISE, and the recent trends, scan the IE site for enrollment numbers (unless this has also been pulled).

I really don't want to get into bashing our CISE program. We produce very good teacher candidates despite the egregious behavior of a select very few individuals. And there are still some solid faculty over there who are academics rather than posers. But this administration has a rich history of coloring the numbers and self-aggrandizment and false self-promotion and the distribution of power and resources based on a friends and family plan. It has not even slowed down despite the fact that the end in sight, and it damages, rather than helps, our reputation. Until May, I have two operating principles: 1. Don't trust and verify, and 2. Let's help these poor kids in the Dome out when they have an overwhelming urge to stick their own, or someone else's, finger in a light socket by questioning, questioning, and questioning.

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

For those interested in the methodology used by academic analytics, below is the hyperlink. this might address some comments made about what gets counted, etc.

http://www.academicanalytics.com/methodology2005.html

Sorry4All · Status: Offline

http://www.academicanalytics.com/top20.html If you follow this link and scroll down to Education...USM is not listed in the top 10 under C & I...

Reporter · Status: Offline

H.A.--Doctoral program ranked nationally
From staff reports
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS01/702010333/1002

asdf · Status: Offline

Sorry4All wrote:
http://www.academicanalytics.com/top20.html If you follow this link and scroll down to Education...USM is not listed in the top 10 under C & I...

You can see the subcategory that USM is listed in here:
http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/page.php?primary=7&secondary=65&bycat=Go

Teacher education and professional development
1 U. of California at Berkeley
2 U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor
3 San Diego State U.* (UC San Diego)
4 U. of Miami
5 U. of Wisconsin at Madison
6 Vanderbilt U.
7 Syracuse U.
8 U. of New Mexico
9 U. of Texas at Austin
10 U. of Southern Mississippi

Godless Liberal · Status: Offline

stinky cheese man wrote:
For those interested in the methodology used by academic analytics, below is the hyperlink. this might address some comments made about what gets counted, etc.
http://www.academicanalytics.com/methodology2005.html

SCM-

I contacted the AA folks, and they are not even sure which information was used. There are a number of points at which substantial bias and unreliability can be introduced in the sampling, analysis, and reporting of their data, and their system needs to be replicable to have some faith in its reliability. Validity is another question, but that speaks to your point of "what gets counted" as well as who we are compared against. Their model is probably as interesting as any other (all have limitations), and I admire AA's attempt to address a very difficult (though profitable) task.

As an "insider" and a long termer at USM, pehaps you could give us your take on this avalanche of shameless and questionable self-promotion USM (and many other institutions) engage in? Will the perceived quality of institutions of higher education be determined by the battle of PR people? In that case, we blow away Ole Miss and State.

Emma · Status: Offline

Do I overthink at times? Possibly. Does anyone else question how seamlessly Maulding's rise to power with Lil One's head-nod coincide with this published report? Excuse me, but does anyone else think that this was orchestrated? If USM didn't provide the money for the report - this group accepts private money, so who did to make this happen? Uncle Thad? One of Lil's cronies?

Justin Credible · Status: Offline

Emma wrote:

Do I overthink at times? Possibly. Does anyone else question how seamlessly Maulding's rise to power with Lil One's head-nod coincide with this published report? Excuse me, but does anyone else think that this was orchestrated? If USM didn't provide the money for the report - this group accepts private money, so who did to make this happen? Uncle Thad? One of Lil's cronies?

Emma,

Your take on the purse strings hadn't occurred to me, but it makes sense in a senseless way. What is wrong with these people?--Isn't that where this story which seems like a sequel to The Royal Tenenbaums begins?

Justin