Three Public Universities Recognized for Excellence in TeacherEducation
September 13, 2004
Story courtesy of: American Association of State Colleges andUniversities (AASCU)
Contact: Heather Berg 202-478-4665
Three Public Universities Recognized for Excellence in TeacherEducation
Campuses in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia Honored for
Documenting Pupil Achievement
WASHINGTON, DC?Three public universities have been honored for
leadership and innovation in teacher education.
Longwood University (Va.), University of Central Florida, and
Valdosta State University (Ga.) have been named the 2004
recipients of the Christa McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher
Education by the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities (AASCU).
The purpose of the award is two fold: To recognize excellence in
teacher education programs and to advance the field of teacher
education by identifying promising practices and critical issues
related to measuring the impact of programs on teacher candidate
knowledge and the impact of these teachers on pupil learning.
In announcing the awards, AASCU President Constantine W. (Deno)
Curris said, ?Many of our teacher education programs are doing
outstanding jobs. We want to recognize the best among those
programs.?
The Christa McAuliffe awardees and the programs for which they are
being recognized are as follows:
Longwood University is being recognized for creating a Liberal
Studies-Elementary Partnership Program (LStEPP). The LStEPP is
designed to ensure collaboration among faculty in arts and
sciences, education, public school teachers, and administrators.
Teacher candidates learn to prepare a Teacher Work Sample, an
assessment method that is designed to inform their teaching through
continuous student assessment. The LStEPP has documented success
through teaching unit tests as well as standardized test
scores.
?Longwood University has a 166-year history of excellence in
teacher preparation. The Christa McAuliffe award demonstrates that
this legacy has been sustained and even enhanced by our stunning
success in achieving high levels of student achievement in
elementary schools in rural Virginia. Our student teachers?
performance proves once again the value of being trained in a
public university devoted to preparing citizen-leaders for the
common good,? said Patricia Cormier, president, Longwood
University.
The University of Central Florida is being recognized for improving
mathematics and science education in Central Florida. The Lockheed
Martin/UCF Academy for Mathematics and Science is a graduate
program that strengthens the quality of teaching and learning in
mathematics and science education, has created a network of
school-based leadership in mathematics and science education, and
has demonstrated that students of their graduates score
significantly better on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test
than students of other teachers with other masters degrees.
Valdosta State University is being recognized for creating a
professional development program for science teachers. Learning
through Inquiry Science and Technology (LIST) programs are planned
and implemented collaboratively with advisory panels consisting of
scientists, education technologists, master teachers, science
educators and science education graduate students. The LIST program
has documented success in improving science learning with P-12
students through improvements in standardized test scores, as well
as through teacher reports on their students.
?Valdosta State University is gratified by the peer recognition of
the LIST Project and its positive impact on area public schools.
The project serves as a partnership with schools in South Georgia
and North Florida and assists in fulfilling VSU's important mission
as a regional university within the University System of Georgia.
Additionally VSU is proud to be an AASCU ?interactive university?
serving as a catalyst for education, economic development, and
cultural activities," said Ronald M. Zaccari, president, Valdosta
State University.
George L. Mehaffy, AASCU's vice president for Academic Leadership
and Change, and whose division oversees the award process, said,
?The Christa McAuliffe Award challenges teacher education programs
to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs, an incredibly
difficult task. Yet these three award winners have made striking
progress in demonstrating the impact of their program on graduates
and the impact of those graduates on K-12 students.
?Through this award, these nationally-selected programs offer
innovative leadership in the continuing redesign and improvement of
teacher education,? he said. ?The proposals we received demonstrate
that AASCU institutions are committed to placing highly trained and
fully qualified teachers in America's classrooms.?
AASCU's Christa McAuliffe award, named in honor of the teacher who
died in the Challenger disaster, was first presented in the 1980s.
In 2001 the AASCU Board of Directors authorized a change in focus
for the award?an emphasis on honoring programs that could document
the success of their graduates and their impact on the pupils that
they teach.
AASCU institutions prepare more than 50 percent of all new teachers
in the United States. Curris noted that ?AASCU members are working
to increase both the quantity and quality of teachers for America's
classrooms.?
AASCU will present the award at their 2004 Annual Meeting scheduled
for November 21-23 in Charleston, South Carolina.
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities
represents more than 430 public colleges, universities and systems
of higher education throughout the United States and its
territories.
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