Education facuity gets campus-wide support to face big changes in America's classrooms Due to the national and state assessment standards imposed on teachers, the School of Education and teachers across campus have been working to revise the entire curriculum and the format of the teacher education program. Dr. Dee Carson, associate dean of the School ofEducation, said, "The organizational setup on the national level changed this year. Instead ofdivisions of kindergarten through sixth grade or first through sixth, programs will now be broken into three-year-olds through third grade and fourth through eighth grade. Secondary education will remain seventh through twelfth grades." The School of Education received reaccreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) this year and, with it. came the responsibility of meeting state and national standards. "To help our students be ready to go anywhere in the United States, we have to meet the requirements of the association and even go beyond them if possible," Carson said. Another element of change that influenced the department was the possible national changes in the certification of teachers. Dr.JanMorgan, elementary and special education department chair, said, "In the next few years, teachers will begin to be assessed on their performance in the classrooms, as well as their scores on the National Teacher Exam (NTE). It is very possible that education majors will graduate and receive degrees and then get their teacher's certificates a year later - after an assessment period." Because of these major changes on the national and state levels, the teachers in the School ofEducation are working to make sure that the curriculum that is offered will best prepare students for the changing future. "Although we don't know specifics yet, we do know that we are working to make sure our students remain strong in methodology and grow even stronger in knowledge of content," Morgan said. Morgan said that some of the areas of focus in education will be teaching more about · inclusion models and helping students by preparing them to teach middle school. Education Dr. Jim Johnston distributes "OooGoo" to his advanced humangrowth and development class. The class made teaching analogies to the properties of the substance, a mixture of corn starch and water. Photo by Aaron Gillihan. teachers hope to accomplish this by increasing their students' knowledge of content in either math and science or reading and the language arts. In preparation for these changes on the professional level, the education teachers attended conferences to acquire special training. Teachers from various disciplines around campus also assisted the School of Education in revising curriculums. "We are very proud of the effort put forth by our teachers to learn as much as they can about these pivotal issues in our area . They have attended conferences and workshops ... We have also had enormous support from departments across campus as all teachers recognize the importance of changingforthefuture,"Carson said. The goal ofthese changes at Harding is to give education majors all of the knowledge and skills they need for tomorrow's very different educational system. "Our ultimate goal is to do everything we can to make our students the best teachers there are for the 21st century," Morgan said. - Allison Rector School of Education 149
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