Overview of the Institution


B. The Unit

B.1. What is the professional education unit at your institution and what is its relationship to other units at the institution that are involved in the preparation of professional educators?

B.2. How many professional education faculty support the professional education unit?

B.3. What programs are offered for the preparation of teachers for their first license to teach?

B.4. What programs are offered at your institution to prepare advanced teacher candidates and other school professionals?

B.5. Which of the above initial teacher preparation and advanced preparation programs are offered off-campus or via distance learning technologies? What alternate route programs are offered?

B.6. What substantive changes have taken place in the unit since the last visit?

B.1. What is the professional education unit at your institution and what is its relationship to other units at the institution that are involved in the preparation of professional educators?

The unit offers baccalaureate, certificate, credential, and master's degree programs housed in three College of Education departments, a university-wide program housed in the College of Education (CED), and five affiliated programs located in the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). The unit (Table: The Unit by College, Department & Program) is defined as those programs in the College of Education and the College of Health and Human Services that: (1) come under NCATE review as initial and advanced programs for teachers and programs for other school professionals (including credential and Master's degree programs); and/or (2) are subject to review by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing as basic or advanced credential programs (excluding Master's degree programs). There are a few Master's degree programs in the College of Education and many programs in the College of Health and Human Services that do not fall within this definition of the unit.

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B.2. How many professional education faculty support the professional education unit?

Table 1: Professional Education Faculty, 2008-2009

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B.3. What programs are offered for the preparation of teachers for their first license to teach?

Table 2: Initial Teacher Preparation Programs and Their Review Status

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B.4. What programs are offered at your institution to prepare advanced teacher candidates and other school professionals?

Table 3: Advanced Preparation Programs and Their Review Status

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B.5. Which of the above initial teacher preparation and advanced preparation programs are offered off-campus or via distance learning technologies? What alternate route programs are offered?

No programs are offered off-campus completely. Some programs have off-campus cohorts, for example, C & I Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Some programs, for example, Multiple Subject, have individual courses that meet off-campus.

No programs are delivered entirely online. One CED course (EDP 350) is offered online, but not in every section and not every semester. Faculty in virtually every course utilize BeachBoard (aka BlackBoard), chat rooms, and/or email to vary the instructional mode.

The initial credential programs all offer intern programs in conjunction with local districts. The table titled Admissions to Initial Program Intern Programs, 2006-2009 displays admission trends for the previous 3 years.

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B.6. What substantive changes have taken place in the unit since the last visit?

There have been four program discontinuances in the unit in the previous 4 years: the Early Childhood Education credential and the Middle School option of the Multiple Subject Program were discontinued in 2005; the Middle School Specialization of the Master of Arts Option was discontinued in fall 2006; the Master of Arts Option in Vocational Rehabilitation was discontinued in 2008. In addition, the Master of Arts Option in Career Counseling has been suspended for new admissions. Two Master's degree programs have been recently added: the Master of Arts in Education, Dual Language Development Option was approved in 2006 and the Master of Arts in Education, Mathematics Education Option was approved in 2009. Four Master of Arts in Education degree programs have been changed from Specializations within the Option to stand-alone Options (Curriculum and Instruction, Elementary; Curriculum and Instruction, Secondary; Early Childhood Education; Reading/Language Arts). The initial cohort of the new Education Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership entered in summer 2007, with successive cohorts entering in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Administration (EdPAC) became the department of Advanced Studies in Education and Counseling (ASEC). Also in 2009, the Social and Multicultural Foundations (SMF) Master's degree program became the Social and Cultural Analysis of Education (SCAE) program.

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