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BU education program outshines national standards

Oct. 27, 2009

Trent Goldston
Staff Writer

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently accused the nation's colleges of education as being cash cows who poorly prepare their students for real world teaching.

"By any standard, many if not most of the nation's 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom," Duncan said in an Oct. 22 speech at Columbia University. "America's university-based teacher preparation programs need a revolutionary change."

According to Duncan, America's schools will need up to a million new teachers over the next five years and that many students in many education programs are not getting the hands-on experience they need.

Despite the criticism, the Baylor University School of Education is working to stay ahead of the curve.

Dr. Jon Engelhardt, dean of the School of Education, said that almost everything Duncan suggested, Baylor is already doing.

"We just finished our accreditation visit and we were sited as exemplary in the area of field experience," Engelhardt said. "[Duncan recommended] preparing students to teach diverse pupils in high-need settings, and all of our students have substantial field experience in the Waco schools, which are extraordinarily diverse."

Coppell sophomore Brittany Norwood said that Baylor's program addresses areas where others schools may be inadequate.

"I think Baylor's program is just awesome because they put us in the schools our freshman year, so we have training just as soon as we get there," Norwood said. "That way you don't go through the whole program and then not like it."

Norwood said that interaction with students is a big part of the program.

"We get a lot of in-field experience," Norwood said. "We intern our junior year for half a day, every day, and then we student-teach our whole senior year. That way we feel comfortable in the classroom."

Norwood said this aspect of Baylor's program sets it apart.

"Our program is so different than everybody else's because we are so much more prepared to be in the classroom," Norwood said.

In addition to proper training, Norwood said the professors do a lot to ensure that the students will have good job prospects following graduation.

"We do an e-portfolio online and we are able to document our experience that we have done throughout Baylor, so that whenever it's time to get hired, our future employers can take a look at the type of stuff we have already done," Norwood said. "It's kind of cool and a lot of other schools don't do that."

Engelhardt said that criticism of graduates from the School of Education has always been positive.

"We get really good feedback from school principles that hire our students," Engelhardt said. "They will very commonly report that the Baylor students that they hire within the first couple of years are leaders in their school buildings even though there are plenty of more practiced teachers in those schools. Almost all of the students who want to get hired get hired."

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