Albright College is a private, co-educational college that offers a liberal arts curriculum with an interdisciplinary focus. Albright is made up of roughly 1600 students. One of Albright College’s popular majors is education. According to Dr. Yarworth, Albright is made up of 250 education majors. Albright’s education department has its very own mission statement, which states: “Albright College is a liberal arts institution. Within the context of a liberal arts education, the mission of the Teacher Certification Programs at Albright College is the development of broadly educated professionals who are knowledgeable in areas of specialization, skilled in pedagogy, technologically proficient and cognizant of divergent learning processes. Albright aims to develop reflective practitioners who are knowledgeable and thoughtful facilitators of the learning, growth and development of students in a culturally diverse and complex world.” Albright tends to stand apart from other colleges because of the variety of education the student receives. The education majors gain an assortment of knowledge through the standard liberal arts institution and the education department.
The Pennsylvania Board of Education is going through major changes to make their program better. The changes that the Board has made will come into effect January 1, 2013. The Penn State Live website explains the change pretty thoroughly by stating what the changes are. The teaching certificate will change from the current N-3, K-6, 7-12, and K-12 special education certification for all grades to pre-K-4, 4-8, 7-12, and a required dual certification for special education teachers in Pre-K-8. According to Sharon L. Brumbaugh, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education for the state of Pennsylvania stated in a speech addressed to the House of Education, “the changes the Board of Education proposed are part of the Department of Education’s strategy to boost student achievement by enhancing teacher quality through: changing the scope of the certificate to better tailor teacher preparation to stages of child learning and development, requiring that all teachers have better preparation in teaching children with disabilities and English language learners, ensuring that special education teachers are dually certified in both special education and the appropriate content area, and enabling more focused continuing education for all teachers.”
Albright is under strict rules to try and reorganize their education program to fit the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Education new rules. Dr. Andrea Chapdelaine explained to me what Albright is trying to do to enforce the change. “The department developed a new concentration for the middle level certification that allows students to complete the required education courses as well as one of the substance areas-science, social studies, math, and language arts.” Dr. Chapdelaine informed me that the faculty approved Albright’s changes and now the Education department is just waiting on the Board of Trustees for approval. Albright still has major improvements they have to complete over the summer. The projected plan seems like they are developing a modified early education program that will hopefully include a co-concentration in an area of the student’s choice.
“The issue from my perspective is that this situation will offer students fewer chances to tailor make their undergraduate degree to fit their own intellectual curiosities. Interdisciplinary has been the hallmark of an Albright Education but, soon, education students might have to curb their desire to study a field more intently,” says theatre department professor, Jeff Lentz. Lentz explained to me that Education is becoming a pre-professional degree just like Pre-Med or Pre-Law. It seems that a majority of professors are thinking this way and do not like the change very much. The reason why Albright is having such an issue is due to the fact they want to keep the liberal arts education involved in the Education department. The new changes are making this a little difficult for Albright to change. If you want to hear the perspectives of the professors make sure you tune into the audio portion of this blog and also see what the students have to say by watching the video. Signing off I’m Meghan Devore at acstudentvoices.
Pictures from www.http://www.angelo.edu/dept/ceducation/images/ST.gif and http://www.cmet.com/images/sidebar_24.jpg
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