OXFORD, Miss. - The University of Mississippi School of
Education has earned a perfect score from the National
Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
According to UM education dean Tom Burnham, the school met
every NCATE standard, at both the undergraduate and
graduate levels. NCATE officials cited no areas where
improvement is required, he said.
"If NCATE identified success according to letter grades, it
would be an A," said Fannye Love, associate dean of
education and NCATE coordinator. "This continued
accreditation affirms both the quality of our programs as
well as the quality of our faculty and students."
NCATE is the nation's top accrediting agency for
establishing superior teacher-preparation programs. An
NCATE charter member, the UM education school has been
continuously accredited since 1954.
Not only did the school receive continued accreditation for
another seven years, but its assessment approach is serving
as a national model, Burnham said.
"NCATE was impressed with our assessment system, the level
of collaboration from our local school districts as well as
the way we included data to help build learning communities
among our faculty," Burnham said. "Other universities are
now looking to UM as a leader in the accreditation
process."
Among its education and service efforts, the School of
Education:
Houses the Mississippi Teacher Corps program, the
nation's most competitive two-year alternate-route teaching
program. Since its creation in 1989, the program has
trained more than 400 participants, who have helped educate
an estimated 80,000 students across the Mississippi
Delta.
Helped propel Mississippi to sixth in the nation for
the number of classroom teachers with National Board
Certification, thanks in part to the World Class Teaching
Program, which mentored more than half the teachers
statewide seeking national certification.
Offered professional development training to more than
700 Mississippi school administrators last year through its
Leadership Development Program on how to implement
instructional leadership and coaching in their
schools.
Places effective school principals throughout
Mississippi, thanks to a $2 million gift from Donna and Jim
Barksdale, which not only funded the redesign of the
master's degree curriculum in school administration, but
also offers a $10,000 signing bonus to those who take an
administrative position in the state.
Prepares reading and literacy teachers with skills to
effectively teach all children to read through the new
Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction, which was
established with a $1.5 million Robert M. Hearin Foundation
grant.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NCATE accredits 700
colleges and schools of education with nearly 100 more
seeking NCATE accreditation.
For more information on programs in the School of
Education, go to
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/educ_school2/.
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