School of Education E-newsletter

Dear Friends of the School of Education:

Colonel Tony W. Johnson Dean of Education

With apologies to "old blue eyes," it has been a very good year for The Citadel School of Education. I am pleased to announce that the Unit Accreditation Board (UAB) of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has granted full accreditation to The Citadel programs in professional education. The decision took place at the UAB's April 13-17, 2008 meeting in Dallas. We are pleased with this continuing accreditation decision for it validates that our professional education programs meets or exceed rigorous national standards. To ensure compliance with these professional and public standards, The Citadel School of Education has created and implemented an assessment system to document that:

• Candidates master the relevant subject matter that they are to teach:
• Candidates are skilled in helping all children and youth learn;
• Candidates demonstrate the ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds; and
• Candidates are skilled in the use of technology to enhance learning.

In addition, The Citadel School of Education is committed to partnering with our P-12 colleagues to enhance the quality of education available to all students and to transform schools into genuine learning communities.

Achieving full NCATE and state accreditation has been "job 1" for the School of Education, but there are other significant achievements. Among these is the inaugural cohort of 20+ Citadel educational specialist graduates participating in USC's Ph.D. in Educational Administration now being offered at the Lowcountry Graduate Center. Also deserving of attention is the offering of masters' degrees in school administration and literacy to cohorts of Charleston County School District teachers aspiring to be principals or literacy specialists. As the first step toward our goal of expanding the School of Education footprint in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets, new cadet teacher education programs in biology, chemistry, and modern languages have been approved internally and will soon be submitted to the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education and State Department of Education for final approval.

There are many other initiatives underway including two events that will take place this summer and fall. Beginning this summer, the School of Education's GEAR UP initiative will sponsor the first annual STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Summer Camp for both area teachers and GEAR UP students from Schroder Middle School and Baptist Hill High School. In the fall (September 30th), the School of Education and The Citadel Athletic Department are sponsoring an "Education Day" at The Citadel/Princeton football game to recognize and honor the contributions of area teachers and administrators.

As suggested above and as described in the articles that follow, the transformation of a good School of Education into a great one is well underway. It has been a very good year for the School of Education and-with your help-our goal of becoming the place in South Carolina and beyond for the preparation of principled educational leaders is becoming a reality. In addition to this newsletter, please visit our website, http://www.citadel.edu/education, to follow our progress. Please contact me at (843) 953-5097 or at tony.johnson@citadel.edu with your suggestions and/or concerns.

Sincerely,


Tony W. Johnson
Professor and Dean