School of Education on Probation

Hannah Spreckley – Editor-in-Chief  The schools education department has been put on probation for three years after a state committee said the school needed to improve several areas related to data collection and assessment of its students. “I just think that everyone is going to be speaking out from the program and worrying about what will happen to them and are they going to close the program,” said Lucrecia Zavala, a 2014 Southern graduate who has a full time teaching job at Columbus Family Academy in New Haven. “But this is nothing to panic about,” she said. When the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education visited last spring, SCSU was recommended for approval of all six national accreditation standards. However, after the on-site visit in March 2014, the review committee said the School of Education had ten areas for improvement in five of the six-accreditation standards. “I think the reputation is obviously what they are worried about and what I’m worried about,” said Zavala, “because they want to look at me [as a graduate] and if they (SCSU] have a good reputation, they would be like, wow, she’s from Southern.” The SCSU School of Education prepares the largest number of education graduates for teaching positions in the state of Connecticut, according to the school website. The School of Education’s student handbook said Southern takes great pride in being the second largest institution of higher education in Connecticut and the leading graduate center in the Connecticut State University System. “I think its good because they will work on the things that they need to work on to improve,” Zavala said. During the three-year probation period, SCSU are required to submit reports to the Department of Education every six months. In spring 2017, SCSU will submit a report addressing the areas identified as in need of improvement. An on-site visit will be conducted to assess the corrections, according to the State Board of Education. “I love the teachers [at Southern] and I consider them my friends,” said Zavala. “They work so hard and I know that they work all the time, so I feel awful for this to happen to them, but on the other hand it’s a good thing.” Zavala said she thinks it is a positive outcome for the program as they will now actively improve the program and implement all the suggestions put forward to them. Towards the end of her undergraduate degree, Zavala said she was unaware of a type of certification called Teacher Education and Mentoring program, which she was required to take in order to become qualified. “I had a little bit of trouble because of the things they didn’t know so its good for them to have this type of thing coming to them, so they can be aware that they need to be on top of everything, all the time.” According to SCSU’s School of Education’s student handbook, as of fall 2013, Cooperating Teachers have to be TEAM certified. Zavala said she was informed of this later than she should have which caused her some problems. “But its nothing drastic,” she said, “nothing terrible.” Photo Credit: Simmie Reagor