ESU teacher preparation program featured in national study

Named  one of four ‘model’ teacher preparation programs in the nation

Emporia State University, nationally known for its teacher preparation program, was named one of four ‘model’ teacher preparation programs in the nation in a report “Educating School Teachers” written by Arthur Levine, president emeritus of Columbia University Teachers College.

Levine believes Emporia State University is the epitome of teacher education and plays a vital role in preparing teachers for the state of Kansas and the nation.  “ESU is the Camelot for teacher education,” Levine said during a visit to the campus. “Educators in Kansas and the nation use positive adjectives to describe teachers coming out of ESU. The teacher education program is very impressive.”

ESU was selected as a model, along with Stanford University, the University of Virginia and Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisc.

“ESU is the only institution in Kansas with the primary responsibility of preparing quality teachers for one of the world’s greatest professions. We strive hard to have excellence in our program. This report verifies those efforts,” said Dr. Tes Mehring, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of The Teachers College. “We take our role seriously and only place the ESU stamp of approval on candidates that we know will be exemplary teachers, not just good teachers.”

Graduates of the Teachers College are highly recruited by school districts because of their depth of knowledge, thoroughness of training and experience they bring to the classroom. Each beginning teacher comes to the district with a guarantee. In the 18 years of the program, only five teachers have been referred for remediation. ESU graduates stay in the classroom. The retention rate for the teacher preparation program is excellent. Ninety-two percent of ESU teachers remain in the classroom for over three years – almost twice the national average.

“The success of our teacher preparation program is due to our dedicated faculty and staff. They devote their lives to preparing quality teachers in Kansas and throughout the nation,” Mehring said.

The hallmark of ESU’s program is its involvement with professional development schools – public schools that are modeled after teaching hospitals – where teacher education students do much of their learning in real world situations, working with faculty and public school teachers. Students complete 100 hours of supervised work with young people prior to entering the teacher education program and by the time they are seniors their program is 100 percent field-based.

“In addition to the dedicated faculty within the Teachers College, ESU teacher preparation programs also have the strong support and involvement of faculty from all schools/colleges on campus, but especially within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Faculty from varied departments not only teach content methods courses, but also share in supervising student teachers,” Mehring said. “The active involvement of P-12 teachers and administrators - especially throughout varied pre-student teaching field experiences as well as ongoing guidance and support throughout the student teaching experience is another key ingredient of the strength of our programs.  It takes the efforts of a cast of many to prepare a successful teacher at Emporia State University.”

“We are ecstatic that the teacher preparation program at ESU was cited as one of four model programs in the United States.  ESU faculty and the districts who hire our teachers continually comment about the quality of the candidates we prepare,” Mehring said. “It's an honor to be recognized at the national level for the quality of our programs in elementary and secondary education.”

The report, “Educating School Teachers,” is the first of its kind released by the Education Schools Project, an effort to assess how the nation’s nearly 1,200 schools of education prepare teachers, school administrators and education researchers.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>