BEST earns AACTE Best Practice Award

A collaboration that turns placebound students into elementary school teachers with Emporia State University degrees has won national recognition. The Teachers College at Emporia State University will receive the Best Practice Award for Collaboration with Community Colleges at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) annual meeting Feb. 7 in New Orleans.

The award recognizes outstanding collaboration between teacher education programs and community colleges.

This year’s award is for Emporia State’s collaboration with Butler Community College in El Dorado to create the Butler and Emporia from Students to Teachers (BEST) program.

The program was developed in early 2004, when representatives from Butler and ESU met to devise a way that students in and around El Dorado could earn their teaching degrees without leaving their home areas.

Through BEST, students complete a two year Associate of Arts degree from Butler and then continue on the Butler campus to earn a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from ESU. Butler’s faculty teaches the general education courses required for admission to the ESU elementary teacher preparation program. Emporia State provides faculty from both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and The Teachers College for classes, advising, supervision and technology for the classroom and academic success lab.

“This award is tremendous recognition for the efforts our faculty and faculty and administrators at BCC to make the BEST program a reality at Butler,” said Dr. Tes Mehring, dean of The Teachers College at ESU.

Currently, 61 students are in the process of earning their elementary education degrees. “Most of them upon graduation will seek employment at an elementary school within a 50-mile radius of El Dorado,” said Mehring, demonstrating the program’s significant contribution to the area’s pool of elementary school teachers. To date, 20 students have earned their degrees, and another 18 will graduate in May.

ESU officials credit the collaborative relationship with Butler Community College for the program’s success. “It provides access to students who otherwise would not be able to complete an education degree, and it helps meet the needs of school districts in that area of Kansas,” notes Dr. Michael R. Lane, ESU president. “The faculty, staff and administration at BCC have been very supportive of the program’s success,” Lane said.

AACTE is a national, voluntary association of almost 800 higher education institutions and other organizations dedicated to ensuring the highest quality preparation and continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders to enhance student learning. Collectively, the AACTE membership prepares more than two-thirds of the new teachers entering schools each year in the United States.

Emporia State University, nationally known for its teacher preparation program, was named one of four ‘model’ teacher preparation programs in the nation in the report, “Educating School Teachers,” written by Dr. Arthur Levine, president emeritus of Columbia University Teachers College. The Teachers College was featured in a recent edition of Edutopia magazine which identified ESU as one of ten schools of education that are blazing the trail to better teaching practices. Currently, one in every six classroom teachers in Kansas holds a degree or licensure endorsement from ESU.

Last Updated February 1, 2008>