Benedum Collaborative's Five-Year Program One of Only Two Traditional Teacher Education Programs Named in National Report

West Virginia University's Benedum Collaborative has been recognized as an exemplary teacher preparation program in a report Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The Secretary's Second Annual Report on Teacher Quality by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

The report, which is submitted to Congress, fulfills part of Title II of the 1998 reauthorized Higher Education Act that requires the Secretary to report annually on the quality of teacher preparation in the United States.

"Just over a year ago, our nation embraced a historic challenge: to ensure that no child is left behind," Paige said. "One of the most important provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a requirement that, by the end of school year 2005-06, all teachers of core academic subjects must be 'highly qualified.

Among other things, teachers deemed "highly qualified" must have obtained at least a bachelor's degree, hold full state accreditation and demonstrate competence in their subject areas.

Over a decade ago, WVU and its K-12 partners began the process of redesigning teacher education and professional development to support the practice of K-12 and university educators. "The Collaborative is evidence of what can happen when you have a well-designed renewal initiative and you stick with it," stated Van Dempsey, director of the Benedum Collaborative. "At a time when teacher education is under close scrutiny, it is a sign of our success that the Secretary recognizes the Benedum Collaborative for its efforts. It is a testimony to the commitment of WVU and the public school partners to high-quality public education."

While last year's report focused on the obstacles and limitations faced by higher education institutions in the preparation of teachers, this year's report serves as a progress report highlighting promising practices from across the country.
Paige cites WVU's Benedum Collaborative along with a program at the University of Texas at Austin as programs that successfully improve traditional teacher preparation.

" We are delighted that our five-year teacher education program has been identified by Secretary Paige as one of the most promising innovations for improving teacher quality," said Anne Nardi, dean of WVU's College of Human Resources and Education. "For WVU to receive such national recognition is a significant measure of the strength of this program."

The Benedum Collaborative, established in 1990 as one of the nations's first school-university partnerships, unites 28 elementary and secondary schools, known as Professional Development Schools, with the WVU College of Human Resources and Education.

The Collaborative emphasizes early classroom experience for teaching candidates, beginning in the sophomore year. Unlike other programs where student teachers are supervised by university faculty, teaching candidates in the Collaborative are supervised, mentored and evaluated by experienced K-12 teachers in collaboration with WVU faculty. To further their professional development, students complete an action research project during their final year documenting their performance as classroom teachers.

Students educated through the Benedum Collaborative graduate with a bachelor's degree in a content area and with a master's in education with a recommendation for state teaching certification.

" We are extremely proud that WVU was one of only two schools specifically identified in the Annual Report on Teacher Quality for its innovations to prepare highly qualified teachers," said WVU Provost Gerald Lang. "This is a tremendous external testimony to the quality of our five-year, dual-degree program in teacher education."

The impetus for the changes and assessments being made to teacher preparation programs at the college and university level stems from a similar movement at the elementary and secondary level. Various studies concluded that student achievement at the K-12 level is related to how well prepared and qualified the classroom teachers were; the better prepared and more qualified the teachers, the higher the achievement of students.

"No Child Left Behind has sparked a reform movement that reaches well beyond elementary and secondary education," Paige reported. "By recognizing the link between quality teaching and student achievement, NCLB has refocused the national dialogue on how teachers should be trained and certified as well as who should teach."

While NCLB is a national initiative, individual states are responsible for implementing NCLB provisions. "Teachers are invaluable to the future success of West Virginia's students," said Governor Bob Wise. "I proposed funding for a statewide initiative, which emphasizes early classroom experiences and teacher preparedness, and I am pleased that the Benedum Collaborative provides leadership to this work."

To read the full report: http://www.title2.org/secReport03.htm

The Benedum Collaborative is featured on pages 21-22 of the report.

For more information on the Benedum Collaborative, call Director Van Dempsey at 304-293-6762, ext. 1452.