handbook for cooperating teachers - Wilmington University

group and individual interviews held by a team of professional reviewers selected by theirrespective Specialized Professional Associations (e.g., International Reading Association andNational Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The interviews were conducted with Universityofficials, representatives from school/district partnership, faculty and students. The College wasvery pleased to hear that the programs were fully accredited and that the College receivedNational Recognition status.The Conceptual FrameworkThe core of our Conceptual Framework emanates from the visions and missions of theUniversity and College; reflects the philosophy, purposes, and goals noted above; and iscomposed of specific program attributes that we deem essential for the effectiveness ofeducator preparation programs.Knowledge Bases That Inform The Unit’s Conceptual Framework and the OrganizingTheme, “Professional Partners Creating Environments for Learning”We chose to organize our programs around the combined themes of professional partnershipsand learning environments. These flow out of the vision, mission, and philosophy of the Collegeand relate well to the purposes of each of our programs. We believe this approach to be centralto a context-embedded program. We believe in the concept of gemeinschaft (Tonnies, 1957;Sergiovanni, 1996), or schools as learning communities, characterized by shared vision, sharedrules, shared values, shared expectations, and a shared commitment toward interpersonal caring.College of EducationProfessional PartnersCreating Environments for Learning9August 2011