on campus - Article - Manhattan College

4 manhattan.edu
School of Ed Makes the Grade
The school of education is gaining
high marks.
In early October, the school was
awarded accreditation for its teacher
preparation program by the Teacher
Education Accreditation Council (TEAC).
With this recognition, all three of
the College’s professional schools —
business, education and engineering —
are nationally accredited. The TEAC
stamp of approval further validates the
quality of Manhattan’s teacher education
program, its comprehensive curriculum
and the committed faculty.
The accreditation notification was
the culmination of much hard work
and enabled the College to meet a
New York State Education Department
regulation that teacher education
programs be accredited.
“This [accreditation] also assures the
public that the College prepares competent,
caring and qualified professional
educators,” says Dr. William Merriman,
dean of the school of education.
To achieve approval, faculty members
from the school of education, as well as
the schools of arts and science, spent
the past three years establishing and
supporting their case. Several members
of the College were involved in the
TEAC accreditation process, including
cooperating teachers, current students
and alumni.
TEAC’s academic audit verified the
accuracy of the evidence provided by
the College that student learning meets
high expectations and that the teacher
preparation program is following processes
that produce quality. The quality of the
evidence and the system that produced
it are key factors in achieving TEAC’s
approval, which was a unanimous one.
Dr. Karen Nicholson, associate professor
of education, wrote the inquiry brief and
was a member of the steering committee.
She says that those involved really stepped
up their efforts to make this happen and
that, overall, it was a wonderful learning
experience. It was a great opportunity,
she adds, to work together with other
faculty members from different schools
and closely examine the curriculum.
In addition, TEAC’s accreditation gives
the school of education another positive
selling point for future students.
“Externally, [the accreditation] verifies
that our program is really a top quality
program,” adds Nicholson, who has been
teaching at the College for more than
10 years. “Parents and students can
feel good about coming to our College
for teacher training.”
The school of education has one of
the largest enrollments on campus
and consists of 18 full-time faculty
members. The teacher preparation
program offers undergraduate and
graduate levels and teacher certification
in one of six areas: childhood education,
dual childhood/special education,
adolescent education, physical education,
five-year childhood/special education
and graduate special education.
Recognized by the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation and by the U.S.
Department of Education, TEAC is a
nonprofit group dedicated to improving
academic degree programs for professional
educators. Its primary work is accrediting
undergraduate and graduate professional
education programs in order to assure
the public about the quality of college
and university programs.