Training teachers
Your Jan. 11 article "Teacher-training at issue" brought to light a critical issue that has been plaguing teacher preparation programs across the state: How do we produce enough highly qualified teachers for every classroom? It's a question that East Carolina University's College of Education deliberates regularly. This month we inaugurated Project Act Plus, an accelerated licensure program for middle grades math and science teacher candidates, critical vacancy areas for our state.
We also established the New Teacher Academy to cultivate and support new teachers in rural counties through mentoring and professional development workshops.
We continue Project Act, the program that UNC's N.C. Teach is based upon. Project Act is a year-long program designed to recruit, prepare and support professionals who enter teaching. We do also offer a five-week intensive summer preparation program.
We are rapidly expanding our wildly successful Wachovia Partnership East program, a collaborative program with the Community College System. It allows students to obtain a four-year teaching degree at a participating community college site.
Yes, incentives and accessibility of high-quality programs are important. For the programs I have mentioned, ECU has been fortunate to have received financial gifts from Progress Energy, the Payne Foundation, Wachovia Corporation, the U.S. Department of Education and the Golden Leaf Foundation.
Yet, of equal importance is the dire need to re-examine and fully recognize how the teaching profession contributes to the very foundation of our educational system.
Marilyn Sheerer
Dean, East Carolina University College of Education
Greenville
