TITLE II FEDERAL REPORT
2009
Praxis Data:
- 15 Wake Forest University student teachers attempted Specialty Area Praxis Exams for Elementary Education with a 100% pass rate. The state pass rate for Elementary Education is 97%.
| • Number of students enrolled in teacher education during the 2008-2009 school year | 81 |
| • Number of students in supervised student teaching for the same period | 57 |
| • Supervising Faculty
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|
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10 |
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2 |
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4 |
| • Total Number of Supervising Faculty | 8 |
| • Student-to-Faculty Ratio | 7 |
| • Student teachers average 40 hours per week in schools during the thirteen week student teaching period for a total of 520 hours. | |
| • The Teacher Education Program at Wake Forest University is currently in the top tier of schools in the state regarding performance and has NEVER been under a designation as “low performing” by the state (as per section 208a of the HEA of 1998). |
OVERVIEW OF THE INSTITUTION
Wake Forest is a private university whose excellence is consistently recognized through rankings in the top tier of the country’s finest academic institutions. Wake Forest strives to instill in all its students a love of lifelong learning and the desire to use what they learn in service to humanity. Wake Forest offers a rare environment for learning: the academic and technological resources, facilities and Division I athletic programs associated with a large university, and the compact campus, small classes and individual attention only a smaller school can provide.
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS
The Department of Educationprovides academically able students with a challenging program in which they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions of excellent teachers as they work closely with faculty who are national leaders in their fields. Teacher candidates complete a rigorous set of courses and intense field experience that will prepare them to be leaders in the schools. The Elementary Education Program is designed to provide candidates with learning experiences, both in the field and in the university classroom, that enable them to meet the needs, capabilities, and interests of children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Candidates progress through the program as a cohort, which allows them to form close, reflective relationships with one another, departmental faculty, and clinical faculty. As candidates proceed through the program, they continually reflect and transform their craft of teaching through the lenses of different psychological principles, curricular areas, and the diverse needs of the elementary school children. When they complete the comprehensive program, candidates are prepared to make a difference with children and a contribution to the teaching profession.
The Secondary Education Program and K-12 Foreign Language Program establish a close working relationship between the methods faculty advisors and the candidates by admitting no more than four or five graduates per discipline to the Master Teacher Fellows program each year and by making them a part of a small cohort of 20-25 candidates that moves through the 13 months of teacher preparation. Faculty believe that candidates should be exposed to a wide variety of teaching methods and philosophies that encourage them to take professional postures rather than socializing them as apprentices to teachers. Faculty have great experience in elementary and secondary classrooms and deep knowledge of the pedagogical content and subject matter of their fields.
The Elementary, Secondary, and K-12 Foreign Language programs at Wake Forest are built on long term relationships with schools where program leaders and teachers at those schools have a close collegial relationship that spans more than ten years of working closely together to develop beginning teachers and to provide expertise to benefit both K-12 students and teachers. Secondary faculty members are leading several initiatives and partnerships with schools at the local, state, and national level. In the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District, faculty work closely with several high schools that have identified specific areas of need and offer professional development to teachers in these content areas. These include methods to teach mathematics and the use of technology to support curriculum needs. The Summer Mentoring Program at Atkins High School and Parkland High School provides an opportunity for graduate students to tutor and mentor students in preparation for state competency tests. The Director of Foreign Language Education co-authored the model foreign language program that is a component of the North Carolina in the World Project, an initiative that supports improvement of international education in the North Carolina Public Schools. Elementary and Secondary Education faculty are involved in a partnership with Ashley Elementary School that includes working with children of special needs, tutoring and mentoring students in grades K-5, and assisting in dual language classrooms. The Four Blocks Reading Program developed by the Director of Elementary Education is used widely in North Carolina and other states. Wake Forest hosts Four Blocks conferences for teachers across the country.
SUPPLEMENTAL DESCRIPTION INFORMATION TO PROVIDE A RICHER PICTURE OF THE EFFORTS TO PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY
TEACHER EDUCATION
The Emerging Teacher Leaders Network (ETLN) is a mentoring project for graduates of the Teacher Education Program that is now in its fifth year. Faculty advisors maintain close contact with their former students during their first two years in the classroom as a way to offer them support and assistance in professional development. The ETLN conference is held in January and provides sessions on topics particular to beginning teachers. The ETLN website maintains a variety of professional and instructional resources as well as a listserv for graduates to communicate with each other and with faculty.
Wake Forest has developed a Visiting International Fellows graduate program in which teachers from many nations earn a Master of Education degree over the course of three summers. A curriculum is specially designed to attract and support these able teachers and the program brings a full measure of cultural diversity to the University.
Wake Forest is a host site for one of the Advanced Placement Summer Institutes sponsored by the College Board. The institute provides AP certification in 12 courses and serves approximately 200 teachers from across the United States.
CERTIFICATION
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the information in this report is accurate and complete and conforms to the definitions and instructions used in the Reference and Reporting Guide for Preparing State and Institutional Reports on the Quality of Teacher Preparation