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Quality Counts...  An Open Message to Students

Welcome to the School of Education.  Throughout your education here at Drake, you will be introduced to many aspects of contemporary education.  You will visit actual classrooms to observe preschool, elementary, middle and high school teachers and students.  You will read, write, react and formulate your own goals and objectives for your program at Drake.  The classroom presentations and online materials that you receive will become the first part of your educational toolbox to carry with you to future classrooms.  I want to share some "behind the scenes" information that will help you to appreciate the program you have selected for your career preparation. 

Did you know? 

Last year more than 6,000 students applied to Drake and only 3,800 were accepted?  Thirty-seven percent of those who wanted to be enrolled in teacher education were not admitted into this program. 

• You and your classmates have an average ACT score of 25 - that is significantly higher than the score of most students in the public and private institutions of higher education surrounding Drake. 
• Your incoming class GPA is 3.4 - which is higher than most colleges in our peer group who prepare teachers.

The faculty and staff members of the School of Education stand ready to help you become successful now that you are here. 

• More than 95 percent of recent SOE graduates have jobs within the first 12 months of graduation. 
• Students from the 2010 and 2011 graduating class have accepted full-time teaching jobs in 13 different countries, including some first-time placements in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Kuwait and Greece.
• Our retention rate for students enrolled in the School of Education is 89 percent - once we get you, we keep you!

Aiming High and Hitting the Mark

How do we reach these levels of excellence? 

• There is a rigorous process to be accepted into teacher education:  Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST) completion of core with 2.5 or above; cumulative GPA of 2.5; recommendations from faculty; and completion of Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) standards and teaching dispositions at beginning level.
• Additional requirements are in place for acceptance into student teaching (maintenance of 2.5 GPA for undergraduates, 3.0 for graduates, completion of all InTASC and teaching dispositions at developing level. Our students typically score even higher.
• Students in the master of arts in teaching and the master of science in education programs who are adding a teaching license to a previous degree have an average GPA of 3.93.
• Drake students’ average scores for Praxis II testing for elementary education (test 11 or 14) in fall and spring 2010–11 were 180.17; the state required score is 151. One hundred percent passed.
• Every teacher education candidate has completed final requirements for licensure. This includes an electronic portfolio where proficiency in all of the portfolio InTASC standards and dispositions has been documented.

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Besides these official test scores and grade point requirements, how do we know that you are ready to go out into the world and make a difference? We assess knowledge and skills within InTASC national standards at three levels throughout the program:

• Beginning: Can demonstrate knowledge about a concept, pedagogy, or skill.
• Developing: Can demonstrate knowledge about and design materials or activities that involve a concept, pedagogy or skill.
• Proficient: Is knowledgeable about and can design for and implement concepts, pedagogies, and skills within a k–12 classroom. By the end of student teaching, will be proficient as a beginning teacher.

Each class in the program has InTASC standards mapped with a target assignment that measures the standard at the appropriate level in that class. Data is available by class for each standard, every semester. Tracking data in this way enables us to make appropriate changes to our curriculum quickly and efficiently.

Dispositions are measured by faculty members and practicing mentor teachers in the schools at three levels. Measurements ensure that our candidates have the knowledge and skills to teach each student and the will to make it happen.

Bottom Line:  People Matter

Another major element of the Drake difference and a point of pride for the School of Education is the personal attention given to each one of you. Someone once said, “We doze, but we never close.” Classes are offered in the evening and throughout the summer so that you can get the courses you need and graduate in four years with your degree and Iowa teaching license. The undergraduate certification officer and associate dean in charge of licensure study the requirements from the states where you might eventually teach. We know what courses you need and if you will let us advise you, your degree and license will count in every state in our nation and certainly most foreign countries.

Professors and qualified local practitioners teach education classes of reasonable sizes. We know your names and answer your e-mails, calls and office visits. We do not employ graduate assistants to do our work. A full-time placement coordinator helps with the four different sets of field experiences required for every teacher education candidate. A full-time technology support specialist is available throughout the year (and often in the evening and on weekends) to assist with tech tools and toys. If online course components and assignments are required, our full-time online learning designer is available to help the faculty make this happen. Finally, our curriculum library associate is available to help you with samples of textbooks, children’s literature collections and other reference materials not available online or at Drake’s Cowles Library.

As I present this message to you, there are critics of K–12 schools and higher education who simply don’t believe we are doing enough. You know what? They haven’t looked Drake. If they did, they would see exceptional students, meaningful courses and talented and dedicated faculty and staff. I know that quality counts and pledge to continue to find the human and financial resources to prepare world-class educators. We’re all about transformation: sharing ideas, opening minds and changing lives.

Dean Janet McMahill