About the College of Education
The College of Education offers three undergraduate programs and seven graduate programs. Candidates in the College of Education are served by 26 full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty, approximately 20 part-time faculty, and seven support staff members. In addition to the programs within the College of Education, the College of Education - Professional Education Unit offers 16 initial teacher preparation programs (those leading to a first time teaching certificate) and 13 advanced teacher preparation programs (those leading to additional certificates).
Highlights
- In Fall 2007, the College of Education initiated a newly approved, dual certification program, Childhood Inclusive Education. Fall 2008 sees the initiation of the newest graduate program, a CAS program titled Intensive Teacher Institute in TESOL (TESOL-ITI)
- We are currently preparing for our first continuing accreditation visit from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) this Fall 2008.
- Literacy graduate students were funded to support their research presentations at the state International Reading Association Conference in Saratoga Springs in Fall 2007.
- Undergraduate teacher education students and faculty collaborated on many applied research projects which were presented at the Spring 2008 Student Research Exposition.
- The College of Education continues the "United Kingdom Student Exchange Program" for the 20th year. Students and faculty from the United Kingdom come to Fredonia in early Spring 2008 and a cadre of Fredonia students and faculty visited the UK in late May 2008.
Current Activities
- The College of Education has refined and expanded partnerships with surrounding P-12 school districts this year.
- The College of Education has initiated a regional P-16 Leadership Team that includes SUNY Fredonia College of Education administrators and faculty as well as Erie 2 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES Superintendent's office. This group was created to respond to the New York State Governor's P-16 initiative to improve the quality of education in New York State.
- The COE leadership team, with assistance from University Advancement, initiated the Friends of the College of Education group during Homecoming Weekend in October 2007 to more actively engage alumni. An Alumni Leadership Conference also took place in July 2008.
- College of Education faculty published a total of 25 different publications and presented over 50 papers at international, national, state, and regional professional conferences during the last academic year
College of Education Conceptual Framework
Programs at the College of Education are designed around a central idea that all children can learn. Candidates at the College of Education at SUNY Fredonia learn to be responsive educators who assess their instructional competence through reflection of student performance. To instill reflection and create responsive educators all candidates must complete five field-based experiences. A required education course is linked to each field-based experience to clearly connect theory and practice. Field-based experiences at the College of Education are highly structured and supervised with the intent to provide opportunities to Plan, Instruct, Reflect, and Respond with school children in classroom settings. In addition to field-based experiences, candidates will take courses related to child and adolescent development, applications of psychology in the classroom, and pedagogical strategies. Liberal arts and discipline-specific content courses are required as well. This compilation of course work and experiences work together to strengthen the candidates’ Four Pillars of Understanding - Knowledge, Pedagogy, Diversity, and Professionalism - which in turn support the process of effective planning, instructing, reflecting, and responding.