Date: September 9, 2010
Contact: sed@andrews.edu
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For the third straight year, the Andrews University Teacher Preparation Program is the only institution out of 32 in the state of Michigan to receive a perfect 70/70 performance score from the Michigan Department of Education. The score has also earned Andrews University’s Teacher Prep Program the honor of being declared an “exemplary program.”
  
“This repeated achievement couldn’t have been done without the dedicated support of an interdisciplinary team of educators, including, Lee Davidson, chair of the Department of Teaching, Learning & Curriculum; the core Teacher Prep Program faculty including Nancy Agnetta, Michelle Bacchiocchi, Faith-Ann McGarrell, Ray Ostrander and Barbara Reid; and also to the many College of Arts & Sciences faculty who provide academic coursework for our 18 secondary education majors and 14 minors,” says Jim Jeffery, dean of the School of Education.
  
The Office of Professional Preparation Services and the State Board of Education uses seven measures, or data points, to assess how each institution has performed in preparing elementary and secondary teachers to educate students. These measures include the passing rate on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification; graduating teacher satisfaction level; employer satisfaction survey of graduates; number of education program completers; program review (percentage of programs approved by the state); diversity of graduating teachers population; and High Need Content–whether the institution has 35 percent or more students with a content specialty area, such as special education or mathematics, that are high-need subject areas.
  
Andrews University received 30 out of the total 70 points for the scores students received on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC), a test on the content of the major.
  
“We are happy to be partners with the School of Education by teaching content areas for these young educators in the Teacher Preparation Program. One thing we, in the College of Arts & Sciences, really appreciate about the collaboration experience with the School of Education is how it has strengthened our self-evaluation tools and power of assessment in student outcomes,” says Keith Mattingly, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
  
Garry Sudds, director of education for the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church “It is the consensus of our administrators that Andrews University School of Education graduates are well prepared to impact the lives of their students academically, emotionally and spiritually. Those involved in the Teacher Preparation Program at Andrews University are to be commended for aspiring to excellence in preparing their students for the ministry of teaching.”
   
The full report can be found online: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Item_A__Q_328813_7.pdf.