Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

RICHMOND, Ind. — At the “insistence” of area teachers wanting to improve their craft, Earlham College is offering a new graduate program awarding a master’s degree in education. While the penultimate step on the academic development path for career educators, ultimately the initiative is expected to have perhaps its greatest impact on local schoolchildren.

Earlham M.A.T. Program Director Debbie Rickey explains the College’s new Masters in Education program is designed for already certified teachers looking for fresh insights on the “means of teaching” in the 21st century.

“Since our M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) program began in 2000-2001, we have encountered many local teachers who have met or worked with our M.A.T. students and have noticed the difference in their education and preparation,” says Debbie Rickey, M.A.T. program director and instructor/facilitator for the recently devised M.Ed.

The new graduate degree offering came about largely because of the many requests received from already certified teachers in the Richmond and Wayne County community.

“The idea had been around for several years,” Rickey says. “But, it wasn’t until spring that we decided that the time was right. We had a core group of about eight teachers interested in the program, then were pleasantly surprised to have 13 join our first cohort that began in September.”

Susan Schafer, an algebra teacher at Richmond High School, enrolled looking for a renewal of spirit and fresh ideas that might enable her to become a better educator.

“I’ve felt increasingly disheartened and frustrated in recent years, especially in regard to a difficulty in connecting with my students,” says Schafer. “I’ve spent 19 years teaching my content, but getting farther and farther behind in the world of teaching kids.”

Rickey, who is a former high school teacher and principal, observes that one of the problems with the K-12 educational system today is that traditional teacher readiness methods have not adequately prepared teachers for the classroom of the 21st century.

“Everything is changing so quickly, and teacher education has not been able to equip teachers with what they need to allow them to be effective,” Rickey says. With that in mind, she explains that Earlham’s M.Ed. program coordinators asked themselves pointedly how they could shape an academic and professional experience that would help develop teachers to be the best they can be.

It turns out “the answer comes from within each person,” says Jackie Schlichte, field supervisor and collaborative instructor for the program. “It seems like when a teacher knows his or her own identity and has integrity, that is the teacher who is able to connect with kids in ways that promote learning.”

The M.Ed. is a four-semester commitment modeled after the College’s increasingly successful M.A.T. The goals and concepts of both derive from Quaker principles, which include awakening the teacher within.

“Like the M.A.T., it is a cohort model, which means it’s a group of people taking the same classes at the same time together,” Rickey says. “We tell them, ‘Here’s the journey,’ and we take it together.”

The M.Ed. program reflects the belief that the key to improving school and student performance is less structural reform and more equipping teachers to become master teachers and leaders in their respective schools. To achieve that, adds Rickey, the individual teacher must have not only a strong knowledge base in his or her field but also in the means of teaching. They need, too, the ability to bring about real change, in their classrooms, among their colleagues and within the community-at-large.

As the first M.Ed. cohort nears the mid-way point of the program’s inaugural year, Schafer says she realizes she’d lost sight of the joy and fulfillment of learning and applying new ideas. The group’s shared readings, ideas and experiences have helped restore some of that enthusiasm.

“I think that it’s much more than I could have hoped for,” reflects Schafer on her involvement so far. She also appreciates the combined convenience and good fortune of the having the program at a local campus that also happens to be home to one of the nation’s best independent liberal arts colleges.

“Earlham wants to be good neighbors, and this is an important type of outreach,” Rickey says, noting that as local teachers seek to improve their craft by participating in Earlham’s M.Ed. program, area students now and for years to come will benefit by receiving better instruction and, as a result, a better education overall.

Contact:
Debbie Rickey, M.A.T. program director
765/983-1846 — E-Mail Debbie