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Improving Education For Immediate Release: 
Earlham College M.A.T. graduate Heidi Schran discusses items for a scavenger hunt with her students outside her Richmond High School classroom. RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College's Graduate Programs in Education (G.P.E.), which work to shift the emphasis in teacher education from the adults to the students, are making their biggest impact in the local school systems of East Central Indiana. Earlham offers two graduate degrees, the 11-month Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.), which began in 2000, and the five-semester Master of Education (M.Ed.), which began in 2005. "To date there have been 91 graduates of the G.P.E.," says Stan Hill, Earlham's director of graduate admissions. "Of that number, 20 currently teach in the Richmond Community School system, and an additional 24 graduates teach in East Central Indiana. So, nearly half of our graduates stay and teach in the region." These numbers were submitted to representatives of Indiana's Professional Standards Board who visited the M.A.T. program last week for re-accreditation. The Board concluded and will recommend to the State Superintendent of Education that Earlham has met or exceeded all of the required standards for accreditation, but the process isn't expected to be complete until February 2008. "In one respect, the team designated Earlham's M.A.T. program as 'exemplary,'" says Earlham Provost Nelson Bingham. "That was our collaboration with local schools in the field experience and clinical practice of our students. Moreover, with many of our graduates now teaching in East Central Indiana schools, it was clear to the team that Earlham is having a significant impact upon public education in this area." Earlham: A Good Neighbor "In trying to be a good neighbor, we are making an impact locally," says Debbie Rickey, director of the graduate programs at Earlham. "A good teacher is a good teacher for all students. We emphasize becoming a teacher for your students and teaching for learning." Rickey points to a recent study, Educating School Teachers, conducted by education expert Arthur Levine that faulted many teacher education programs for "clinging to outdated" methods and not adequately preparing teachers to meet the realities of today's classrooms. "The demands teachers face today are absolutely different," Rickey says. "There are a lot more kids in the system who have many more needs." Understanding Student Pressures M.A.T. graduate and Richmond High School teacher Heidi Schran says today's adolescents have to deal with a lot of pressure. She sees kids who want to give up, kids who think no one cares, and students who want to push the boundaries. "I have more patience (because of my Earlham training). I cultivate more trust with my students and see students that are more intrinsically motivated," Schran says. "They are doing the assignments and behaving well in class because they want to, not out of fear of being written up or suspended. Seeing my freshmen from last year behaving so maturely this year has been great vindication." Earlham's education programs are grounded in Quaker practices that help prepare teachers to face the societal challenges in today's classroom, Rickey says. These practices include cooperative community, the pursuit of an openness to truth, respect for consciences of others and lack of coercion. One of the ways they meet this challenge is through the cornerstone principle "Teaching All Students." Shift In Emphasis "Too often the emphasis is on the lesson plans and not on how our students fit into the objectives," Rickey says. "We have to shift our emphasis so that others can learn. It has to be all about the kids. If they are not learning, it isn't working. This is a very unselfish way of looking at teaching." Rae Ferriell-Woolpy, grade level principal at Richmond High School, says the G.P.E. graduates are always ready to go that extra mile for any student. "You can sense their passion for making sure that all students are accepted and that all students are challenged to be the best that they can be," she says. Mary Hirt, another Richmond High teacher, says that her M.A.T. training stressed that there is not just one right way to teach a class. "We learned very few strategies to use in our classrooms," Hirt says. "They simply taught us how to use the knowledge of our students to create the type of learning environment they could benefit from." Another cornerstone principle is "Theory into Practice," which Rickey says gives the M.A.T. graduates an advantage over other new teachers because they have more classroom experience. Earlham's M.A.T. graduates don't feel like first-year teachers. "The yearlong student teaching experience was our testing ground where we could try our own strategies as well as those that worked best for our mentor teachers," Hirt says. "Because I know there is no set way to do things, I am always pushing myself to find a better way … not just do the same thing I did last year because it sort of worked." Earlham Grads Take Leadership Roles Woolpy and Rickey say G.P.E. graduates often are the ones taking leadership roles in extracurricular activities as well as curriculum reform, which is the result of another cornerstone principle "Professional Educator." "I have been very involved in leadership roles since I began teaching at Richmond High School," says Hirt. "I am piloting an all-male class this year with a fellow Earlham graduate Karen Ball, who is piloting an all-girl class based on research I have done." Hirt obtained a grant and donations to fund the courses. "My ninth grade colleagues and I will be presenting at the (National Council of Teachers of English) in New York in a few months," Hirt says. "We will present a project based on multi-genre writing to discover how 'ignorance breeds intolerance.'" Schran is a faculty adviser for the Green Club. Membership is up from five students last year to more than 30. Schran and Hirt, and Woolpy, who also has taken four G.P.E. weeklong summer institute courses, all say they appreciate the camaraderie they have with other Earlham grads. "Many teachers at Richmond are involved with Earlham in some fashion," Hirt says. "It's great to know that I have like-minded teachers around me who are ready to try new ideas, as well as fix and improve some old ones." — EC — Contact: Mark Blackmon,
director of media relations
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |