Black Collegian News & Views

This is important in terms of maintaining the university’s national reputation in the field of education. “When our graduate students apply to doctoral programs, they can check a box on their application that asks if they have graduated from an NCATE-accredited program,” said Dr. Rosalind P. Hale, the chair of the division. “This shows that having this accreditation is important ... It shows that Xavier has an effective program.”

Hale said that having this accreditation increases education majors’ chances of getting into a doctoral program as well as getting good jobs in their field.

Andrew Wilson, a junior math education major from New Orleans, said that the division’s program was one of the reasons that he decided to attend Xavier. “My freshman year, the division wasn’t accredited yet,” he said. “But when I learned that it had gotten accreditation, I knew it was good.”

During the accreditation process, NCATE looks closely at the division’s program to examine its outcome. The division also does a great deal of self-evaluation and self-assessment.

Hale said the process is a continuing review, and that the division is evaluated every five years. Hale explained that the division has experienced a few changes since it was accredited in the fall of 1997. “What is critical from 1997 to this point is that the standards have changed,” she said. “Now, we use standards that are a mesh of the new and the old - nothing has been eliminated. What’s ironic is that there are more things that we have to do.”

In the past, NCATE looked at each individual syllabus and evaluated the faculty. Now, the council is examining the outcome of the program.

“They want to see how successful we are,” Hale said. “We’re pleased, because we’re meeting the program’s needs and the outcomes are successful. We train professionals, not just teachers, but counselors, school psychologists ... anyone who’s involved in the education profession.”

Wilson said that NCATE’s guidelines create an excellent learning environment for education majors. “By the division being accredited, it sets certain guidelines that they have to follow,” he said. “Everything that the teachers have learned, pass on to us. In turn, we pass it on to kids, and that way we share our knowledge with the next generation.”

Hale said that the division is preparing early because its accreditation is new. She said the division is following guidelines and the program review is continuing. NCATE officials visit Xavier every five years, but the division of education has to make yearly reports to the council.

The programs that the Division of Education sponsors off Xavier’s campus also strengthen its program. “For example, we have students that have gone into psychology,” Hale said. “They would work at the Bolden Childcare Center for experience.”

Xavierites can also look forward to a new program called the Xavier Minority Access to Teacher Education. Hale said this recruitment program would pair juniors and seniors in high school with two mentors. The students would get to interact with a veteran teacher who is working in the field. In addition, the division has also sponsored a summer program for the past two years that gets middle schools involved in math, science, and technology. Hale said that the Division of Education is one of the best-kept secrets on Xavier’s campus. “We welcome students ... We don’t turn anyone away,” she said. “Anyone who just might be thinking about teaching can just come up here and talk to us.”

“The teacher/student interaction is one-on-one. When you come to them with a problem, they treat your problem like it’s the most important problem in the world, and they’ll help you with it,” Wilson said. “I believe that in the future, Xavier University will be a school not only known for its science programs, but also for it’s education programs. That was Saint Katharine’s dream... and when education is first, then everything else follows.”