COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
ecilia Rokusek, Dean
Gildemeister Hall, Room 135   (507-457-5570)

MISSION 
The College of Education's mission is to provide continuing leadership and excellence in preparing classroom teachers, counselors, administrators, and other educational professionals. It accomplishes its mission by offering undergraduate and graduate programs to prepare professionals for public and private schools in the region.

The College strives to provide the knowledge, skills, professionalism, and practice necessary to enable students to perform with excellence as educational professionals and leaders in the service region, state, nation, and world. The College endeavors to provide students with appropriate field experiences in the region, throughout Minnesota, and other states. Further, it provides opportunities for cross-cultural and international awareness and understanding through both general education and professional work.

Faculty members in the College are committed to the serious study of education and the promotion of professional standards to foster innovation in professional preparation.

DEPARTMENTS
Counselor Education, Education, Educational Leadership, Physical Education and Recreation, and Special Education.

Note:  The Department of Educational Leadership offers only graduate-level degree and licensure programs.  See the Graduate Catalog for more information.

ADMISSION AND GRADUATION STANDARDS
Refer to the appropriate department for details.  For a checklist of the University graduation requirements, see page 22.

ACCREDITATION AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
WSU is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).  All teacher education and school counselor programs have been approved by the Minnesota Board of Teaching.  In addition, several programs have received national recognition from the following professional organizations: National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Council of Teachers of English, Association for Childhood Education International, Council for Exceptional Children, National Council for the Social Studies, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The Counselor Education programs are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and NCATE.  Programs in the Department of Educational Leadership are also accredited by NCATE and approved by the Minnesota Board of School Administrators.

The College of Education is a member of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and the Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE).

PARTNERSHIPS
The College of Education and the Professional Education Unit are committed to active and equal partnerships with local schools and other educational organizations as demonstrated by (but not limited to) the following ongoing partnerships including:

• The Teacher Education Partnership with 13 school districts in the Hiawatha Valley Education District.
• Urban Teacher Education Partnership with six schools, including the West Side Schools of Excellence and Four Seasons A+ of the Saint Paul Public Schools, and five Minnesota State Universities.
• A student teaching exchange program with Fort Valley State University (Fort Valley, Georgia).
• Teacher exchanges of university faculty and school district faculty.
• Graduate Induction Program with Rochester Public Schools (Rochester, Minnesota).
• Learning Community Master Teacher Program.
• Innovative Academic Programs.
• Post Baccalaureate Program.

HONOR SOCIETIES AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Academically accomplished students are recognized by WSU chapters of the professional honor societies Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Omega Upsilon.  Pre-professional students may join student chapters of professional organizations:  Education Minnesota Student Program, Student Council for Exceptional Children, Student International Reading Association, Student Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Therapeutic Recreation/Recreation Club.

MAXWELL CHILDREN'S CENTER
The Maxwell Children's Center (located in Maxwell Hall) provides a living laboratory of child development and exemplary practice for students in professional education programs at WSU.  Future teachers have opportunities to work with and observe children from birth through school age.  The Children's Center is an important part of the College of Education and the Professional Education Unit.  The Center keeps the learning and development of children at the forefront of our professional education programs.

In addition to experiences at the Maxwell Children's Center, students in professional education programs in the College of Education are in schools and other professional settings throughout their programs.  Teacher education majors can expect to spend time in Pre K-12 classrooms every semester while they are in the program, beginning as early as their second semester on campus.  Recreation majors culminate their programs in an internship of their choosing after a variety of professional experiences within their major courses.

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES OFFERED BY THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science	Teaching Major	Non-Teaching Major	Non-Teaching Minor
Adventure Tourism			X
Business Education	X
Coaching			X
Elementary Education with Early Childhood Emphasis	X
K-6 with Middle Level Communication Arts and Literature 5-8 Specialty	X
K-6 with Middle Level Mathematics 5-8 Specialty	X
K-6 with Middle Level Science 5-8 Specialty	X
K-6 with Middle Level Social Studies 5-8 Specialty	X
Physical Education	X
Recreation, Tourism and Therapeutic Recreation
Option A, Recreation and Tourism		X
Option B, Therapeutic Recreation		X
Special Education
Developmental Disabilities	X
Learning Disabilities	X
Training and Development			X

                                                                                    
GRADUATE DEGREES OFFERED BY THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
See the Graduate Catalog for program descriptions and other pertinent information.

ADVANCED LICENSURE PROGRAMS

Learning Disabilities (LD)
Developmental Disabilities (DD)

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

Educational Technology Certificate
Outdoor Education/Adventure Based Leadership
Training and Development Certificate

MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.S.)

Counselor Education
Community Counseling–Focus:  Chemical Dependency Counseling
Elementary School Counseling
Secondary School Counseling
Professional Development

Education

Early Childhood
Graduate Induction Program (GIP)
K-12 Education
Master Teacher Program
Middle Level
Secondary

Educational Leadership

General School Leadership (non-licensure)
K-12 Principalship (non-Minnesota licensure)

Special Education

Learning Disabilities (LD)
Developmental Disabilities (DD)

EDUCATIONAL SPECIALIST (Ed.S.)

Educational Leadership

PK-12 Principal
Superintendent

Last Modified: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 15:39