Source: Michael Holen, 785-532-5525, mholen@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Patrice Scott, 785-532-2521, patrices@k-state.edu
Friday, March 16, 2012
Teaching teachers: College of Education recognized for best practices in preparing ethical, moral teachers
MANHATTAN -- Ethics and morals are award-winning priorities and practices at Kansas State University's College of Education, which has been recognized with the 2012 Best Practice Award for Professional Ethics and Moral Dispositions in Teacher Education from The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Debbie Mercer, associate dean of the College of Education, accepted the award at the association's 64th annual meeting in Chicago in February. The honor recognizes excellence in a school, college or department of education for illustrative and purposeful attention to professional ethics and moral dispositions in teacher education.
The college was selected because of its ability to provide clear coherence among vision, development and assessment of dispositions across the unit. The review committee commended the College of Education for its in-depth approaches to showing solid integration of the focus of dispositions across categories that guide the program.
Michael Holen, Skeen professor and dean of the College of Education, credits the college's educational structure for laying the foundation for the award.
"Several decades ago, our faculty and school partners jointly crafted and implemented a conceptual framework emphasizing ethical, caring and respectful behavior as crucial components in our preparation of teachers and other school personnel," Holen said. "We are gratified to see our refinement of these elements of our program recognized by the profession."
For the award, the College of Education was required -- among many criteria -- to describe the kind of professional educator the program is trying to foster within the context of education in a democracy; explain how dispositions and professional ethics enact values and relate to knowledge and skills; demonstrate how a clear theory and practice relate to the development of dispositions; and demonstrate the success or impact of the policies and practices on developing professional ethics and moral dispositions in teacher candidates.
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Teacher Education is a national alliance of educator preparation programs dedicated to the highest quality professional development of teachers and school leaders in order to enhance student learning from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The association has 800 member institutions.