EDUCATING FUTURE EDUCATORS

Baldwin Wallace takes a leadership role with four different programs.

By Jill Sell

“As someone new to Baldwin Wallace University (BW), I have learned of the long history we have of producing future educators and establishing relationships in and around Berea, Middleburg Heights and the entire Cleveland Metropolitan area in many ways,” says Stephen W. Dittmore, PhD, dean, College of Education and Health Sciences. “I am proud of our graduates.”

BW can trace its roots to 1845. In the mid-1970s, the graduate program in education at what was then BaldwinWallace College was established and remains one of the largest among independent universities in Ohio today.

Dittmore assumed his role in July 2022, leaving the University of Arkansas as an associate dean in that school’s College of Education and Health Professions. He made the move well aware of BW’s commitment to innovative teacher education and community responsibility. Four recent initiatives by the School of Education designed to help alleviate voids in K-12 education, plus the support of a program that involves BW athletes encouraging reading to underserved elementary students, illustrate that mission.

Reduced or Tuition-free Master’s Degree

We all know the ramifications of student debt, and graduate school costs can be especially challenging. How about a lowcost or tuition-free master’s degree?

Piecing together scholarships and grants, BW and its partner, Meteor Learning (a company that assists the university with recruitment and marketing of graduate degree programs), offers those options to a limited number of students in accelerated mathematics or science teaching graduate programs.

Individuals who already hold a bachelor’s degree in math or science and want to become a teacher are eligible for the program.

The program is funded by the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Choose Ohio First STEM grant program and the state’s Addressing the Educator Shortages scholarship programs. With that help, tuition drops to about $7,500 from $19,980, with BW and Meteor Learning picking up the remainder of the cost for a limited number of students. Students in the accelerated master courses learn skills that a student would traditionally learn in teacher education classes, preparing them to be successful in a classroom.

“This opportunity is important to Ohio because, like many other states, it is facing a shortage of teachers, especially in the STEM fields. Those are the growing fields, what industry is demanding and where students want to go after they graduate from high school or college,” says Dittmore. “We see many more jobs available for engineers and the growing field of bioengineers. The workforce is placing a demand on those kinds of disciplines rather than traditional humanities.”

Dittmore says that because this degree program is delivered online and is flexible, “it can really help someone make a career switch to teaching and is a way for an individual to better themselves in the future.”

Ohio is ranked fifth in the United States in employment levels for secondary school teachers, except for special and career/technical education, according to BW.

High Dose Tutoring

Not all of the country’s K-12 students have completely caught up with their grade level coursework after the disruptions of COVID-19 and online/hybrid learning. But BW’s new High Dosage Tutoring program is doing something to address that concern. Dittmore considers the program to be beneficial for all those involved.

Unable to technically apply itself, Fairview Park City Schools asked BW to apply for Ohio Department of Education/U.S. Department of Education funds. The hope was to create a program that features BW K-12 teacher education students working with established teachers to help high-need students in grades one through five.

Two BW faculty members — Professor Cynthia Dieterich and Rochelle Berndt, assistant professor in literacy education — were awarded a grant of almost $300,000 to work with Gilles-Sweet Elementary school staff over the next several years. The pilot program involves eight undergraduate teacher candidates and 11 elementary school teachers. Youngsters are tutored in literacy and mathematics.

Prep

The Primary Reading Engagement Program (PREP) motivates students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District who struggle with reading. The program encourages them to read daily from a book of their choice, rewards those who complete reading opportunities and encourages parental involvement. In 2021, PREP was part of Cleveland schools’ Summer Learning Experience. Seven-hundred kindergartners each received four books to take home during the summer. PREP provided teacher training and parental guidance.

BW’s Center for Coaching Excellence collected books for the Kids Book Bank, which were then donated to the program.

“PREP is the brainchild of one our faculty members — Jeannie Votypka, assistant professor of literacy,” says Dittmore. “She also worked to secure beginning readers for the students so hopefully they will develop a lifelong curiosity and desire to want to read.”

Votypka published results of her research in the Spring 2021 issue of The Journal of Teacher Action Research. Her work involved the reading motivation, reading frequency and reading achievement of 16 readers in grades one through three enrolled in PREP. Votypka’s study found that PREP students showed positive results when measuring those factors after their participation.

2nd & 7 Foundation

The nonprofit 2nd & 7 Foundation was founded in 1999 by three Ohio State University football players. Since then, participation has spread to 26 states and 200 communities. Free books and positive role models, including student athletes, are paired with second-grade students in need to encourage reading. BW established the first Northeast chapter in 2021.

The university’s program is a partnership between Kerry Bebie, PhD, director, BW Center for Coaching Excellence, and BW’s Department of Education under the direction of Assistant Professor Rochelle Berndt, PhD. Dittmore also credits Lecturer Heather Marzenski for supporting 2nd & 7 as another tool to provide young reader motivation.

“Each month our education majors and college athletes engage with kids in classrooms and show them that reading is important and will help them get places they want to go later in life. I really like this program because it’s a great way to illustrate the importance of interdisciplinary work at the university,” says Dittmore, adding that BW students and athletes will visit schools in the Fairview Park City School District and Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

“You have all these students with different course focuses — student athletes and students in teacher education — all getting to know and interact with each other,” adds Dittmore, who, early in his career, was a corporate communications and sports management professional with several organizations, including The Olympic Games and the NCAA Final Four.

About 3,230 students are enrolled by BW at its 125-acre campus in Berea, BW at Corporate College East in Warrensville Heights and online. The university offers more than 85 undergraduate programs in six academic schools, plus the Conservatory of Music and more than 30 graduate and professional programs in education, business and health sciences.

By Linda Feagler