Education: Students struggle to teach

- Continued from page 1

The way the situation works now, is that students have to declare a major by the end of their sophomore year. If all of their NTEs are not passed, students will be accepted into the educational studies major. When all of their tests are completed and passed, they can be accepted into the certifi~ation program, which will allow them to student teach. "The two programs are very permeable and there·is no second class status associated with the new major," O'Connell stressed.

The situation is slightly more difficult for current seniors. If seniors do not have all of their NTEs passed, but pass them by May, they will still graduate with a degree in educational studies. This is because all of their student teaching requirements have not been met. The student can do an internship in a private or parochial school, but student teaching credits will still have to be completed. These can be done during the Summer I session at Cabrini. The numberof credits needed will depend on how many requirements were met during the student's in- temship. Once student teaching is completed, the student's transcript will be stamped with an approval for certification. According to Middleton, "A student who completes student teaching during the summer will probably receive his or her certificate around the same time as everyone else. Harrisburg gets so backed up that the extra time spent student teaching should not hold the student back." This means that everyone should be ready to enter to enter the job force at the same time. • Students have opinions that run the gamut from very upset to approving, but shock is the most common feeling on campus. "It's a little overwhelming for people. It took everyone by surprise, especially seniors who are right in the middle of their last year;' said Erin Maxwell, a senior education major.

This thought was echoed by senior Elizabeth Farrell: "Everyone is angry because they didn't know that they had to pass the tests by a certain date and now they are being penalized because they did not know that."

Middleton said, "No one expected there to be three changes in the standards in 12 months. It couldn't be anticipated." She also said that students are upset because they realized that maybe something that they decided to put on the back burner was the most important thing they had to do. "The tests have been given a number of times. If students didn't budget their time and money, they are now in crunch mode."

Junior Megan Gallagher said, "I think the education division here thinks that everyone knows the procedures for testing and the majority of students have no clue."

~ometimes even the things the students are tol_dare wrong and misleading according to some angered students.

Lori Lonergan, a junior, explained a situation that happened to her. "I was told that I couldn't take my NTEs because I didn't have a 3.0 GPA, but I found out too late that I didn't need a certain GPA at all. I had to take four tests in one day and I bad to wait to take the fifth one. By that time field experience had already started."

Senior Gabrielle Beltran agreed saying, "We were advised to wait to take our last NTEs as of May 2001. When we came in Septem- ber we were told that we had to have them all done. There were only two testing dates in the fall. By the time some people were told of this, it was too late to register."

All of the colleges in the area including West Chester University and Ursinus College still allow student teaching when tests are not completed. "Even if I wanted to go to another school to do student teaching, I couldn't do that because the last 30 credits have to be from Cabrini in order to graduate;' Beltran said.

Some students think that the rule should have a grandfather clause. "It's unfair, I think. Maybe they should've done it to incoming freshmen and let the seniors still student teach," said Kim Cashman, senior. The grandfather clause that is in effect is that if students took the old NTEs and passed them, they do not have to take the new tests that have been introduced.

Even though the overwhelming majority of the students feel that this is unfair, there are some people who think that it is a good idea. "I think that you should pass the NTEs before student teaching. If a person doesn't know enough to pass the tests, then maybe they don't know enough to student teach," said Lisa Brogan, senior.

The educational studies major was put in place in ·order to try to boost the appearance of Cabrini on the National Report Card. If the school did not take a drastic step to reduce the "low producing institution" status, the certification programs could possibly be cut.

"Students are upset for an understandable reason," O'Connell said, "but Cabrini didn't have a choice."

Test Dates:

January 12, 2002

March 9, 2002

April 20, 2002

June 15, 2002 for specific tests go to: teachingandlearning.arg