News Release

Wilmington University College of Education Teaching Programs Nationally Recognized

Wilmington University announced today that its Master of Arts program in teaching at the secondary level (grades 7-12), and its Master of Education degree program in special education, are now nationally recognized and approved. According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), this full and unconditional approval will be recognized by the Council through 2021.

Master of Arts NCATE recognition of secondary teacher prep is significant.

The U. S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize NCATE as a professional accrediting body for teacher preparation. NCATE accreditation is considered essential to the establishment of high quality teacher, specialist, and administrator preparation.

The process to gain NCATE recognition for the Master of Arts in teaching for grades 7 to 12 is complex and includes approval by four different professional associations (National Councils for English, Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics) in addition to unit-accreditation.

"The recognition of the Wilmington University Master of Arts in teaching at the secondary level is significant because the degree is the College of Education’s first venture into preparing teachers for work at the high school level," said Dr. John Gray, Dean of the College of Education. "Passage to full approval and recognition at this level is a very challenging process." 

The College of Education extends its appreciation to the faculty members who aided in the NCATE process:

       ·  Al DiEmedio - MAT Program Chair

       ·  Olivia Roane - MAT Assistant Chair

       ·  Eleanor Weinglass - MAT transcript evaluation and program advisor

       ·  Bill Barkley - program review guidance; accreditation report preparation and editing 

       ·  Michele Brewer - data collection and analysis

       ·  Tyler Wells and the staff of the Office of Clinical Studies -  field placements in secondary schools.

Master's Program for special education awarded national recognition.

The WilmU MSE program is a non-categorical teacher preparation program, whose recipients qualify for initial teacher licensure and Delaware certification to teach children with exceptional learning needs in grades K-12. In addition to NCATE accreditation, national recognition for special education teacher preparation programs requires program approval from the Council for Exceptional Children. 

"This is a noteworthy achievement because this level of approval is quite difficult to achieve," Dr. Gray added. "Congratulations to the faculty and staff associated with this program, all of whom were key to the attainment of the Council's approval." 

The College of Education extends its appreciation to the faculty and staff associated with this program:

       .  William Lane - MSE Program Chair

       .  Al DiEmedio - Director of Teacher Preparation

       .  Jeff Roth and Leah VanGelder - MSE Program Advisors

       .  Michele Brewer - Technology Chair

       .  William Barkley - NCATE Coordinator

Published: Friday, February 7, 2014 - New Castle, DE