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Nancy Brickhouse

The University of Delaware’s Elementary Teacher Education Program has received top ratings from the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), the specialty organization of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, the only accrediting organization approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

“We are delighted that the program has received national recognition from ACEI. It is almost unheard of for a program to receive this rating the first time,” Carol Vukelich, Hammonds Professor in Teacher Education and director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education, said.

Nancy Brickhouse, associate director of the School of Education, assembled the 2,000-page report for the approval process. The UD program received approval for all 20 standards, which ranged from different disciplines, such as science and language skills, to “adaption to diverse students,” and the ACEI reviewers found no “weaknesses/concerns.”

The ACEI report said: “The overall assessment plan was well done…as most universities/colleges are beginning their assessment plans, the University of Delaware is probably ahead of most. Very well done.”

Vukelich said the UD program had been evaluated in 1997, but the focus of the organization had changed. “In 1997, ACEI was interested in the curriculum and courses. Now the evaluation is performance-based on how standards are implemented by our candidates in K-8 classrooms.”

In October, a team of educators from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education will visit the campus to assess other issues, such as the structure of the University’s support for professional education, how data is collected and how students’ field experiences are organized.

“The state of Delaware also will be evaluating our program, so this will be an important and busy time for us,” Vukelich said.

Contact: Beth Thomas, (302) 831-8749
March 13, 2003