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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEKWORK PHILOSOPHY
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| Elizabeth City State University's mission provides for a multicultural, challenging, student-centered learning environment that prepares its students for responsible participation and leadership in an ever-changing world. The School of Education and Psychology teacher education conceptual framework is consistent with this mission and was developed to describe its vision and purpose in preparing educators to work in P-12 schools. The focus of the conceptual framework is to prepare educators who are reflective practitioners, advocators of diversity, effective facilitators, critical thinkers, proficient technology users, and competent evaluators who are capable of meeting the diverse needs of all learners.
Supported by a strong knowledge base, the conceptual framework provides
a system for ensuring coherence and a well-articulated professional commitment to student knowledge of content, teaching competence, leadership, and learning. This is reflected in the curriculum, instruction, and clinical experiences provided to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are valued in teachers. The conceptual framework provides the theme and direction for our programs, courses, candidate performance, scholarships, service, and unit accountability. Coherence exists among the graduate practium, and learner outcomes - what our teacher candidates and graduate candidates know and are able to do.
Since its beginning in 1992, the conceptual framework's organizing theme, Teacher as Decision Maker, had remained the guiding principle for program implementation, assessment, evaluation, and effectiveness. However, during the Fall 2006, the faculty and partners re-examined curriculum and program offerings and determined that the conceptual framework needed to be revised. Adding the Master of School Administration necessiated some updating. The research bases of cognitive development (Hunt, 1981), multicultural education (Banks & Banks, 2003), effective teaching (Marzano, 2007:Stronge, 2007), reflective practice (Cruickshank, 1987; Braubacher, Case, & Regan, 2000), and technology (Brabec, Fisher, & Pitler, 2004; ISTE-NETS, 2000) were reviewed to highlight the essential qualities of the institutional standards. Thus, in 2006, the conceptual framework organizing theme was revised to be Professional Educator as Decision Maker.
The Conceptual Framework Committe considered the institution's mission, the unit's knowledge bases and what the school wanted the teacher candidates to demonstrate upon exiting the program. Stakeholders focused on ensuring alignment with national, state, and institutional standards. The model reflects the evolution of the conceptual framework since 1992 and incorporates current influences and twent-first century predictions specified by Marzano (2000). By design, it is dyanamic and is structured philosophically to embrace the changing contexts of teaching and learning. Supported by multiple forms of knowledge drawn from many disciplines, research, best practice, historical and cultural perspectives, and the dispositions valued by the educational and local community, its major tenets encompass the following three areas:
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