State renews approval of Cornell College teacher education program

The Iowa State Board of Education has renewed its approval of the Cornell College Education Department’s teacher education program.

The program regularly undergoes an extensive review in order to continue its certification of elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. The review examines the entire program, including the curriculum, qualifications of faculty members, and the teacher evaluation process.

“The review process is exacting but beneficial in the sense that it forces us to continuously evaluate and improve our practice,” said Jill Heinrich, associate professor of education. “Iowa is a state known for its educational excellence but to maintain that excellence, teacher preparation programs throughout the state are held to very high standards. We are proud to have met those standards.”

The process involved Education Department members Kerry Bostwick, Jill Heinrich, Meg Jacobs, Kate Kauper and Cindy Postler as well as Aaron Perrine from the Music Department and Ellen Whale from the Kinesiology Department. Cornell offers a major in elementary education, which prepares students to teach kindergarten through eighth grade, and a certification in secondary education, which prepares students to teach fifth through 12th grade.

“We’re pleased that the Iowa State Board of Education has renewed their approval for our teacher education program,” said Joe Dieker, dean of the college. “Our faculty are dedicated to educating the next generation of teachers and do an outstanding job preparing their students to become classroom teachers.”

The approval means Cornell College will continue to certify pre-service teachers through the next state assessment cycle, scheduled for the 2021-22 academic year.