ECU teaching program in contention for award

An East Carolina University program that prepares students to teach in middle grade classrooms is among the semi-finalists in the competition for a national award.

ECU’s middle grades teacher preparation program in the School of Education is one of eight programs at colleges and universities around the country hoping to the win the National Award for Effective Teacher Preparation given by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Ann Bullock, a professor in the Department of Elementary and Middle Grades, said the award is open to all kindergarten through 12th grade teacher programs involved in the teaching of reading and mathematics. She said the ECU program represents a partnership between the School of Education and the Department of Mathematics in the ECU College of Arts and Sciences.

In the competition for the award, ECU submitted a report containing interviews from school principals who employ ECU graduates, interviews with several recent graduates, case studies and data collected from end-of-grade testing in classes taught by teachers trained at ECU. The eight university semi-finalists were chosen from the submitted applications. Bullock said “stage three” of the competition includes a visit to ECU campus, Sept. 13-15, by a four-member U.S. Department of Education team. The team members will meet with faculty and then visit schools in Johnston, Lenoir, Craven, Carteret, Edgecombe, Pamlico and Pitt counties to verify the information submitted in the awards application.

The school visits will include interviews with principals and with ECU graduates who are middle grade math teachers. The team members will compile a report of their findings. Their reports will be used in selecting the finalists for the award.

“We have done our own research and talked with the principals and to the teachers who are mentors to the graduates who are just starting in field,” said Bullock. “The information that we have received is that our graduates are effective teachers and are well prepared.”

“We are competing with K-12 programs around the country and it is a credit to our program to among the eight semi-finalists,” she said.