by Janice Ng | Sep 5, 2013 | News Slider
Earlier this summer, Lipscomb was one of four universities across the nation that were awarded four out of four stars by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and policy group dedicated to establishing teacher quality in the nation. According to College of Education Dean Candice McQueen, the students and faculty were the ones at the heart of the ratings. “We are a program that really prepares our students in content, and we also do a lot with assessment and making sure we’re using survey data to make program improvements,” McQueen said. This is not the first time the College of Education has been recognized for its program. McQueen expressed her excitement at the national level recognition. “For two years now, our program has been highlighted for our ability for our own graduates to come out and impact student achievement in a positive way,” McQueen said. The most recent report card noted that Lipscomb’s graduate performance was better than many three-year veteran teachers already out in the field. “When [students] get to student-teaching, they’ve already had experience in working with a very diverse population of students, and this allows them to feel confidant to work with students of all different socio-economic levels,” said Junior High, director of undergraduate education. High said he believes that teaching is a service occupation and strives to instill a good value system in his students. “We build on what they bring to the classroom,” High said. “We are very concerned that they not only leave here with a skill to go into the classroom professionally and to be effective educators, but we want them...
by Hunter Patterson | Nov 10, 2011 | News Slider
Teachers certified through Lipscomb are fairing well in their positions according to the latest state report card. Ranked third below Teach for America Memphis and Teach for America Nashville, Lipscomb graduates outshone more traditional colleges throughout the state. For the last four years, the state has done a report card on teacher preparation programs across the state. The state looks at those teachers’ impact on their particular students. The report looks at students’ scores on standardized tests – TCAP here in Tennessee – to see how much, if any, the students improved because of a graduate’s teaching ability. Once that is done, the results are then linked to the university that the teacher came from. “The connection is between the teacher prep program and how many of your graduates have some kind of statistically positive impact on students,” said Dr. Candice McQueen, dean of the education department at Lipscomb. Now a law within the state, the schools must report their “completers” to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. That means that everyone who graduates with a teaching degree must be reported to the commission so the reports can be filed. Lipscomb is fortunate enough to report several graduates as well. McQueen says the school’s placement rates are usually 95 percent or above. However, because of last year’s budget cuts, that rate was closer to 80 percent, which was still fairly high for the area. “We have school districts that really love our graduates,” McQueen said. “They will call us and recruit them, in a sense.” For this particular report, though, the state only looks at students that are in public...
