The Advanced Educator Preparation Program
The Advanced Educator Preparation Program
In accordance with the standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), accomplished teaching is characterized by one’s ability to integrate knowledge, assessment, and reflection and to demonstrate dedication to students and the learning community. By establishing these standards of excellence for experienced educators, the NBPTS seeks to improve student learning in America’s schools and heighten professionalism within the field of teaching. It is on these standards that the advanced program is predicated.
The Advanced Educator Preparation Program at GC incorporates the view of education as an ongoing effort that is never completed. Educators who are committed to growing and developing professionally must invest energy in staying informed and increasing their skills. The advanced educator education program encourages educators to become mentors and advisors to beginning educators, innovative leaders in their schools and communities, and architects of change in the systems that govern local, state, and national education. These goals are accomplished through strong foundations in the following seven areas:
I. Extended Knowledge
Students in the advanced educator preparation program will be given opportunities to add depth and breadth to their existing knowledge base. Development in pedagogy creates opportunities for educators to continually improve their practice. Instructional materials and resources are constantly changing, as are the diverse needs of all learners, challenging educators to learn new technologies and incorporate them into innovative teaching techniques. The emphasis on educators as architects of change places significance on taking advantage of all opportunities to extend an educator’s basic knowledge foundation.
II. Professional Knowledge and Application
Students in the advanced educator preparation program will be challenged to apply theory to practice. They will be guided to practice and improve their professional skills and to experiment and change their professional practices based on the application of advanced educational theories.
III. Sensitivity to Diversity within the Classroom, Community, and Society
Education is a matter of relationships among diverse individuals. These relationships should be grounded in a sensitivity to the diversity of individuals within the classroom, community, and society. Educators who openly express and model respect for individual differences will be able to build bridges within the community. The advanced educator preparation program will challenge educators to positively impact society’s understanding and acceptance of all individuals.
IV. Professional Organization and Mentoring Novices
Students in the advanced educator preparation program will be encouraged to develop their roles as professionals, to explore their professional strengths and weaknesses and to organize their philosophies of education and classroom experience in a manner that will be beneficial to those just beginning the teaching process. They will learn how to be mentors to novices in ways which will benefit both educator and student alike.
V. Theory and Research
Just as beginning educators will learn from those in the advanced educator preparation program, graduates will be taught to seek information from master teachers and researchers. They will become skilled in seeking information from research articles and professional presentations; they will also be encouraged to conduct research in their classrooms and make the results known to their colleagues through conference presentation or articles.
VI. Communication and Advocacy
Students in the advanced educator preparation program will be taught the skills needed to communicate with families and leaders in the community in regard to individual students and/or needs of the school. Educators will learn how to engage families and the community in the instructional program and to advocate for individual students when appropriate.
VII. Dynamic Leadership
As with the basic educator preparation program, emphasis will be placed on endowing practicing educators with dynamic leadership capabilities. The focus in the advanced educator preparation program, however, will be on creating educators who will serve as role models in the educational, professional, and social communities and who will model the benefits of education by becoming lifelong learners.
