Unit Accreditation Coordinating Council (UACC) was making plans for the academic year.

Unit Accreditation Coordinating Council Retreat

On Friday, September 25, the Unit Accreditation Coordinating Council (UACC) met at the Student Center to celebrate their accomplishments and make plans for this academic year. The day began with a welcome from Dean Teitelbaum and from Dr. John McIntyre, the National Council of Accreditation in Teacher Education (NCATE) coordinator. They spoke of the significant collaboration accomplished by the UACC, as well as the need to continue working together to improve our Teacher Education Program (TEP).

The UACC is composed of Program Coordinators and other representative faculty from every Teacher Education major offered in four colleges: COEHS, Agriculture, Liberal Arts, and Science. This begins its third year addressing a new paradigm of accreditation in Teacher Education. The UACC has designed and implemented a comprehensive assessment system and agreed upon data collection methods that will result in an electronic exhibit room for the next NCATE visit in 2012.

Friday’s retreat was an intense series of meetings, from 9:00 to 3:00. Topics tackled by breakout groups were highly focused. They discussed revision of the Conceptual Framework underlying Teacher Education at SIUC; the values, commitments and behaviors we expect of our teacher candidates; how we plan to assess those values, commitments, and behaviors in all Teacher Education courses and in the schools; and how to monitor the effectiveness of the assessment system.

TEP Center Coordinators (CCs) joined the UACC at noon for a “working lunch.” At tables organized by certification level, campus- and field-based faculty discussed the alignment of teacher candidate preparation in the various majors and the performance of our candidates in their field placements. After lunch, UACC members and CCs discussed current issues in teacher preparation that need to be addressed in our core education courses. At the end of this richly informative and energizing day, the UACC set its agenda through February 2010.