University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles announced the state of North Carolina has a shortage of 10,000 teachers every year.
The UNC system is having a particularly hard time finding students to become involved in math and science education programs. The College of Education has begun a push to help address the shortage with its new elementary education major, which will begin accepting students for the fall 2006 semester.
While many other schools in the system already have elementary education programs, the new one at N.C. State will differ from these programs in several ways.
“We want to have an emphasis in math and science, because we know that elementary teachers tend to shy away from the math and sciences, and their preparation is usually really heavy in reading and literacy,” Jennifer Mangrum, the director of the new program, said. “We feel that [math and science] are something that we can offer to our education students and to the state of North Carolina.”
The program received approval from the UNC system Board of Governors, an approval that came much earlier than expected for the College of Education.
Due to the early approval, the College has now moved the full-scale opening of the program forward one year, and will now begin accepting applicants for the fall 2006 semester.
The program was first conceived in 2005 and was created in response to the closing of a similar program at Meredith College. The program, to which NCSU students were eligible to apply through the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges agreement, was closed in January 2005 due to budget constraints and curriculum challenges. The new program has undergone a rigorous approval process since that time.
For the University to begin offering the degree, it first had to receive approval from the College of Education, the University Courses and Curriculum Committee, the N.C. State Board of Trustees, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the UNC Board of Governors.
In addition to securing approval, program officials also had to establish admission requirements and curricula. The degree will be focused distinctly in the areas of math and science, and students accepted to the program will be required to take as many as 10 math and science courses.
Program directors initially planned to accept 30 juniors into the program for the fall 2006 semester, but due to the early completion of the approval process, the program has decided to accept 60 juniors, 60 sophomores and 60 freshmen instead. The program began offering its first course this semester, a course for sophomores entitled Special Topics in Education: Introduction to Elementary Education in a Global Society. The course marks the first time in the history of the University elementary education has been taught.
Students in the class said that the small size of the program is one of its major attractions.
“I have enjoyed the course so far, because it is so small and personal,” Sarah Stevens, a sophomore in middle grades education, said. “I like that my adviser is teaching my class right now, and that everybody really knows each other well.”
The early beginning for the program opens it to incoming high school seniors in addition to internal transfer students from the University.
Because of the program’s small size, acceptance will be extremely competitive. Mangrum said this is another thing that makes the program unique.
“If you go to [the elementary education programs] at Carolina or Appalachian, if you get the GPA, you’re in,” Mangrum said. “Here, there’s going to be a selection process. For an elementary education program to say, ‘We’re only going to take the cream of the crop,’ is something very new.”
Next year, the students in the program will take all their elementary education classes together in a block format. Mangrum also stressed the program would provide the opportunity for students to spend a lot of time in classrooms of different elementary schools throughout the Raleigh area. This kind of classroom experience can often be invaluable to teaching students who are looking to find the right place for them at the University.
“When I first came to N.C. State, I wanted to do high school education,” Janna Rogerson, a sophomore in English secondary education who is currently enrolled in the Introduction to Elementary Education course, said. “After spending time in both high school and elementary school classrooms, I decided I would rather be in elementary education. I am very exited about being involved in the program.”
