This fulfilled the need to establish a distinct identity and mission for the almost 1000 students involved in teacher education at the graduate and undergraduate levels. It also served to direct and streamline teacher education efforts and to provide support and focus for the program performance reviews conducted by Colorado and Wyoming state education officials in October and November of this year. This past year has been a learning season for teacher education faculty as well as students. We advised and taught scores of students, attended masses of meetings, submitted batches of new course proposals, and fielded a plethora of phone calls, learning as we went. Of course sheer volume and effort alone do not complete the equation for a quality program.
Any season of change is accompanied by growing pains on the journey toward excellence.
How fortunate we have been to have the mentoring, assistance, and encouragement of faculty and staff in our two parent units, graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as so many others from the University as a whole. As Oliver Wendell Holmes so astutely commented, I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. As we examine our plans for future seasons, there is much to celebrate. Twelve new partner school agreements have been forged in the Denver Metro and Colorado Springs areas and student fieldwork is underway at all of the partner schools. All teacher education courses have been revised and updated and four new courses are being piloted.