Evaluation of candidates in the professional program at Athens State University is based on both knowledge and performance. This is the only true determination of the success of the candidate and the program. For candidates to learn to model for their future students, they must see professors and practicing teachers model, and they must be required to plan, rehearse, and use modeling as they prepare to become teachers. This is an essential and pervasive component of the program at Athens State University. Teachers must make many decisions about students and instruction that cannot be reduced to simple formulas or rules.
Reflection requires that teachers be thoughtful and be able to evaluate themselves.
In order for candidates to become reflective thinkers, they must learn the value of the process to their success and to the success of their students. Recognizing the value of reflection begins when candidates reflect on their performance during each of their professional courses at Athens State University. As teachers and students move into the next century, new situations will occur and new problems will need to be faced and solved to an even greater degree. A teacher who can solve problems in novel situations is one who can grow with the changes in schools and in society. That teacher is one who can teach students to do the same.