2. Session Organizer _Dr. Colleen Finegan___________ Tel. 937-775-4582

3. Critic/Discussant Dr. Gregory Bernhardt_ Tel. ____937-775-2822___

Presenter Name:_ Dr. Colleen Finegan_ Tel. 937-775-4582

Presenter Name Dr. Donna Cole Tel. 9737-775-3088

City/State/ZIP Dayton, OH 45435__ E-mail__ronald.helms@wright.edu___

City/State/ZIP Dayton, OH 45435 E-mail_ richele.oconnor@wright.edu___

Presenter Name Dr. Linda Ramey Tel _937-775-3231__

City/State/ZIP Dayton, OH 45435 E-mail___linda.ramey@wright.edu___

City/State/ZIP Dayton, OH 45435 E-mail___tracy.rusch@wright.edu___

City/State/ZIP Dayton, OH 45435 E-mail_james.tomlin@wright.edu___

The Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC/CEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) have developed comprehensive personnel standards related to the preparation of Early Childhood Educators that maintain that they must possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions for working with young children with special learning and developmental needs and their families. These personnel standards support the practice of inclusion, the provision of services for young children with special needs in general, and early childhood programs and other community-based settings in which typically developing young children are also served.

The National Middle Childhood Level Association (NMSA), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development have strong recommendations regarding the education of young adolescents in the middle years of their education. They recommend that Middle Childhood Educators be age-appropriately trained, as they experience maturation and unique growth needs which must be addressed in the school setting. NMSA also states that developmentally appropriate middle schools promote programs that actively assist young people in formulating the moral principles upon which they may ground their lives. ASCD suggests that in middle childhood education, schools utilize the teacher-advisor format, which provides transitions and articulates activities, uses interdisciplinary teaching and activities and continually expose teachers to teaching strategies appropriate to adolescent students.

The knowledge base pertinent to adolescent teacher preparation at the adolescent / young adult level can be found in documents specific to each field of study. For example, social studies teachers preparation guidelines were developed by the National Council of the Social Studies (NCSS), Science guidelines by . The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards (NSES) , Math guidelines are proposed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NCTM and Language Arts guidelines by the National Council of the Teachers of Language Arts (NCTLA)

Deign of new licensure programs which meet state and professional standards is a long arduous and rigorous journey which demands, by its very nature, collaboration among colleges within universities and departments within colleges. For example, by state regulation, Middle School Educators must choose 2 content areas of concentration in which they will have developed a level of expertise. This mandate requires that a college of education has to communicate, collaborate and problem-solve with Colleges of Math and Science (Math and Science), College of Liberal Arts (Language Arts/English and Social Studies). The adolescent licensure requires a degree in a content field, therefore, the college of education must interact with a variety of other colleges within the universities as well. These partnerships may lead not only to increased collegiality and understanding among members of colleges and departments, but to new degree programs the goals of which are to better prepare teachers to work with children in the middle and upper grades.

With guidance and assistance from departments of education, professional organizations and associations, it is possible to provide a comprehensive program to prepare early childhood educators to effectively teach all children, typically or atypically developing, in inclusionary classroom settings.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to see how colleges of education can design teacher education programs which will prepare early childhood, middle childhood and adolescent/young adult educators to teach and meet the needs of all children.

The presenters will encourage participation of audience in sharing common goals and solutions in providing coursework for developing educational professionals and especially opportunities to apply learned skills into classroom curriculum.

Title of Session/Paper/Presentation: Preparing Professional and Competent Educators for a New Millennium: The Challenge of Meeting National Standards____

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