ONEONTA _ Hartwick College is organizing a program to certify undergraduates to teach special education students.
The college's Teacher Education Program recently received approval from the state Education Department to add special-education certification to existing programs, according to Mark Davies, chairman of the college's education department. The option is contingent on hiring a full-time faculty member with expertise in special education to offer courses and supervise student-teachers, he said.
Davies said the goal is to begin offering the program in the fall of 2009. Each year, the college graduates about 30 to 35 students who have earned teaching certification and this program will give them the option to become dually certified, he said.
Hartwick College President Richard P. Miller Jr. said the program and state approval are important for Hartwick, a private liberal arts and sciences college enrolling about 1,480 students.
"Our teacher-education program has demonstrated that it is positioned to educate the teachers of today and the future," Miller said in a prepared statement.
Last year, Hartwick's teacher education program was accredited by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council from January 2007 to January 2012. The accreditation signifies that Hartwick's 22 certification programs in childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence education in English, languages, mathematics, social studies, and sciences and K-12 certification in music and art meet rigorous national standards, officials said.
Hartwick's program is among about 30 TEAC-accredited programs across the country _ of which only four are offered at liberal arts colleges.
Students will major in an academic area while working to complete courses for certification, Davies said. Most graduating seniors certified to be teachers have focused on music, elementary or social studies education, he said.
The additional program will meet increasing demand for dual-certified teachers, Davies said, and also attract students to Hartwick.
``We're certainly very excited about the program,'' Davies said. Hartwick's education department has five faculty, and along with hiring another professor, two courses will be added and others will be retooled, he said.
The college's education department recently reached a commitment from Springbrook, a local special-education school, to host Hartwick student-teachers. In recent years, Hartwick has placed 10 to 15 student-teachers at Springbrook.
"Springbrook benefits immensely from our relationship with Hartwick College,'' said Patricia Kennedy, Springbrook executive director, in a media release.
``The educational background and commitment of the Hartwick students makes them a highly valued part of our organization,'' she said. ``Many of the students who have served at Springbrook stay connected to us either as a volunteer, supporter, or summer or full-time employee."
Some students have refocused career goals to work in special education after student-teaching at Springbrook, Davis said, and that interest further prompted the college to add the certification program.
However, most students will teach in public schools and the special education certification will help them with students mainstreamed into the classroom or in pull-out programs, Davies said.
``Students need to be prepared to teach all types,'' he said.
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