From the Dean

Over the past year, we have listened to political candidates for national, state, and local offices speak about their ideas and plans for improving education in our nation’s schools. We have heard about failing schools, vouchers and choice, accountability, quality of leadership and teaching, and assessment of learning outcomes. The elections are now over but reform issues will continue to be debated not only within our state but also nationally.

Education will continue to be one of the dominant issues in the public policy agenda. There is probably no more important time than now to take seriously our responsibility in bringing the resources of the college and university together around issues of education policy. Recognizing this need, this past year we appointed a task force within the College of Education to discuss the structure and resources needed to make a center for education policy a reality. With the support of the provost and president and approval by the MSU Board of Trustees, this fall marked the official grand opening of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University.

The College of Education has had a long-time commitment to improving the quality of education for all students at all levels in Michigan’s educational system. The Education Policy Center now builds on this tradition and capitalizes on the strength of the faculty’s research and the outreach efforts that have characterized this institution. Over the past three years, the Office of k–12 Outreach, under the direction of Barbara Markle, has initiated the President’s legislative forums, the National Conference on Standards and Choice, briefings for new legislators, conferences for educational leaders, and forums that address key policy issues. These activities, along with our education research and policy reports, have been well received by the education and policy communities, and they provide solid foundation for establishing a tangible center for education policy—a center that will work with k–12 Outreach to help policymakers, educational leaders, and citizens in Michigan become better informed about current and emerging policy issues.

David Plank, professor of educational administration and policy, is the new director of the center. Under his leadership and with involvement of faculty across campus, the center will address key issues and problems in education through research and policy analysis. Its mission is to provide timely, credible, and nonpartisan information to key audiences in Michigan’s educational system and the broader policy community. We hope the center will become an important resource to the state.

I draw your attention to two reports that are already available through the center: “The School Choice Policy Debate” and “Focus on Accountability” (see Page 22). I encourage you to visit the Education Policy Center Web site for up-to-date listings of programs, publications, and events, and when you are on campus, to visit the center in 201 Erickson Hall. Connecting research to outreach is central to our mission, and the Education Policy Center is part of our ambitious agenda for research and outreach to the broader education and policy communities. I invite you to read more about this center in this issue.

Carole Ames
Dean, College of Education

I also want to take this opportunity to  tell you about another exciting new venture in the College of Education that is focused on reaching out to educators across the state and nation. This year, we have established a task force to work on the design and development of online courses that provide professional development to educators and that can culminate in an online master’s degree. Although we are in the early stages of our planning, we already have several online courses that have been developed and are being offered. These courses range from one to three credits and can be found through the MSU Web site under the heading of “Virtual University” or through the College of Education Web site under “Distance Education.” We expect to have additional offerings by next summer and fall.

Although we will continue to offer courses and master’s degrees at off-campus sites, current technology allows us to make our graduate level offerings more accessible and convenient for practicing educators. Teaching and learning online provides the opportunities for addressing the professional development needs of educators across the state and nation and even worldwide. Using the technology of distance education, constraints of geography and time do not exist. We are very excited about taking advantage of the technology that can provide a very rich virtual learning environment. In our planning and development, we hope to design online learning opportunities that provide teachers access to professional development experiences and graduate level courses that address teaching practice, subject matter teaching and learning, uses and applications of technology across subject matter, and leadership. In the next issue of the New Educator, we will feature more about our online program development. In the meantime, we invite you to visit the Virtual University Web site for new graduate level offerings from the College of Education.

As you can see, the college is not static, and we are moving forward with new ideas and initiatives that affirm our cutting-edge approaches to teaching, research and outreach. It is an exciting time to be part of the reforms in education but it is also challenging. We thank you for your support and confidence in us.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank our alumni and donors whose financial support helps us achieve success in all our efforts. We are very appreciative of our Honor Roll of Donors. Although we are a state supported institution, we must rely on the generosity of our alumni and friends to maintain the level of excellence for which our college is known, to begin new initiatives such as the Education Policy Center, and to recruit the best and brightest students. Your continued investment in our college is essential for our future.

Carole Ames, Dean