COLLEGE OF EDUCATION


Leslie Jones, Ph.D.
Professor of Education
Dean of the College of Education
Office: 220 Polk Hall
Phone: 985-448-4326

Mission

The College of Education is dedicated to preparing high quality teachers, educational leaders, school and psychological counselors, school psychologists and human service professionals who effectively meet the diverse needs of Louisiana and the global community. The college is strongly committed to service in area school systems and community agencies. The mission of the College of Education is accomplished by a faculty committed to teaching, community service, professional service and research.

Conceptual Framework

The College of Education, through the theme of “Responsible Leaders Engaging in Professional Practice,” supports the University’s mission within a conceptual framework that prepares candidates in the core knowledge and skills needed to educate candidates to develop and maintain the dispositions that promote positive change in the community and profession, who are open to diversity and innovation, and who are culturally responsive. The College’s core components and dispositions represent the University’s commitment to transforming the lives of students by working to ensure that all students become successful life-long learners. Responsible educators possess the knowledge and skills needed to study and use the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perceptions of the region’s diverse population as a means for effective educational practice. Through culturally responsive inquiry, educators are better able to build conceptual bridges over which they can lead their students to connect informal, locally situated knowledge with the formal, global disciplinary knowledge represented by the content area disciplines.

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Unit Outcomes (Candidate Proficiency)

1. Candidates will demonstrate collaborative leadership in the school and the community to promote the healthy development of all students (Responsible Leaders).
2. Candidates will possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of their professional discipline and engage in lifelong learning (professional Practice).
3. Candidates will advocate in the school and the larger community to promote access, equity and success for all students (Promote Positive Change).
4. Candidates will respond effectively to the needs of diverse learners (Open to Diversity and Innovation).
5. Candidates will examine and modify their beliefs and practices in response to the emerging research and the changing context of schools and communities (Promote Positive Change).
6. Candidates will demonstrate an understanding of how cultural differences influence student development and accommodate for individual needs (Culturally Responsive).

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DEGREES AWARDED

  • BACHELOR OF ARTS
    • Psychology
  • BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
    • Birth to Five/Early Interventionist Education
    • Elementary Education (1-5)
    • General Family and Consumer Sciences
    • Human Performance Education (K-12)
    • Secondary Education (6-12)
    • English Concentration (SEEN)
    • Family and Consumer Sciences Concentration (SEFC)
    • General Science Concentration (SEGS)
    • Social Studies Concentration (SESS)
  • ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE DEGREE
    • Child Development and Preschool Management

Note: Certification in 4-8 middle grades is available through Add-On.

Accreditation

The College of Education is fully accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE). The Family and Consumer Sciences Programs are fully accredited by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS). The School Psychology Program is fully accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

General Information

The College of Education prepares teachers, resource and support personnel, and administrators for education service. The College’s programs focus on the needs of individuals interested in the traditional elementary and secondary school environments. However, the development of innovative concepts is encouraged. Candidates are prepared for all areas of education from pre-school through adult years in both the public and private sectors. The knowledge and skills necessary for effective learning and teaching are provided to prospective teachers and other school personnel. In addition to programs of study leading to its degrees, the College offers credit and non-credit workshops designed specifically to meet the unique needs of area school systems.

Programs of study in the College are based on a conceptual framework that the professional educator is a responsible leader. The knowledge-base provides for a broad general education, mastery of the content of instruction, and professional skills, dispositions, and competencies. The relative emphasis placed upon each of these aspects of the total education for teaching varies in accordance with the purpose of each program.

Besides insuring a broad general education and sound professional background and competence, the curricula offered provides valuable foundational education in psychology.

The College works closely with local and state groups to foster better teaching and higher professional standards.

Additional purposes of the College of Education are to offer:

  • A Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology
  • Psychology courses for students enrolled in other degree programs
  • Human Performance Education courses for students enrolled in other degree programs
  • Graduate programs as described elsewhere in this Bulletin

Facilities

Observation and student teaching experiences are provided in teacher preparation centers located in South Central Louisiana as well as in Polk Hall and other campus buildings. The programs of these schools are influenced by such factors as available plant facilities, materials, equipment, established curriculum patterns, community attitudes, and the imagination of the professional personnel. Supervising teachers are selected because of the high quality of their teaching, their indicated competence to guide potential teachers and certification in supervision of student teaching (masters degree, three or more years of teaching, and EDAS 511). Effective in 2002, certified teachers in Louisiana who have been trained as assessment evaluators are also eligible to supervise student teachers. Effective in 2004, teachers who have achieved National Board Certification are also eligible to supervise student teachers.

Louisiana Center for Dyslexia and Related Learning Disorders

Office: S. Babinton
Phone: 985-448-4214
Interim Director: Karen Chauvin

The Louisiana Center for Dyslexia and Related Learning Disorders is housed in S. Babington and Peltier Hall. The state Center prepares teachers to serve individuals with dyslexia through clinical and educational intervention provides direct service to Nicholls State University students and area residents, conducts psycho-educational assessments for children and adults, disseminates information about dyslexia, contributes to state policy regarding dyslexia, and conducts research that will contribute to the study of dyslexia.

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Teacher Certification

Louisiana Teacher Certification Requirements

Upon completion of all academic requirements including graduation, student teaching and passing of the Praxis Examination or N.T.E. equivalent (if taken prior to September 1, 1999), the College of Education will submit all of the student’s credentials to the State Department of Education at the request of the student for initial certification. However, a teacher already certified should see his or her employer to add-on a certification.

Praxis Examination Requirements

All Praxis examinations are available at www.teachlouisiana.net. All minimum scores are two points higher for entering freshmen to a University of Louisiana System institution effective Fall 2004, Nicholls State University is included.

All parts of the NTE/PRAXIS required for certification must be passed prior to student teaching. (Information on minimum passing scores available in the Dean’s Office.) NTE scores taken after September 1, 1999 are not valid for certification in Louisiana. Students who have a composite ACT score of 22 or higher or a combined verbal and quantitative SAT score of 1030 do not have to take Praxis I effective September 2006.

Non-Master’s Teacher Certification Program

The Non-Master’s Teacher Certification Program is an alternative path to teacher certification in levels for elementary grades (1-5), middle grades (4-8), secondary grades (6-12), or human performance education (K-12).   It is a 27-33 student credit hour program that combines undergraduate and graduate course work (21 hours) and a two-semester internship (six credit hours) or one semester of student teaching (twelve semester hours).
Admission to the Non-Master’s Teacher Program – Candidates who meet the requirements below will be issued a program prescription, which signifies full admission to the program:
1.  Have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education.
2.  Have a Grade Point Average of 2.5 or greater.
3.  Successfully pass the Praxis I series (based on the University of Louisiana System requirements – See Praxis Examinations Requirements above) and the respective Praxis II content-area test.

Students who have met all other requirements but only possess a 2.2 grade point average and who have not passed Praxis I are permitted to take undergraduate-level courses in the program. Students who have met all other requirements but who have not passed the Praxis II content test are permitted to take undergraduate level courses in the program.

Departments

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