A College committee is looking for off-campus alternatives to Dartmouth's teacher training program.
The committee, created by Associate Dean of the Faculty George Wolford, is currently composed of three or four students, two graduates of Dartmouth's teacher preparation program and Assistant Dean of the Faculty Sheila Culbert, Wolford said.
Wolford recently formed the committee after the Social Sciences Council recommended earlier this term that the education department be abolished.
Wolford said the committee will examine teacher preparation at other schools to learn whether Dartmouth students will be better served by programs elsewhere.
Wolford said the committee may present its findings to him as early as Fall term.
"It would take the rest of my life to explore each of these pathways," Wolford said. "What I would like to do is present a list of options and get feedback."
Wolford declined to name the committee members, saying he wanted them to be able to do research without being influenced by others. He said the committee is unbiased, since it includes supporters of the education department in its current form.
"There are people on the committee who spoke out against me or against this possible decision," he said
A vote of the entire faculty of arts and sciences is required to abolish a department. Wolford said such a vote will not occur until Fall term at the earliest.
Possibilities for the department
Wolford said the committee may or may not recommend that Dartmouth abandon its teacher preparation program.
If the teacher preparation program at Dartmouth is abandoned, students might have more opportunities than they currently possess by doing graduate work or taking a transfer term at another college, Wolford said.
"Some of the possibilities that have been raised are exceedingly attractive," Wolford said. "They might actually draw more students, to encourage more to go into teaching."
Wolford said students could work with faculty members at other colleges who have experience in specialties Dartmouth cannot offer.
"If, for instance, someone wants to teach science at the secondary level, there are an order of magnitude more resources for them to experience and learn from" elsewhere, Wolford said.
Culbert, a member of the committee, said teaching programs at other schools might better serve Dartmouth students.
"I hope what we can do is have a good program in place, and more Dartmouth students will go on to become teachers," she said.
Wolford said, "We are committed to students having the opportunity to do teacher training and to entering the teaching profession."
Classes likely to be preserved
Culbert said many education classes will be preserved if the department is reduced to a program.
"Certain educational studies classes like Education 20 will continue to be taught," she said.
But Education Professor Andrew Garrod, the department's only tenured faculty member, said the quality of teaching will suffer if the department is made a program. He said the College would likely use professors from other departments to teach education programs.
Garrod said few professors from other departments have experience teaching in high schools and elementary schools.
"Those professors frequently don't have the experience in schools that all of us do," he said. "All of us in the education department have taught in schools."
He said faculty from other departments are less devoted to researching and teaching topics specific to educational studies.
"While those might be very splendid courses, frequently it will be a fringe interest of that professor from history or sociology," he said.
Preparing teachers
Wolford said Dartmouth has a hard time reproducing the resources available at other schools because the department is so small.
"Only one Dartmouth student this year is doing science at the secondary level," Wolford said. "There are not many people that person can share ideas with."
Earlier in the term, Wolford cited a lack of quality programs and administrative problems as reasons why the education department should be abolished.
But Joanne Baker, the administrator of the professional standards department of the New Hampshire Department of Education, said "Dartmouth does an excellent job training teachers."
"I think there is definitely a place for schools like Dartmouth to prepare teachers," Baker said. "If I had anything to say about it, I would urge them to continue to prepare teachers."
The state accredited Dartmouth's teacher preparation program four years ago, she said.
"We found that all of the programs got full approval," Baker said.
Education Chair Robert Binswanger is quoted in the Valley News as saying, "We are not a teacher training institution per se, and I don't think we should be."
But Garrod said getting rid of Dartmouth's teacher preparation program may discourage students from becoming teachers.
"I truly believe that once it is farmed out to other institutions, an absolutely tiny, minute percentage of students will go into teacher preparation," he said.
Garrod said the administration is criticizing imagined ills.
"The truth is that we do a very good job in the teacher preparation program," Garrod said.
Future plans
If the faculty of the arts and science votes to eliminate the department, members of the Class of 1997 will still be able to go through teacher preparation at Dartmouth, Wolford said. Younger classes might have the same opportunity while the department is phased out.
Culbert said it is too early to predict how the faculty will vote.
"I don't know how the faculty will vote on this," she said. "There are very good arguments for changing the education department."
Wolford said student opinion is important in deciding the education department's fate.
"Faculty and administrators at Dartmouth are extremely sensitive to student opinion," he said. "But that does not necessarily mean we do everything they ask us to do or want us to do."
Anne Jones '97, a teaching assistant in the education department, said students are not planning any protests for Spring term.
"Things will be pretty quiet," she said. "To make an impact, you need to make plans for closer to when the vote will happen."
Jones said students can influence the decision by encouraging faculty members to vote to preserve the department.
