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March 12, 2001
Q&A:
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"CEHS has a strong role to play in the expansion and growth of Montclair State- both in education and in human services." |
Ada
Beth Cutler,
Dean, College of Education and Human Services
Ada Beth Cutler, who has served as interim dean of the College of Education
and Human Services (CEHS) since July, received word last month to shorten her
title to "dean." After six years as a professor and director of the New Jersey
Network for Educational Renewal, Cutler is "delighted and honored" with her
new appointment.
"I'm very excited about leading the college," she said. "We have an illustrious past and a bright future. We are nationally renowned for our teacher education program, and we have many fine programs in all our departments."
INSIGHT:
Now that you are officially the dean, how has your agenda changed?
Cutler: What I see happening now is a continuation and an expansion of what
I've already set in motion. I inherited a strong, solid collegeÑa tribute to
my predecessor [Nicholas Michelli], and to the faculty and staff. CEHS has a
strong role to play in the expansion and growth of Montclair StateÑboth in education
and in human services.
INSIGHT: What are your immediate plans?
Cutler: We're establishing a new department of Early Childhood and Elementary
Education in September. We expect to increase our graduation of teachers from
300 a year to 500, and a large part of that growth will be in early childhood
and elementary education. In addition to that we're embarking on a redesign
of our professional sequence in teacher education to coincide with the revision
of the state teacher education code by revising our master of arts in teachingÑthe
M.A.T. Program. We're also starting a program in the Department of Health Professions,
Physical Education, Recreation and Leisure Studies (HPPERLS). We hope to hire
up to two faculty members in that field for September and to begin that program
with a lot of energy and commitment.
INSIGHT: Tell us about the new federal reporting requirements for teacher
education.
Cutler: The federal government is paying a great deal of attention to the quality
of teacher preparation and to the quality of teachers in the field. The new
federal requirements for reporting of pass rates on state tests for teacher
certification will be released to the state April 7. Montclair State's pass
rate is high and I anticipate that we will compare favorably with other teacher
education programs in the state. However, we believe that measuring teacher
qualities by a single test, such as Praxis II, which tests only for subject
matter knowledge, is an inadequate measure of teacher quality. We would advocate
that the state look at performance measures of our graduates because we know
they would stand up well to any good measure of quality.
INSIGHT:
If Montclair State already educates early childhood and elementary teachers,
why the need for a new department?
Cutler: Montclair State's early childhood teacher preparation program has grown
tremendously. There's a great deal of focus in the state on early childhood
education because of the Abbott vs. Burke court decision, which mandates preschool
education for students in 30 of New Jersey's neediest districts, now known as
Abbott districts. The decision also mandates that teachers in those preschool
classrooms be certified, so the state this past year reintroduced early childhood
certification, which was abolished a long time ago.
INSIGHT: How does CEHS plan to resolve this teacher shortage problem?
Cutler: We need to increase the number of teachers we graduate in early childhood
education. Teacher education is a lifelong endeavor, and the teachers we work
with through our partnership, the New Jersey Network for Educational Renewal,
see themselves as lifelong learners. It's important for us to offer the most
appropriate and current master's programs for teachers in the field. We're developing
a department where all the faculty whose expertise is in early childhood and
elementary education are brought together to develop those programs and provide
a home for the kind of work we need to do in this growing field.
