Beginning this fall, SUNY Old Westbury will be applying a number of changes in the School of Education. Although the changes have been made for the benefit of future students, there have been a number of disagreements from students already enrolled in the program.
In the past, the School of Ed at Old Westbury has assigned participants a maximum of two classes while also completing their hundred hours of observation as a whole. These observation hours allow students to shadow a teacher while gaining experience in a public school setting.
Students must complete these hundred hours before given permission to student teach. Student teaching, which consists entirely of classroom experience, is the last step of the program and takes place when all other courses have been completed.
Other SUNY schools throughout the state including; Buffalo, Cortland and Plattsburgh incorporate the 100 hours throughout the curriculum instead of one semester, Westbury will be adopting this method for the fall of 2016.
The observation hours will now be divided and attached to courses throughout the program.
An email was sent on March 24th by Amy Hsu, Chair of the Childhood Education and Literacy Department, stating: “Some classes have just changed their titles and course content has been modified to reflect new developments in education. Other courses have been changed considerably to best reflect the knowledge, skills, and dispositions candidates will need in order to be best prepared for the teaching profession. You will notice that observation hours are now embedded into courses, rather than completed in one semester.”
She added: “Teacher candidates who are currently in the SOE will have the option to follow the new courses with the embedded observation components or take 5930 (100 hours of observation), which will be offered for two more semesters.”
While it looks like the program will be running smoothly within a couple of semesters, students currently enrolled in the School of Ed will be completing a different program than those entering next fall. Students have objected to the changes.
For example, Rosita Vasquez, a junior majoring in childhood education, believes, “Changes can be useful in order for education to progress but changes should only be done when it benefits the students and not the institution.”
Like many students Vasquez believes, “The program changes are obviously beneficial, it was the lack of consideration for those already in it that has us all so upset. As advised, I always planned two semesters ahead, however that is all messed up now.”
Diana Peralta, another junior in the program, stated, “The actions of the School of Education have been sneaky and deceitful. My main concern is that the School Of Education is not considering the students who have to juggle school and work as well as the students who have children. I completely understand that attending college requires some sacrifices however; I am not okay with sacrificing for changes that are not in my catalogue and that are being forced on me after I am deep in my educational career.”
In hopes to defuse some of the confusion, the School of Ed offered Town Hall meetings on April 11, 2016 and April 14, 2016. At the meeting, Dean Nancy Brown stated that “they would work with all the students in the position of being caught between the new and old program.”
