Page 3 (continued from page 2) “The present WSC undergraduate program has demonstrated that high quality can be established with non-traditional approaches and there are rich pay-offs in terms of well trained the quality of the programs. The time to move forward into a graduate program i s now,” she said. teachers,’’ said Dr. Parkinson. Weber State was the first college to actually put into operation a total competencybased teacher education program designed to stress not only the “theory”? but also the development and application of teaching skills as well. In 1971 representatives of WSC received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for the competency-based program. “In the traditional system of teacher education certain things are held constant such as instruction, assignments, and time, but achievement is allowed to vary,” said Dr. Parkinson. “In competency-based teacher education instruction, assignments and time are varied but ~achievement is held constant. In i other words the probability of _ achieving quality and high standards is optimized.”’ Dr. Parkinson is highly complimentary and pleased with the quality of the academic departments and their outstanding faculties that provide the academic stability for a competent teacher. “This strength will be just as visable in a graduate program,”’ he said. Academic departments on campus add their strong support to the proposed graduate teacher education program. Dr. Pat Fernandez Dr. Pat Fernandez, chairman of the Mathematics department, expressed the belief that as an integrated, career-oriented, education and traditional baccalaureate degree program has strengthened the college, so also would the proposed graduate program blend professional education with the sciences and humanities. ‘An institution like an_ individual cannot remain in a holding position. It is either growing and maturing or it is regressing. WSC is and has been a vital rowing institution. There has been a steady increase in the quality of the faculty, and hence Dr. Lawrence C. Evans, dean of the School of Social Sciences, said the low proportion of teachers from our area with graduate training is primarily due to the lack of accessibility. “Put the program here and teachers will go after it. They’ve said so. It’s that simple,’’ Dr. Evans said. “‘The Utah State Coordinating Council in 1968 said in its definition of roles for institutions of higher education that, ‘within the next ten years some graduate programs may be offered at WSC, when justified by criteria of need, costs, quality, etc.’ Let us proceed to the task.”’ “Our existing program could accommodate a support role for the master’s program,”’ said Dr. Garth L. Welch, dean of School of Natural Sciences, ‘*The requirements for a teaching major in the disciplines of Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, Microbiology, Physics and Zoology, are fewer than for a departmental major. Each discipline has courses currently approved and regularly scheduled that teachers could take to increase their knowledge of subject matter.” The faculty, in those disciplines wnich offer teaching majors and minors, now have 152 of 248 (61.3 percen:) faculty members hold earned doctorates. who Dr. Lawrence In the Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education 13 of 15 faculty members (86.7 percent) possess doctorates and all have taught in a graduate program. Public school administrators have been extremely supportive. Dr. Betty Nowak, generalist in the Weber County School District, believes that ‘““WSC has one of the finest education departments in the country. Many of their own graduates, as well as other teachers in this area, would like to continue their education at WSC on a graduate level but are now forced to either take extension classes from other schools or travel long distances to acquire additional training.”’ (continued on page 4) (continued from page 2) discover that some courses are seldom, or never, offered through extension,’’ Dr. Low said. “A teacher from this area involved in a resident program at WSC could complete an M.Ed. program through extended day and evening classes in one full year. To complete a_ similar degree through extension courses offered by the universities would take several years,’ said Dr. Low. In mid-May the Institutional Council of WSC adopted a resolution to cooperate with and support the Board of Regents in their special study and unanimously supported the Master of Education program in Elementary and Secondary Education at WSC. ‘Weber State College is qualified to offer this program, which would be of great benefit to the area the institution serves. The Institutional Council unanimously supports’ the program,” said Dale Browning chairman of the Institutional Council. The Weber State College Institutional Council unanimously voted a resolution to cooperate and support the Board of Regents study. “ye Evans