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UDC reform: full speed ahead
A few weeks ago, ACTA praised the efforts of University of the District of Columbia president Allen Sessoms to bring substantial reform to the struggling institution. And as the Washington Post reports today, Sessoms is continuing to make good on his promise to raise academic standards and integrity. His next target is the undergraduate Education department, which is now marked for elimination. The program has been plagued with abysmal graduation rates and low academic achievement, and Sessoms plans to replace it with a free Master's program in urban education. Under this new arrangement, prospective teachers would be majoring in the academic subjects that they will teach, thus giving a renewed focus on the content of elementary and secondary education. This should be a model for teacher training throughout the country, not just at UDC.
ACTA has argued in our state higher education report cards that failed academic programs should be terminated rather than waste precious resources. Given the utter failure of the UDC undergraduate education program to prepare teachers with even the bare minimum of skills needed to teach in K-12 classrooms, such action is painful but necessary in this case. The trustees of UDC should continue to stand by President Sessoms as he moves the university forward.
Posted by Sandra E. Czelusniak on March 09, 2009 at March 9, 2009 04:46 PM
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