By Lamesha Green (Whetstone Staff Writer)

Wesley College’s Education Department says it’s back on track.

Since the education program was given provisional approval this past January by the Delaware Department of Education to continue operating after losing accreditation with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), Wesley’s education department has combined the K-12 physical education program with teacher preparation.

Previously, physical education was tied into kinesiology and sports management.

“The education unit is proud to have fully addressed the areas for improvement that were cited by NCATE at its previous visit,” said Stuart Knapp, department chair. “The education unit has requested an NCATE visit this November and is expected to result in NCATE-approved accreditation status.”

Knapp said the department will focus on maintaining NCATE guidelines before the organization’s next visit.

“Another task of the education unit since its last NCATE visit has been the archiving of its instructional assessments into its electronic unit assessment system,” Knapp said. “This was new and not fully functional at the time of the last NCATE visit.”

The program still requires education majors to maintain a 3.0 grade point average and physical education majors a 2.75.

“The Delaware Department of Education will license and issue teacher certifications to all eligible graduates of the Wesley College education unit,” Knapp said. “The education unit will receive unofficial notice of its accreditation status before the end of November.”

Other departments are helping out the education department for the NCATE visit.

“All of us are giving our support to the education department, not just the English department,” said Dr. Randall Clack.  “We, members of the English program, are available to the visiting NCATE team to answer questions about the English program’s work with Teacher Education by providing courses for Education students and participating on the Teacher Education Council.”

A practice visit was scheduled to alert students.

“We had a meeting on Oct. 13 to prepare for the official meeting with NCATE,” said junior Megan Stoffa.

“I felt nervous and very unprepared about the NCATE visit, but most of all I just want Wesley to get its accreditation back before I graduate next May.”

Some students have changed their majors because the department lost its accreditation last year after being on probation two years.

“I changed my major from education because I didn’t want to take any chances of getting a degree and not being able to teach in the state I want,” said senior Timyra Bridgeford. “Waiting for NCATE accreditation to come back would only slow me down. It’s affected me personally because I am now in a major that I don’t really want to be in.”

First year education students are worried if the department doesn’t regain NCATE accreditation.

“I was unaware of Wesley losing its accreditation when I first got here,” said freshman Chad McPherson. “Hopefully Wesley gets its act together by the time I graduate so I can become a gym teacher or else I will change my major.”

Wesley College, including its education department, still remains accredited by the Middle States Association.

Some other education departments do not even have NCATE accreditation and are still able to help place students in jobs.

Official notification of NCATE accreditation will be received next spring.