Candidate Proficiencies
I. Candidate Proficiencies
The following proficiencies are derived from the department's philosophy and five goals. With the exception of Goal 2, all proficiencies also relate to national, state and local (Connecticut College) standards. While Goal 2 is unique to the mission of our Department, it also reflects the "Criteria for Evaluating State Curriculum Standards" set by the National Association of Multicultural Education (NAME). Like NAME, we highly value the goal to develop teachers who understand PK-12 classrooms as microcosms of larger socio-cultural and economic contexts and, in turn, create classrooms as critical places where students are taught to pose essential questions about power, equality and inequality and feel strongly that the proficiencies derived from this goal should be required of all teacher candidates.
Goal 1. To develop teachers who understand that excellence in teaching begins with superior and critical knowledge of their subject matter as the grounding for the development of high standards of excellence and achievement for their PK-12 students.
Candidate Proficiency:
1. Candidates demonstrate mastery of content area knowledge.
2. Candidates demonstrate their ability to employ qualitative and quantitative means of assessment and evaluation to improve instruction and increase student achievement.
3. Candidates demonstrate their ability to engage critique through reading, writing, thinking and speaking.
Goal 2. To develop teachers who understand Pk-12 classrooms as microcosms of the larger socio-cultural and economic contexts and, in turn, create classrooms as critical places where students are taught to pose essential questions about power, equality and inequality.
Candidate Proficiency:
4. Candidates demonstrate understanding of knowledge/power relationships in a variety of contexts.
5. Candidates demonstrate understanding of critical educational theories.
Goal 3. To develop teachers who construct pedagogies that are grounded in the lives of students and their communities.
Candidate Proficiency:
6. Candidates are involved in community work throughout their program at Connecticut College.
7. Candidates are involved in public schools during field experiences and student teaching.
8. Candidates develop units and lessons that reflect the lives of their students and communities.
Goal 4. To develop teachers who create PK-12 classrooms that are multicultural, antiracist and anti-bias.
Candidate Proficiency:
9. Candidates demonstrate understanding of critical theories and concepts related to issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and their intersections.
10. Candidates develop units and lessons that employ critical theories, reflecting the aims of multicultural, anti-racist, and anti-bias pedagogies.
Goal 5. To develop teachers who create Pk-12 classrooms that are participatory and experiential, allowing students and teachers to engage in work that often lies outside the traditional assumptions of the "classroom."
Candidate Proficiency:
11. Candidates demonstrate the use of varied technologies to meet the needs of their diverse students.
12. Candidates demonstrate their ability to effectively employ differentiated instruction.
13. Candidates demonstrate how their units and lessons are helping to transform the lives of their students and their communities to engage the principles of social justice (see footnote 1).
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 3:27 PM