Lowery to help state review initial educator programs

Are Florida’s initial educator programs – designed to speed qualified teacher candidates through the certification process – giving new teachers all the knowledge they need. One COE professor is helping the Florida Department of Education find out.

Associate Professor Ruth M. Lowery has been selected to serve on the Lower Division Teacher Education Workgroup, charged with reviewing – and possibly revising – the coursework required in initial educator programs. The group will work with universities and community colleges across the state to examine the 9 hours of preprofessional courses required of all preservice teachers in these programs.

Lowery said the Workgroup was formed largely to determine if the three introductory courses, developed back in 1995, are still appropriate for preparing teachers of the 21st Century.

“We are hoping that in looking at the 9 hours, we can determine inconsistencies across state teacher preparation programs and then we can try to formulate some way of making the courses more mainstreamed or aligned,” Lowery said.

Lowery teaches the Introduction to Education course here at UF — and she says this may have been one factor in her appointment to the workgroup.