Development of the Conceptual Framework

In the summer of 2000, the School of Education Quality Council was constituted to serve as the steering committee for the self-study leading to NCATE accreditation. Membership consisted of faculty from the five departments in the School of Education - Counseling and School Psychology; Educational Leadership; Elementary Education and Foundations; Exercise Science and School Health; Special Education and Reading. The Dean of the School of Education is a member of the Quality Council as well as the Associate Dean of the School of Education who serves as chair. Members of the Quality Council attended NCATE orientation sessions in August 2000 and January 2001. Concurrent with the establishment of the Quality Council, the Articulation Committee, consisting of secondary education faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences and School of Education faculty was reconstituted and has had a significant role in the of our conceptual framework.

The Quality Council adopted the acronym SAILS (Scholarship; Attitudes and Dispositions; Integrity; Leadership; Service) as the set of guiding principles that informs our practice. Since the initial draft of our conceptual framework, it has undergone review and multiple "tweakings" both within the university by the Articulation Committee, School of Education department chairs and faculty, and School of Arts and Sciences Department chairs and faculty, as well as P-12 administrators and teachers in our partnership schools. In addition, NCATE Board of Examiners members have been kind enough to offer suggestions for improvement. In summary, we believe that our conceptual framework consists a set of beliefs that truly represents the Southern Connecticut State University teacher education community.