Southern Connecticut State University is downplaying a decision by the state to place Southern’s School of Education on probation.
According to Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, Southern prepares the largest number of students for teaching positions in Connecticut with its more than 30 degree programs -- programs that must have state approval. In a recent evaluation, though, to see whether Southern’s educator programs are meeting both state and national standards, a review committee found numerous problems.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said no one from the state was available for an interview. Instead, she shared the commissioner’s report, which stated there were problems meeting five out of six standards. Some of those were first raised with the school in 2009.
This year, the committee’s concerns included not having a system in place to assess students in its advanced teacher programs, and showing little evidence advanced candidates had experience working with diverse student populations.
"Just to say it’s on probation actually sounds like more than it is," said Mary Papazian, president of Southern Connecticut State University. The school of education still has state approval, she said.
"They didn’t put us on probation," Papazian said. "They rendered a decision on probationary approval. We’ve actually been approved, but the approval comes with conditions that we report back, and show them the improvements we’ve made in several particular areas. So from a practical standpoint, it has no effect on our accreditation; on our ability to grant degrees." She stressed the state found no issue with faculty or curriculum.
Papazian said there’s now a system in place to address one of the review committee’s primary concerns: a lack of data to track student success after they graduate.
Southern’s probationary status is for three years, but Papazian said she expects the school will correct the issues within one year. Just in the last year, Southern’s School of Library Science lost its national accreditation. Papazian said the school is currently revising that program.
