ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270117
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: N. WAYNE TRIPP
EARLIER THIS month, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation in educational administration at Virginia Tech. The event marked the high point in a 27-year association with the university. That association fundamentally changed my life by opening opportunities that would not have existed had there not been a Virginia Tech and its College of Education.
Like William A. Caldwell, the first student ever to attend Virginia Tech, I came to the university from Craig County. As a graduate of a high school class of only 39 students, I found Tech to be an exciting and stimulating place as an undergraduate from 1968 until 1972. It offered a range of ideas and experiences that exceeded not only my expectations, but even my imagination.
About the time I entered the university, its leaders determined to begin the College of Education. As a history major in the College of Arts and Sciences who planned to become an attorney, I took little note of the event. Little did I know how much influence the College of Education would come to have on my professional life.
As a student who was not wealthy, I needed every source of financial assistance I could identify to allow me to complete my degree. In my sophomore year, I became aware of the state teachers' scholarship program through the College of Education. As a result, I received the financial support I needed and made a career choice to become a teacher. It was the best professional decision I ever made.
However, the mission of the college has not been solely teacher training as has been suggested by some of its critics. Rather, much of its work has been aimed at graduate programs, many of which have been delivered off campus in Roanoke, Northern Virginia and Tidewater. Here are three examples of the commitment of the College of Education to identifying and fulfilling needs in graduate education in the Roanoke Valley:
About the time I became director of instruction in Salem, the college began a program to prepare guidance counselors for elementary schools. A few years later, the state instituted a requirement that counselors be employed in all elementary schools in the commonwealth. As a result of the Tech program, we in Salem had no difficulty filling the positions. We were well-supplied with candidates and hired several graduates of the program.
In 1988, members of the College of Education's staff invited Roanoke Valley school superintendents and their staffs to help design the Roanoke Area Program for the Preparation of Principals (RP3). Its purpose was to train principals to meet the coming shortage of school administrators. Importantly, RP3 sought not only to train more principals but to train them differently. The instructors helped candidates see the role of the principal as that of a collegial leader who shares decision making with teachers. Many RP3 graduates have become school principals in the area.
Four years ago, Dr. Wayne Worner and Dr. David Parks approached many of the same school leaders to discuss the need for an intact, cohort-based doctoral program in the Roanoke Valley. After several months of planning and listening to local school staff members, the college began the Roanoke Area Program in Salem in the fall of 1991. Of the approximately 25 students who entered the program, five, including myself, have now completed their doctoral degrees. Another 12 have earned Certificates of Advanced Graduate Studies. Several of these will finish their dissertations by May of 1996. These students were from Roanoke city, Roanoke County, Salem, Danville, Bedford County, Franklin County and Rockbridge County.
Contrary to the assertions made in the Roanoke Times editorial, (Dec. 21, "Teacher training at Tech") I would suggest that the data clearly demonstrate that the College of Education has a long tradition of outreach to the Roanoke Valley and beyond. That tradition is consistent with the fundamental goal of a land-grant university to take education wherever it is needed.
For that reason alone, the decision to merge the college with another organizational entity should be reconsidered. I would urge the Times editorial staff to examine the record more closely. I believe that the conclusion of such an examination will be a recognition that the college is needed because it has produced effective leaders as well as teachers for the Roanoke Valley's schools.
Simply understanding the need for the College of Education still fails to recognize the issues underlying recent events in Blacksburg. Almost two years ago, while the entire university was enduring difficult financial times, Tech President Paul Torgerson asked the college to take on the added pain of reinventing itself as a smaller, more efficient unit of the university. Under the able leadership of Dr. Worner, the college faculty did yeoman work producing what Torgerson and other university officials cited as a model for the rest of the university. The new College of Education was to be even more collaborative and dedicated to field-based programs. In view of the praise given the college's plan, the college staff rightly believed they had achieved the goals they were asked to meet.
Two months ago, the goal line was moved. A restructured college was not enough to satisfy the political mood of the day. Now the college had to be merged into another unit of the university. One reason given for this change was to save money. No study to support the saving claimed for further reorganization was conducted.
The real story behind the events swirling around the College of Education is not whether there is a need for the college. That need exists and can be documented. The real story is a tragedy. It is the tragedy of broken promises and the trivialization of the university's system of governance.
N. Wayne Tripp is superintendent of Salem Schools.
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