Education Programs Win Approvals

The Virginia Board of Education has granted "approved" status for all education programs at Radford University. Programs must be approved for the university to recommend their graduates for licensure. 

"Radford University’s professional education programs are the products of several academic programs across campus," said Pat Shoemaker, dean of the College of Education and Human Development. "The programs recently went through an extensive review by the state Department of Education that began in 2008 and concluded in 2010."

The most recent review in November was part of the joint accreditation review by the state and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

In a letter to President Penelope W. Kyle, Patricia Wright, Virginia's superintendent of public instruction, wrote, "Based on the report of the biennial accountability measures, … each program endorsement must receive one of the following three ratings by the Board of Education: approved, approved with stipulations, or approval denied. Radford University met all criteria for education programs." 

The approvals cover elementary and secondary programs that prepare teachers for the classroom, as well as for specialties such as reading, counseling, school social work, speech language pathology, administration and supervision. Endorsements in driver education and Algebra I also were approved.

Radford also offers two additional programs in special education—adapted curriculum and visual impairment—that have been approved as part of a statewide consortium preparation program.