May 18, 2009
Dear Teacher Preparation Program Applicants:
You may be aware that the College of Education has taken significant budget cuts, relatively heavier than many other colleges at WSU. As the Department of Teaching and Learning worked to determine how it would cut in excess of 13% of its budget, we held to two core priorities: First, we would maintain program quality. Second, we would impact students as little as possible. Below are the results of our budget cuts as they impact students:
Undergraduate Elementary Education BA
As a result of the 2008 Program Priorities process last year, we elected to decrease enrollment numbers in our Elementary Program by 25%, from 120 students per year in 2007-08, to 90 students in 2008-09. We accepted two cohorts of 30 students each for Fall 2008, and one cohort of 30 students Spring 2009. The decrease in student admissions spring of 2009 resulted in many well-qualified students not being admitted into our program. Our budget cuts for next academic year will result in the loss of the equivalent of seven full-time instructors. In order to accept as many students as possible into our program, given our reduced instructional capacity, we did two things: We increased class sizes from 30 to 40 students per cohort, and we cut the number of cohorts accepted annually from three to two. Thus, we are accepting one cohort of 40 students for Fall 2009 admission and will accept another 40 students for Spring 2010 admission. This change is a reduction of only 10 students per year. That said, we had previously accepted 60 students for fall admission, so this change feels greater than it will be over the course of the full year’s admissions. Admission to this program has become highly competitive. We take into account the following factors: cumulative GPA, interview score, and writing sample score. The mean GPA of our Fall 2009 admitted students (the factor most heavily weighted in admissions) was 3.43.
Undergraduate Secondary Education Endorsement Program
Because of both declining enrollment in our secondary program the past several years and the budget cuts, we have made the following changes: We a) reduced the number of sections per semester from two to one each of the secondary endorsement courses, b) increased class size, and c) limited our program admission to 40 students for Fall 2009, and another 40 for Spring 2010 admission. We are simultaneously experiencing increased application numbers to our secondary program. In an effort to accommodate more students in our secondary program, especially in areas of shortage (science, mathematics, world languages), we are offering all of our Block 1 courses this summer (June start). If you can attend summer school, please consider the option of completing Block 1 this summer, Block 2 Fall 2009, and student teaching as soon as all other coursework is complete.
Summary
We understand that the cuts and rearrangements of admission schedules we have made will negatively impact some of you on a very personal level. If you were not admitted to our programs, you may reapply for Spring 2010 admission; we can make no promises, however, as admission to our programs will again be highly competitive. You may also wish to consider completing a related bachelor’s degree and applying to WSU’s and other institutions’ Master’s in Teaching graduate programs.
Sincerely,
Cori
Mantle-Bromley, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Teaching and Learning
College of Education