Recently, Longwood University paused their acceptance of students to the elementary education graduate program as the education department and faculty changes the current program to offer more to students who choose to expand their education.
“The faculty and department are rewriting it to be a better program for students. It was really just a repeat of what you got as an undergraduate and we really want it to be a much more robust program,” said Dr. Jeanine Perry, the dean of the College of Graduate & Professional Studies.
Perry said they hope the remade program will bring endorsements from the state, encouragingly students to enter graduate school.
To cut programs, the faculty and department make the choice. The graduate college isn't able to cut anything, according to Perry.
In addition to temporarily closing the elementary education masters program, the education leadership masters program is undergoing changes, said Perry.
However, if students already have a masters degree in area they may be part of the endorsement program.
The classes will allow students to get their state endorsement to become a principal, according to Perry. Longwood has 87 students currently in the program.
Dr. Paul Chapman, dean for the College of Education & Human Services, said, “We have focused on enhancing people’s master’s degrees so it can either give them more pay or the endorsement gives them an upper hand."
The goal for the change in these graduate programs is to make them more competitive in the education world. The idea is to make it so that when students who have completed the graduate programs go out to get jobs, they have a higher chance of being offered the position because of the level of experience and knowledge the program has given them, according to Chapman.
“I used to be a principal and I would take a look at people with all kinds of endorsements and say ‘I could really use this person in multiple places’,” Chapman said.
These changes are being made so that students will continue to want to apply to these programs. The hope is to continue to give Longwood students the chance to use their degrees to obtain better jobs in the education field, according to Chapman.
“We think about Longwood and we think about the university students. We love you, we want you to be here longer. We are student focused,” said Chapman.
The program will begin accepting applications in the fall of 2018 or sooner, depending on when the faculty and department can spend time working on it, according to Perry.
