Faculty/Staff
Cheryl The, Chair; Donna Berkner, Carol Campbell, Renard Doneskey, Michael England, Lindsey Gendke, Marcel Sargeant
Southwestern Adventist University Education Department is committed to inspiring knowledge, faith, and service through Christ-centered education. Our mission is to prepare effective educators who are equipped to teach and lead in a range of educational settings, including Seventh-day Adventist schools and/or Texas public schools.
The Master of Education program at Southwestern Adventist University is designed to prepare educators for advancement in the field. We offer two options, an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership or an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis Literacy.
The specific aims of the MEd Program are as follows:
1. To promote excellence in leadership, pedagogy, and scholarship.
2. To prepare campus leaders in teaching or administrative roles with the professional knowledge and dispositions to lead their campus effectively.
3. To conduct research, disseminate new knowledge, and develop applications of existing knowledge.
4. To inspire educators to continue to develop as a professionals in the field.
Candidates for the M.Ed. are required to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and professional competence in their chosen degree. They will have the option of completing a written comprehensive exam or presenting a professional presentation to faculty. The presentation must include the practicum/internship design and outcomes with emphasis on application of professional learning over the course of the program. Candidates will present a paper in addition to a professional presentation. The paper must be submitted to faulty advisor in advance of the scheduled presentation. Detailed information is provided by the Department Chair. The exam or presentation must take place during the last semester before anticipated graduation.
A course designed to explore the planning and management of school resources. Designed to prepare building level administrators to understand the issues influencing the planning and management of personnel, financial and capital resources at the school building level.
A philosophical consideration of the ethical principles, legal rights, responsibilities, and liabilities which influence the teacher's professional behavior.
Examines the fundamental principles and concepts of organizational theory, structure and climate. There is an emphasis on the administrative processes and professional ethics of leadership, motivation, decision making, communication, organizational change and strategic planning. The course offers opportunities to apply theory to professional practice through the use of case studies. Emphasis on administrative competences and planning for effective change within a complex educational environment for effective administrators.
Provides students the opportunity to examine the process of educational change and reform from a variety of perspectives. Emphasis is placed upon the understanding of the change process itself, factors producing, facilitating, and inhibiting change, and the impact of major social, political, economic, and education issues on the role of school leaders and the delivery and quality of programs and services. Highlights the changing role of our educational system in meeting demands of our post-industrial society.
Designed for principals, superintendents, and instructional supervisors concerned with the improvement of teaching and learning by professional supervision; the role, aims, and principles of instructional supervision; introductory study of supervisory techniques.
The application of theory, knowledge, and skills in authentic educational settings. Required of all certification candidates and serves as the culminating experience and the capstone of the degree/certification program. During the internship, students will assess the suitability of their skills and dispositions for administrative work; integrate skills and knowledge previously acquired; and become socialized into the administrative role. Grade assigned will be "credit" (CR) or "no credit" (NC). The internship requires 180 hours of experience at either a secondary, middle, elementary, or alternative school site.
Students will learn to diagnose problems in reading and explore remedial strategies. The class will review the fundamentals of the reading process and introduce the nature of corrective reading; describe lytic teaching and the analytic process; present foundations of language diversity; discuss reading related factors such as physical, psychological, and environmental correlates; and describe ways to assess and evaluate literacy performance. Specific information will also be provided on instructional techniques for the major literacy domains of oral and written language, word recognition, reading comprehension, meaning vocabulary, strategic reading for narrative text, strategic reading for expository text, and study skills.
The course helps students understand the principles of composition, with special emphasis on modal organization, argumentation, and literary analysis, focusing on how best to help K-12 students improve their writing skills. We discuss theories of composition, including the processes of writing, such as heuristic devices, writing, and editing. Students learn to recognize and mark common errors in grammar and usage. Students will also improve their own writing skills by writing mode-based essays (including literary analysis), poems, and a short story.
Students will examine current philosophy and research supporting literature-based reading instruction. The class will review four different models for preparing students for literature circles, using response logs, Post-it notes, and role sheets; address structures for primary, intermediate, middle, and high school grades; present alternative scheduling patterns for group meetings and reading time; develop mini-lessons for training, problem solving, and book sharing; examine tools and materials for assessing and grading literature circles; discuss ideas for using literature circles with nonfiction texts across the curriculum; and address common management problems and solutions.
Students will examine how the history of the English language applies to its modern usage and grammar, particularly in the development of the parts of speech and sentence syntax. In addition, the class focuses on language issues in the current classroom: non-standard usage, ESL differences, and techniques for teaching grammar. Students will produce a graduate research paper as well as a detailed analysis of representative sentences.
Students will examine current philosophy and research supporting methods of teaching literacy to include including, writing, speaking, and listening. The course will address components of a comprehensive literacy program to support the development of literacy acquisition, reading, and writing across the curriculum and literacy assessment to inform instructional decision-making. Students will learn to organize and conduct reading and writing workshops for different age groups. Students will examine components of high-quality literacy instruction including comprehension strategies, narrative and information text strategies, and writing and reading for different purposes.
Students will observe reading classes and instruct those classes, under supervision, on the elementary and secondary levels. Each student will arrange for the assessment of one elementary, middle school, or secondary student thought to have potential reading and/or writing difficulty and will provide instruction and support. A case study of the elementary or secondary student will be presented which will include daily lesson plans, reflections, anecdotal records, journal, pre-and post-assessment data, and a summary report.
This course will examine theological and philosophical foundations of major world views and critically analyze the effect of major world views and post-modernism on education, and religion from a Christian standpoint.
A study of psychological theories and its application in the education and clinical settings. Students will become familiar with the common factors that have been found through research to have a significant effect on client’s satisfaction and therapeutic outcome (e.g., the person of the therapist, the therapeutic relationship with the individual, and varied techniques based on different modalities). Education students taking this class will consider these theories and practices in the education setting. The DSM – 5 will be used in this course for counseling students.
The study of scientific and disciplined inquiry applied to educational issues. Course content includes quantitative and qualitative research approaches as well as an overview of elementary statistics. Students learn how to critically evaluate and utilize research.
Descriptions and analyses of conceptual models of curriculum theory, curriculum development, and curriculum inquiry and research.
This course covers the calculation, use, and interpretation of descriptive and inferential statistics at the graduate level. This course introduces inferential statistics and their application to research design. Parametric and non-parametric approaches to the analysis of data are addressed with emphasis on application and interpretation of a number of statistical tests used in research at this level.
A study of effective teaching models and principles of instruction. A review of current trends in instructional design and the role of the teacher as an educational designer. Emphasis on instructional decision-making based on data, student needs, and relevant school factors. This course has pplications for individual teachers and educational leaders.
