Friday, December 13, 2002

WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNCW’s Watson School of Education is one of

seven undergraduate teacher education programs in the state to receive

an exemplary rating, the highest possible, on the Performance Report on

Teacher Education Programs for 2001-02. The report was presented

Thursday to the State Board of Education.

“We are extremely happy about this. The Watson School has been

reaffirmed by the state as to the excellence we offer to our students,” said

Dean Cathy L. Barlow. “We couldn’t be more pleased.”

The report rates teacher education programs according to three overall

criteria: compliance with state and national accreditation standards, the

quality of program completers and involvement with and service to

public schools. Each program received points based on whether it met or

exceeded each criterion and scores were totaled to determine which

programs were designated exemplary or low performing.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction news release can be viewed at

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/news/02-03/121202.html. The complete

report is at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/IHE/IHE02.