The Center for Teacher Education

"We can’t just stay up here on the hill," says Pat Tempesta, who grows passionate when discussing the center’s various outreach programs. As one of the College’s oldest multidisciplinary programs and with flourishing outreach activities, the center has deep ties within the local community and beyond, extending its resources to schools as far away as New York City.

While the Schools of Health Sciences and Human Performance, Humanities and Sciences, and Music each have their own teacher education programs, the Center for Teacher Education serves as a clearinghouse and a conduit for information from the New York State Education Department regarding the certification of IC teacher education students. The center also offers workshops for students on such subjects as sexual abuse and substance abuse, as well as programs for local elementary, middle, and high school teachers that will count toward their required in-service credits.

Tempesta feels that IC teacher education students need to be exposed to a diverse range of populations in order to be fully prepared for the challenges they will face upon graduation. In fact, one of the primary focuses of IC’s teacher education program has been to prepare students for living and working in a multicultural world. In pursuit of that goal, the center formed an unusual alliance three years ago with the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem. Tempesta was peeling carrots in her kitchen and watching television one evening when she was struck by a 60 Minutes report on FDA. Once tagged as the worst school in New York City, the academy had been shut down and then reopened several months later with a new commitment to academic achievement. Tempesta instantly knew that this was the school she wanted to work with.

Since the alliance was formalized in 1998, Ithaca College regularly sends vanloads of students and faculty down to Harlem to help the academy with everything from developing a music program to setting up computer labs. When asked if it is difficult to find faculty who are willing to make the drive down to Harlem, Tempesta laughs --- she has a waiting list of people eager to volunteer.

"Our program at FDA draws people together. We bring down English or math professors to work with the students at the academy, and they get to see a whole different side of life and series of issues."

For teacher education students, many of whom have never been in an urban or multicultural environment, a trip to FDA is often a transformational experience. Outreach efforts have also been extended toward children in the local community. The center helps to run the Access to College Education program (ACE), a consortium of Ithaca College, State University of New York College at Cortland, Cornell University, and Tompkins Cortland Community College. The program identifies promising eighth-grade students who are facing considerable obstacles to receiving a college education --- obstacles ranging from lack of family support to poor work habits. Those students are then brought to the IC campus to attend workshops on study skills and SAT preparation. They are also exposed to campus life and are taken to IC sports events, musicals, and plays. When these students are ready to go to college --- and if they get the "ACE recommendation" and have a B+ average --- they are guaranteed admission to one of the four participating institutions. Established more than a decade ago, ACE has assisted thousands of students in 15 local school districts. This year 900 students are participating in the program within the consortium.

Photo by Charles Harrington