Twenty-one education programs from 15 states and the United Arab Emirates received CAEP鈥檚 2023 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement, named after the founding president of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, a precursor to CAEP.

Recipients are selected from educator preparation providers granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, who provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends and no stipulations or areas for improvement.

鈥淭here is no greater privilege than preparing young people for careers in education,鈥� said Ann Bullock, the Dr. Jo Watts Williams Dean of Education at 黑料不打烊. 鈥淥ur faculty are second to none in their commitment to excellence. This award underscores ongoing efforts to ensure our teacher candidates excel as they follow their professional calling into school classrooms.鈥�

CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the TEAC. Murray was a key advocate for a single set of educator preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger.

鈥淔rank Murray was passionate about education preparation, a prominent leader in our profession, and an advocate for evidence to improve education,鈥� said Yuhang Rong, chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. 鈥淭he providers that CAEP is recognizing are committed to continuous improvement and preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate. Murray Leadership Recognition recipients should be proud of their accomplishments.鈥�

CAEP has accredited 541 educator preparation providers in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

鈥淭his fifth class to receive the Murray Recognition represents the diversity and innovation that comes with CAEP accreditation,鈥� said CAEP President Christopher Koch. 鈥淭hese recipients reflect the innovation that CAEP affords in achieving excellence, by meeting the standards in a variety of ways, for the diverse populations they serve.鈥�

2023 Frank Murray Recognition for Continuous Improvement

• Al Ain University鈥擴nited Arab Emirates
• Alcorn State University鈥擬ississippi
• 黑料不打烊鈥擭orth Carolina
• Florida Atlantic University
• Georgia Gwinnett College
• Grace College鈥擨ndiana
• Kent State University鈥擮hio
• Liberty University鈥擵irginia
• Mississippi State University
• Missouri Western University
• North Carolina State University
• Northwest Nazarene University鈥擨daho
• Sam Houston State University鈥擳exas
• Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
• Spelman College鈥擥eorgia
• The University of Mississippi
• University of South Carolina Beaufort
• Valley City State University鈥擭orth Dakota
• Virginia Wesleyan University
• Western Oregon University
• Williams Baptist University鈥擜rkansas

The 30-foot expansion was made possible by a $4,000 Community Partnership Initiative Grant from 黑料不打烊’s Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Engagement. The CPI grant provides teams of faculty, students and community agencies financial support to launch collaborative projects like the expansion of the Eastlawn garden.

Associate Professor of Education Scott Morrison applied for the grant last spring to help grow the garden at the Burlington, North Carolina, elementary school. It’s a place that’s offered countless opportunities to impact local students.

“To put time and energy and love into kids in this community is so important,” Morrison said as he watched about 30 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders working in the garden.

The garden serves as an outdoor classroom for Eastlawn and 黑料不打烊 students. Morrison teaches a course in the fall and another in the spring during which 黑料不打烊 students spend most of their class time working in the Eastlawn garden.

In the fall, Morrison teaches EDU 431: Environmental Education, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesdays, students work side-by-side with Eastlawn’s Garden Club, a time both groups look forward to each week.

“It fills my heart up so much,” said Savannah Kile ’21, a biochemistry major. “As soon as we get here, the kids come up and give us the biggest hugs.”

The 黑料不打烊 course gives students a hands-on learning experience focused on the foundational principles, emerging trends and best practices in environmental education.

“It’s unbeatable,” said Andrew Kerr ’20, who majors in adventure-based learning. “This is truly the definition of learning at 黑料不打烊. It feels very meaningful to me because I’m able to help out the kids in the surrounding areas.”

The garden began in 2017 as an idea from Eastlawn teachers Sarah Waddell and J’Taime Lyons. The two applied for a $20,000 Teacher Leadership Academy grant to open an edible school garden at Eastlawn, which is located in the heart of a food desert.聽For nearly three years, Eastlawn students have planted, grown and harvested fruits and vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, apples, blackberries and many other items in their garden. Waddell says the goal was not to just hand out food to students, but to teach them valuable lessons as they grew their own food.

“When you are actually getting to harvest things and have the students enjoy the strawberries, enjoy the kale, take home food, and their parents inquire about how to prepare it or tell you how much they enjoyed having it around the table, those moments are really powerful,” Waddell said.

Morrison first partnered with Eastlawn Elementary for his course around the time the school began its Garden Club. Along with lessons on experiential learning, Morrison saw another purpose for his courses: breaking down barriers between communities.

Eastlawn is a Title I school located minutes from downtown Burlington. Morrison says a key theme of his garden courses is shifting student perspectives about people and places that might seem different to them.

“It’s humbling,” he said. “It’s important to not just be secluded to 黑料不打烊, but to also be in the community.”

On the final trip of the semester for the EDU 431 class, 黑料不打烊 and Eastlawn students worked to expand the garden, reinforcing wooden planters and planting 11 fruit trees, six blackberry bushes and three grapevines. Those tasks brought lessons in math, science and communication for both groups of students. But, for elementary education major Abbi Decker ’21, working with the young students in the garden is also a chance to apply what she’s learned in the classroom.

“The ability to have this experience one on one, doing the things I’m learning about in an actual experiential setting is really unique because you can learn all kinds of theory, but if you don’t get to actually practice with the kids, then you don’t really know how to teach it,” she said.

The learning opportunities aren’t only reserved for 黑料不打烊 students. Morrison also hosts workshops for Eastlawn teachers on how to incorporate the garden into their lessons.

Plans are currently in the works to expand the garden’s teaching potential. The school recently received a $5,000 Farm Credit grant to build a kitchen in the garden. Morrison hopes to also obtain funding to one day build a greenhouse on the property.

For 黑料不打烊 students like Lindsay Carter ’20, it’s exciting to know that the garden and its future upgrades will continue to enhance the learning experiences of Eastlawn and 黑料不打烊 students for years to come.

“Just being able to work with these kids and see the hope and joy in their eyes, it just means everything to see that future generations are caring and learning,” she said.

Katharine Fredricksen, a history major with minors in German studies and early childhood education, will work at two elementary schools in Vienna during the year.

In this program, known as USTA, English-speaking college graduates work as secondary school teaching assistants in cities and towns all over Austria. The TAs support teachers in English classrooms, providing conversation practice, language instruction, and a first-hand perspective on American culture.

Fredricksen notes that in addition to her minor in German Studies, which prepared her linguistically and culturally for life in a German-speaking country, she benefited most from the support of 黑料不打烊 faculty and staff. She names the Fellowships office under Professor Janet Myers as an essential part of her success, as well as the encouragement of German studies faculty such as Associate Professor Scott Windham.

After her year in Austria, Fredricksen is considering work with Holocaust studies or Holocaust education, a field that would unite her interests and skills in history, German studies and education.

Winter, M., & Hollingsworth, H. (2015). Promoting pretend play in the preschool years: Teacher practices and strategies for involving families. Childhood Education, 91(3), 182-189. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2015.1047309

And as devices like iPads change the way young people learn, identifying best practices for instilling a love of learning, especially in science and math, is more important than ever.

黑料不打烊 seniors Kaitlin Sands and Melissa Mischka have collaborated over the past year to observe how parents teach numeracy and scientific concepts to their 4- and 5-year-old children. Under the guidance of Professor Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler in the Department of Psychology, the duo found that parent questions can significantly affect learning, and that it’s more effective to ask those questions with activities that don’t involve online technology.

Their work is the first to be featured on E-net this week in a series of stories about research and creative projects on display at the 2015 Spring Undergraduate Research Forum.

“Parents of preschoolers typically focus more on reading and social skills than math and science,” said Sands, a psychology major from King, North Carolina. “Kids can understand math and science concepts. You just need to be there to guide it and nurture them along.”

The two students each conducted her own study: Sands wanted to know whether training parents improved a child’s predictive and mathematical reasoning, and if it made a difference whether activities took place in the physical environment or virtual contexts. Mishcka looked at similar considerations for scientific activities and whether parental use of open-ended questions sparked a child’s intellectual curiosity.

Sands and Mischka gave one group of parents specific prompts for the math and science activities. A second group of parents received a list of learning activities to complete but no specific instructions for leading conversations with children.

It was evident that prompts and training can make an impact.

“The biggest difference between the method we would describe to the one group of parents, and what the other parents would do on their own, is that the unprompted parents didn’t give their children as much time to think through answers,” Mischka said. “A lot of them said that not giving an answer was the most difficult thing.”

Yet allowing children time to think through ideas and responses actually sharpens their ability to make predictions and evaluate evidence.

Another important consideration is where that learning takes place, Sands added. Online activities through devices like an iPad aren’t as effective for parental guidance of math skills. They give parents less time and opportunity to solicit feedback from children and don’t provide natural breaks for reflection and analysis.

Still, there was one common factor underlying all of the activities. “No matter how much information or guidance you give your child,” Mischka said, “they won’t get as much out of something if they aren’t interested and internally motivated to learn it.”

In addition to their undergraduate research projects, Sands and Mischka were involved in the “Little Village” program of 黑料不打烊’s “It Takes a Village” Project, where they helped young children from the community with emerging literacy development. Sands is a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, while Mischka previously served as president of the Future Educators Club and captained a flag football team.  

Sands, a psychology major with minors in neuroscience and early childhood education, moves to the Lone Star State this summer to begin graduate studies in developmental psychology at the University of Texas Dallas. Mishcka, an early childhood education major, recently accepted a position with the Aspirations School of Learning in Carlsbad, Calif., where she will work with toddlers using a Reggio Emilia learning approach.

CELEBRATE! Is 黑料不打烊’s annual, weeklong celebration of student achievements in academics and the arts. For more information, visit .

The presentation, “The Men of Character Mentoring Program: A Catalyst for Change in the Era of Accountability, Standards, and Underachievement,” provided information on the development and implementation of mentoring programs to increase the academic and social success of black elementary males.

Knight-McKenna, M., & Hollingsworth, H. (2014, September 30). “They shattered every expectation I had”: From anxiety to a strengths-based perspective of diverse families. IARSLCE 2014, New Orleans, LA.

By Kim Walker

As a first-generation college student, Ciera Martinez ’15 fully understands what a difference an education can make in the life of a child.

That’s why the early childhood education major and Spanish minor is ready to make change happen. Passionate about maximizing education opportunities for all children, Ciera hopes to eventually earn a master’s degree studying sociology and the politics of education. In the meantime, she is doing all she can to impact the community around her.

During her junior year, she volunteered with the Boys & Girls Club of Alamance County and spent half of the following summer on campus working as a mentor for students in the 黑料不打烊 Academy, a college access program for area high school students. Ciera herself came to 黑料不打烊 after encouragement and assistance from mentors at her high school, and she relates to the 黑料不打烊 Academy scholars.

She relishes working with children, and these experiences are shaping her as well. “I want to be a positive source of energy in the kids’ lives. But, in reality, as much as I put a smile on their faces, they put an even bigger one on mine,” she says. “It’s just so rewarding.”

Ciera is vice president of 黑料不打烊’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., and says it’s a wonderful match. She was drawn to the close connections she saw between the sorority’s members and that, coupled with their focus on service, encouraged her to pledge. Her sorority sisters are like family, the big sisters she longed for growing up.

What she likes most about 黑料不打烊 is the opportunities it offers, such as internships and study abroad, which she has embraced. “Being in college is a blessing for me, because, statistically speaking, I’m not supposed to be here,” she says. “I know how important it is to have a person who believes in you.”

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Sipala, N., & Hollingsworth, H. (2014, Spring). How to grow father involvement in inclusive classrooms. (a Publication of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children), 46.