CSC beginning program to aid school administrators
Eight school administrators from the High Plains area will spend the week of Aug. 6 at Chadron State College participating in a new program designed to help them earn a Specialist in Education Degree.
The director, Dr. Art Borgemenke, calls the program “novel” because Chadron State will be among the first to offer it, and says it is badly needed. About 95 percent of the instruction will be online. The initial participants will form what Borgemenke calls “a specialist in education cohort.”
A national survey titled “Career Crisis in the Superintendency” revealed that 80 percent of the 1,719 respondents were approaching retirement age. Borgemenke added that is difficult for school administrators to set aside their responsibilities to attend classes on campus at frequent intervals.
“It has been taking most of the candidates for the specialist degree from four to six years to complete it,” Borgemenke said. “With this program, they can do it in two years. We will require them to return to the campus for a week next summer, but otherwise they can eliminate the travel by doing the coursework on their computers.”
All eight of those who have registered for the program hold master’s degrees in education administration and have at least two years of administrative experience. Borgemenke said the college will be ready to begin a new cohort whenever there is a demand for it.
The cohort members may create an area of emphasis within the specialist degree by selecting specific elective courses that will compliment program of study, Borgemenke said. The five “strands of emphasis” are:
--Curriculum and Instruction Administration.
--Special Education Administration
--Assessment and Accountability
--Administration of Literacy programs
--Administration of Athletic programs
Category: Campus News