2004 Eastern education alumni who have been teachers for a year said that Eastern’s education prepared them well.

Nearly 97 percent of responding Eastern graduates said they were satisfied with Eastern’s teacher preparation program in The Teacher Graduate Assessment project released earlier this month by the Illinois Association of Deans of Public Colleges of Education and the Illinois Teacher Data Warehouse.

Eastern heads up the statewide project designed to improve the quality of children’s education by better preparing new teachers.

“We’re not only proud of having the survey done, but that Eastern was able to provide leadership for it,” said Charles Rohn, dean of Eastern’s college of education and professional studies.

The project collected feedback from graduates of 12 state universities and colleges. New teachers were asked how well their alma matter prepared them teaching jobs.

Nearly 99 percent of new teachers reported satisfaction with their career choices, and nearly 92 percent were happy with the quality of their colleges’ education programs.

“The strongest point was the validation of a very strong program,” said Rohn.” Almost 97 percent of the students surveyed said they were very well satisfied with the preparation that they received on Eastern’s campus.”

The survey’s results did not surprise Jessica Lystlund, a junior early childhood education major. She couldn’t be more pleased with Eastern’s education program. She said her classes cover theories and topics that she will encounter while working in the field.

“They are very helpful because the classes require you to work with children,” she said. “It gives me the chance to use the information from the other classes like the theories and developmental stages in real life.”

Christine Murphy, a junior early child education major, agreed.

“You spend a lot of time on the floor with children,” she said. “So you get used to being with them, how to talk to them and how to relate to them.”

The graduates who were interviewed credited their preparedness to the amount of practical experience Eastern’s education program provided them, Rohn said.

“While that’s a very challenging thing for us to do, and it’s a very time consuming and expensive thing for us to do, since our graduates feel that that is so important it something that we want to focus upon making sure we can maintain and continue it as part of our program,” Rohn said.

The project also highlighted areas for improvement. Nearly 20 percent of the 2,000 graduates surveyed reported they did not have complete knowledge of state technology standards. Fifty-five percent of new teachers reported applying technology standards in their classrooms. Another area that suggested improvements was in English as a second language.

Rohn said that Eastern’s education program is holding discussions on how to improve its approach to training teachers on how to teach students who speak English as a second language.

Lindsay Greuel, senior elementary education major, said that she feels prepared, but she would like more preparation in practicum. Practicum, which lasts three weeks from 8 to 11 a.m. gives education majors a chance to work and teach children in the field.

“When I go out there, I feel like I know what I’m doing,” Greuel said. “But I’d like more experience. I didn’t get any hands-on except for those three weeks.”

Education majors also must complete 30 hours of observation and then a semester of student teaching. Greuel will student teach next semester.

Greuel also mentioned the difference in diversity between Chicago and rural schools. Around here, there’s not much diversity, she said. The children are mostly middle-class.

Greuel and Murphy both mentioned child discipline as a challenge to becoming a teacher.

“The only thing I’m worried about is class discipline,” Greuel said.

She suggested that while the topic is addressed in classes, she would like to have a class focused around the topic.

According to the survey, 95 percent of new teachers plan to stay in education, with more than 85 planning to remain in a teaching role.

“Being a teacher, you have to love it, so there are no bad parts,” Lystlund said.