UCF Receives National Award for Excellence in Teacher Education

By Chad Binette Nov. 22, 2004

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities awarded the University of Central Florida a Christa McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher Education at its annual meeting today, Nov. 22, in Charleston, S.C.

UCF is one of only three universities in the nation this year to receive the award, which is named in honor of the teacher who died in the Challenger Space Shuttle accident in 1986. The awards are designed to recognize excellence in teacher education and promote programs that lead to better achievement by pupils.

The association specifically honored the Lockheed Martin/UCF Academy for Mathematics and Science, a graduate program that prepares teachers of students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The association noted that the academy strengthens the quality of teaching and learning in math and science and has shown that students taught by its graduates fare much better on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test than students of teachers with other master’s degrees.

“Receipt of this award is exceptionally meaningful for our Lockheed Martin/UCF Academy for Mathematics and Science and our College of Education,” UCF President John Hitt said. “Enhancing and strengthening the skills of teachers so that they can impart knowledge in a meaningful way is a significant contribution to our state and nation. And receiving an award named in remembrance of such an extraordinary teacher and person elevates our university.”

Hitt; Sandra Robinson, dean of the College of Education; and Michael Hynes, founding director of the academy, were scheduled to accept the award in Charleston. Longwood University in Virginia and Valdosta State University in Georgia also received Christa McAuliffe awards.

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities represents more than 430 public colleges, universities and systems of higher education throughout the United States and its territories.

For more information on the math and science academy, go to http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~lmacad/. For more information on The American Association of State Colleges and Universities, go to www.aascu.org.

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