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Overview
Lewis-Clark State College
Lewis-Clark State College was established by an act of the Idaho State Legislature in 1893. It was originally designated the Lewiston Normal School, reflecting its early mission as a teacher training facility, and is now a four-year liberal arts college offering academic and technical degrees. Its present name, Lewis-Clark State College, was authorized by the Legislature and governing board in 1971.
The institution has a three-part mission that encompasses traditional academic programs, professional-technical education programs, and community college and community service programs. The college’s undergraduate instructional programs offer a wide range of academic and professional programs leading to baccalaureate and associate degrees. The college also offers a number of programs leading to certificates. The primary emphasis areas are business, criminal justice, nursing, social work, teacher preparation, and professional-technical education. The State Board directs LCSC to maintain basic strengths in the liberal arts and sciences, which provide the core (general education) portion of the curriculum. The college’s theme statement is “Connecting Learning to Life.”
Other assigned emphasis areas are the provision of select programs offered on and off campus, at non-traditional times, using non-traditional means of delivery, to serve a diverse student body. LCSC uses a variety of delivery methods to meet the needs of diverse constituencies through an increasing number of distance learning courses. Because of the many different kinds of students entering LCSC, with different expectations and abilities, Student Support Services—designed to assist first generation, low-income students and students with disabilities—provides academic counseling, study skills improvement, and every manner of disability accommodation. LCSC is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
The campus has a rural location, situated on 42 acres in a residential area of Lewiston, Idaho, a city of approximately 35,000 located at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers. Across the Snake River is Clarkston, Washington, with a population of approximately 18,000. The Nez Perce Indian Reservation is located twelve miles to the east in Lapwai, Idaho, with a population of 1,100. The cities of Lewiston and Clarkston, as well as the college, are named for explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their historic 1804-06 expedition.
The college serves a highly diverse student population, providing educational opportunities to more than 3,325 students from more than 30 states and 20 countries. Sixty-one percent of the students are females, 5% are Alaskan/Native Americans, 4.5% are Hispanic, 81% are first-generation, 37% are non-traditional, and 80% of our full-time students receive financial aid assistance. Some students drive approximately 75 miles one-way through a mountainous region on inadequate mountain roads to attend college.
For the past four years, Lewis Clark State College has been ranked as one of the top public colleges in the West in the Comprehensive-Bachelor’s Degree categories – including #1 in 2002 and 2005 – by U. S. News & World Report in its rankings of colleges and universities.
Division of Education
The Division of Education at Lewis-Clark State College offers programs leading to baccalaureate degrees in Elementary Education (K-8), Kinesiology (non-teaching), Kinesiology (K-12 Physical Education, 6-12 Health), and Psychology. The division offers minors/endorsements in Chemical Dependency Counseling, Coaching, Gifted/Talented Education, Health, Kinesiology, Psychology, Reading, Special Education, and Teaching English as a Second Language. While the Division of Education offers the content area coursework required for secondary certification in Health/Physical Education, other academic divisions on campus offer the content area coursework required for secondary certification in English, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.
The teacher preparation unit within the Division of Education offers undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs leading to initial certification in Elementary Education (K-8), Secondary Education (6-12), Special Education Generalist (K-12), and Physical Education (K-12).
Table
1
Program Review Status
* Elementary Post-Bac students
take the same program
as undergrad's and are
not separated out, hence
are double counted.
Sources:
LCSC's Datatel, Education
Division Databases. Prepared
by par.
Of the twenty-three full-time faculty members in the Division of Education, thirteen are completely dedicated to teacher preparation (the unit); three others provide one or two of the courses required for certification. Adjunct faculty members are hired as needed.
Table
2
Academic Rank of Professional
Education Faculty For
Academic Year 2004-2005
Source: LCSC Human Resources
Office prepared
by gt
Our last accreditation visit was in April 2000. At that time we received continuing accreditation with all standards met and no weaknesses cited. Since that time, we have initiated three major changes: 1) We have developed and implemented on-line versions of our programs; 2) we have incorporated three new testing requirements as mandated by the state of Idaho–Praxis II tests, the Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA), and the Idaho Technology Performance Assessment (ITPA); 3) we no longer partner with Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) to offer a program in Rexburg.
In 2002, in response to requests from rural school districts and with encouragement from the Idaho State Board of Education, we increased access to our elementary and secondary certification programs by creating non-traditional on-line versions, called PACE (Pathways for Accelerated Certification and Endorsement), for individuals with life experiences relevant to teaching. The Secondary PACE program is designed to provide opportunities for candidates to complete the requirements for teacher certification on-line with one three-day on-campus orientation session during the summer prior to starting the program. The Elementary PACE program, on the other hand, requires candidates to attend on-campus classes for two summers to complete courses from Phase II and Phase III of the program, particularly those with accompanying practicum experiences. Both programs utilize distance-learning technologies for mentoring candidates and for supervising them during their internship experiences at distant sites. Supervisory visits by PACE coordinators are also part of the quality control for the PACE program candidates.
Since 2000, we have increased our on-line course offerings from 5 to 75 courses per year accounting for approximately 30% of the college’s overall increase in distance delivery.
Table
3
On-line Courses Offered
by LCSC: 2000-2005
Source: Office of Community
Programs, July 2005 prepared
by jh
Table
4
On-line Courses Offered
by Division of Education: 2000-2005
Source: Office of Community
Programs, July 2005;
prepared by jh
The second major change is that we now require candidates to have qualifying scores on all required PRAXIS tests prior to admission to Internship II; passing scores on the ITPA (all candidates); and the ICLA (elementary and secondary reading candidates only) prior to recommendation for certification.
Finally, when Ricks College became a four-year institution (BYU-Idaho), the university was able to offer its own certification programs and no longer needed to partner with us; therefore we phased out the program in 2001.
We have not added any new certification programs since the last accreditation visit.
The Idaho Core Teachers Standards and the LCSC Education Program Standards are aligned as shown on the Standards Alignment Matrix [PDF]. Instructional events that are designed to develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions in teacher candidates, as well as program assessment procedures for the elementary and secondary education programs, are clearly delineated in the Candidate Assessment Map: Teacher Education at Lewis-Clark State College (Program for Elementary School Teacher Candidates [PDF]) and Candidate Assessment Map: Teacher Education at Lewis-Clark State College (Program for Secondary School Teacher Candidates [PDF]). The two Professional Standards by Course grids (Elementary Program grid [PDF] and Secondary Program grid [PDF]) outline how required courses support development of, provide opportunities to practice, or provide authentic environments for use of knowledge, skills, and dispositions required of candidates.
