News Item
WAMC featured Pace University’s School of Education in "Pace University Creates Virtual Program That Helps Teachers-in-Training And Students"
When schools in New York went virtual as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, teachers-in-training had to switch gears as well. Officials at Pace University’s School of Education at the Pleasantville campus in Westchester County had to adapt just as students did. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne has a story about a new program that fills a need for both students in the Ossining School District and teachers-in-training at Pace.
Director of School Partnerships at Pace University’s School of Education Jennifer Argenta talks about the genesis of a virtual tutoring program.
“The superintendent of the Ossining schools, Ray Sanchez, contacted the School of Education once schools shut down to see how he could further support his students and the community at large,” says Argenta. “And, at that point in time, the School of Education was also being very affected with regards to our clinical experiences for our teacher candidates. So teacher candidates who were just student teaching were obviously no longer in school settings and had to migrate to online assistance with their cooperating teachers.”
The brainstorming began and a program outline emerged. Argenta says they developed the program at the end of March and it took shape in mid-April, ensuring that it met state standards for student teaching candidate requirements.
“And everything shifted mid-semester, and so this program really started to just fill a niche as far as what we could provide to not only support the teachers and communities that we have partners with, but also, it also helped to enhance the clinical experience of our teacher candidates who are able to really work one-on-one with students and with their classroom teachers to really provide more of a supplemental role in the classroom as it went virtually,” Argenta says.
Argenta says it was clear there was a need in the community.
“When the Ossining District put out the virtual, the flyer to parents saying if you would like to have additional support through a Pace University student, they received over 160 responses within a 24-hour period of time,” Argenta says.
