NIU’s program in Middle Level Teaching and Learning has received accreditation and national recognition from the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE).
The favorable review follows years of internal data collection and annual reporting to the university that began in 2018, which culminated in the college’s initial 2023 submission to AMLE that resulted in conditional recognition and now full approval.
AMLE is responsible for the program review process within the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) for institutions seeking national recognition of middle level teacher preparation, program coordinator Donna Werderich said.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Werderich, a Presidential Teaching Professor in the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. “What it says is that we are, as an institution and a program, recognized by the guiding body of teacher preparation specifically for middle level grades. We have met, and apply, all the rigor and national standards. Our program is aligned.”
Meanwhile, she added, “we already knew from our candidates, our state tests and feedback from our partners in the field that we have a quality program – but this is that final layer of recognition from AMLE, our program’s Specialized Professional Organization (SPA).”
Werderich led the faculty committee from the colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences that developed and launched the undergraduate major, mandated in 2013 by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
NIU earned the endorsement of the ISBE and the Illinois Board of Higher Education in the spring of 2016, and the first cohort of 18 preservice teachers graduated two years later.
Beginning this fall, the College of Education’s longtime Master of Arts in Teaching degree that allows career-changers to earn licensure in Elementary Education will add Middle Level Teaching and Learning as a second pathway.
“Our program is an excellent place for teacher preparation specifically for middle-level,” Werderich said.
“From building it from the grassroots up, we from the very beginning knew that we wanted to maintain our goal of really aligning to the philosophy, theory, and instructional approaches of middle-level education. We began with that vision, and that is the core of our program.”
Curriculum and clinical experiences adhere to those beliefs and values, she added, producing “responsive” educators and advocates.
Specific preparation honors the fifth- through eighth-graders who are navigating an often bumpy bridge from childhood to adolescence and the “unique and diverse” social, emotional and cognitive growth that comes with it.
“Emotionally, they have a lot going on. They can be quite dramatic. They are uncertain, or questioning, or critiquing. Their identity is really shifting. They’re trying to find out who they are and who they want to become. They want voice,” Werderich said.
“These middle school students appreciate teachers who have that background, knowledge and philosophy so that they then will be able to connect, communicate and relate to them. They can make such a difference in their lives,” she added. “The more that students know that there are teachers who are fully supportive of them – who are going to build that environment – the more they’re going to build those relationships, connect and feel safe during very challenging stages of their lives.”
Preteens with the right teachers will flourish, she said.
“Our goal for them during this transitional stage of their lives is to help them become change-agents so that they have that cognitive ability to start really questioning, being critical thinkers and maybe challenging some of their beliefs. They are uncertain,” she said. “That’s why part of the middle-level philosophy is to have all these highly qualified teachers on board as a supportive team to guide them through that.”
Joining Werderich on the original program advisory committee that developed NIU’s Middle Level Teaching and Learning program were co-chair J.D. Bowers along with members Jennifer Berne, Susan Callahan, Paul Carpenter, Nancy DeFrates-Dench, Thomas McCann, Jon Miller and Alan Zollman.
Jenny Parker, the then-associate vice provost for Educator Licensure and Preparation, replaced Bowers in 2015. One year later, Werderich and Parker traveled to Springfield in search of the state’s permission to launch.
“As soon as I received final approval from our Specialized Professional Association that we were nationally recognized, I sent a quick text message to Jenny to say, ‘Look where we’ve come,’ ” Werderich said. “I couldn’t have done it without her, and she was so excited.”
Current members of NIU’s Middle Level Teaching and Learning committee (in addition to Werderich) are Sally Blake, Amy Boyles, Philip Corvino, Daryl Dugas, Mike Eads, Megan Gerken, Hal Hinderliter, Eric Junco, Betsy Kahn, Nicole LaDue, Chris Lowe, Allison Machek, Vickie McGrane, Randi White and Dianne Zalesky.
