Despite allegations against him, Jackson State asks Southern
University’s former chancellor to correct its teacher certification woes
Jackson, Miss.
A state commission’s recommendation last month
could mean graduating students from Jackson State University’s teacher
education programs would be ineligible for licenses.
But the new interim dean of the university’s School of Education,
who has critics of his own, says he is at Jackson State to ensure that
the historically Black institution’s teacher training program doesn’t
lose its certification.
“I’m here to take corrective action to focus the School of
Education so we don’t lose our certification,” said Dr. Marvin Yates,
the former chancellor of Southern University. “I’m not just here to
make a dollar. I’m here to make a contribution. I’m very knowledgeable
about this whole business.”
JSU’s School of Education will need whatever positive contributions
Yates can make. Members of the Mississippi commission overseeing
teacher certification and licensure said the university must correct
longstanding deficiencies with the programs or face prolonged sanctions.
Fewer than 90 percent of the university’s graduates passed the
professional knowledge and specialty areas of the National Teacher
Examination (NTE) from 1995 to 1997. And that three-year trend is
unacceptable, said members of the Mississippi Commission on Teacher and
Administrator Certification and Licensure.
Reports show 75 percent of fifty-one Jackson State students passed
the professional knowledge portion of the NTE in 1995; 71 percent of
forty-five students passed the specialty portion of the test.
