I.2 Summary of the professional education unit at your institution, its mission, and its relationship to other units at the institution that are involved in the preparation of professional educators.
The mission of the CSU, Chico Educator Preparation Provider Unit, in collaboration with our community partners, is to develop effective, reflective and engaged educators. We believe in the power of education to create a diverse, democratic, socially responsible society in which every student is valued. As a learning community, we are committed to exemplary education programs that use scholarly inquiry and research-based practice as tools for continual professional growth and renewal. The complete conceptual framework, including the mission, vision, research base and assessment system is shown in Exhibit I.5.c.1.
During our 2007 initial accreditation visit, the majority of programs in the unit were housed in two departments within the College of Communication and Education. In fall of 2011, these two departments merged into a single department, the School of Education (SOE). Since 2011, the School of Education has worked to align programs, policies and procedures from its two former departments to become a unified entity in the preparation of educators. The School of Education is the center of the Educator Preparation Provider Unit on campus, which includes programs from four academic departments and three colleges. Exhibit I.5.a.2 shows the programs and the departments and colleges in which they reside.
While housed in different colleges, the coordinators of all programs in the EPP meet monthly to discuss issues that impact the unit as a whole. In addition, each year, data from key assessments across programs are collected, analyzed and shared according to the Continuous Improvement Assessment System.