Education/Teacher Preparation Programs

Inspire Future Generations as an Education Major

What does it mean to be an extraordinary teacher? As an Education major at Keuka College, you’ll explore cutting-edge tools, techniques, and technology that will help you motivate your students, unlock their potential, and become their favorite teacher.

As a student, you’ll take courses in assessment, psychology, literacy, classroom management, and integrative methods to prepare you to teach in a variety of settings. As a graduate, you’ll be committed to a lifetime of reflective practice, collaborative service, and ethical leadership. 

Your Education degree program has strong roots in the liberal arts and sciences, and will expose you to the knowledge and hands-on experience you need to truly master your chosen content area.

Our partnerships with local and regional school districts ensure that you'll graduate with an extensive network of teachers, principals, and superintendents who know what you're capable of. Your classes, four Field Period® experiences, and student teaching opportunities will ensure you're ready for the classroom, for certification, and for a competitive job market.

An Education Degree at Keuka College puts you in the classroom your very first year.

Experience a Teacher's Perspective Every Year — Starting Your First Year

In addition to your student-teaching placements, on-the-job Field Period® internships give you the chance to have four separate in-class experiences — one every year, starting your first year. 

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Explore Our Education Degree Programs

Keuka College offers 27 different ways to customize your Education degree, ranging from Adolescent Math Education to Early Childhood/Special Education with a concentration in Spanish. 

The Adolescent Education programs at Keuka College prepare you to teach an increasingly diverse student population in grades 7-12. It's about teaching students how to learn and adapting to the varying learning styles and abilities of your students.

In addition to your core adolescent education curriculum, you'll take courses in one of five subject areas. You can also add courses that certify you to teach in special education settings as well. 

You can choose from one of nine different specialties within the Adolescent Education program:

Adolescent Education Majors

Adolescent Education with Special Education Majors

The Adolescent Special Education Generalist program prepares you to inspire, instruct, mentor, assess, and motivate students in a wide variety of special education environments.

During your four years in the program, you will master the theoretical aspects of adolescent special education while spending ample time in adolescent special education classrooms, learning how these theories are applied in real-world settings.

You’ll gain a broad base of knowledge in the four common core areas (mathematics, English, social studies, and science), and also select an emphasis area in one of the following:

Keuka College’s Unified Early Childhood/Special Education program will prepare you to teach a diverse child population as you take coursework and gain practical experience, all leading to certification in both early childhood and special education for birth to 2nd grade.

You'll learn to apply developmentally appropriate teaching methods and lesson plans to fit the skills and cognitive level of children in their earliest years. As classrooms become increasingly multifaceted, you’ll understand how age, differing rates of development, and sociocultural background play a pivotal role in how children learn.

You can choose to focus your degree in one of eight different ways:

Keuka College’s Unified Childhood/Special Education majors pursue certification to teach children from first through sixth grades in both regular and special education settings. Build toward a student-teaching placement through education courses and Field Period® experiences that prepare you with a knowledge base in developmental psychology, classroom management, and lesson-planning for both general and special education students.

You can choose to focus your degree in one of eight different ways:

Dr. Tiffany Coyle

Associate Professor of Education

Academic Credentials

University of Rochester
Ed.D. in Teaching and Curriculum
Nazareth College
M.S.Ed. in Literacy
Nazareth College
B.A. in Psychology, Inclusive Education

Dr. Nicholas Koberstein

Associate Professor of Psychology

Academic Credentials

University of Connecticut
Ph.D.
University of Connecticut
M.S.
Eastern Connecticut State University
B.S.

Dr. Peter Kozik

Associate Professor of Education

Academic Credentials

Syracuse University
Ph.D.
Syracuse University
M.A.
Williams College
B.A.

Biography

Peter Kozik received his Ph.D. in Teaching and Curriculum from Syracuse University in 2008. He served for nine years as Project Coordinator for the New York Higher Education Support Center for Systems Change and Chairperson of the Task Force on Quality Inclusive Schooling, a consortium of 75 NYS colleges and universities with teacher preparation programs interested in advancing the inclusion of students with disabilities through professional development and partnerships.

Prior to that, he has served as a school principal PK – 12 and as a CSE Chairperson and Title 1 Coordinator. He has taught English Language Arts at all levels from 4th grade to graduate school as well as Mathematics and Social Sciences to adults in search of their GED. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Education Division at Keuka College where he teaches courses in Adolescent Methods (Biology, Social Studies, English Language Arts, and Mathematics), Assessment, and Special Education Systems at the undergraduate level, and Professional Leadership for Literacy and Writing K-12 at the graduate level.

Dr. Klaudia Lorinczova

Division Chair
Professor of Educational Studies

Academic Credentials

University of Oklahoma
Ph.D.
University of Constantine the Philosopher
M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
University of Constantine the Philosopher
M.A. in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language

Biography

Klaudia Lorinczova, a native of Slovakia, has been in the field of Education for several decades. Her career began as a secondary level English as a Foreign language teacher, teaching grades 8-12. She moved to United States in 2004 to pursue a degree in Literacy and Language Development adding elementary education to her experience, with focus on first grade. Working with teachers and teacher candidates has been a life-long dream and a very rewarding career. Classroom is an absolute comfort zone for her. She speaks six languages (Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, German, and English) and uses her linguistic knowledge in her courses with focus on Literacy and English Language Learners. Ask her junior/senior students about "lodka" and you will get a story about them having to sit through a lesson she teaches in her native Slovak language to demonstrate how ELLs feel in an English language classroom.

Kara Roop Miheretu, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education

Academic Credentials

Lasell College
B.A. in Education
Columbia University
M.A. in International Education
The Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction

Dr. Susan Strickland

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Academic Credentials

SUNY Potsdam
B.A. in Sociology/Criminal Justice
Syracuse University
M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling
Walden University
Ph.D. in Psychology

Biography

Susan Strickland, Ph.D, earned a doctorate degree in Psychology, 2014. She also has a Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, from Syracuse University. Susan Strickland is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Certified Brain Injury Specialist, Certified Disability Management Specialist, and Certified Brain Health Coach.

Susan Strickland, Ph.D has been an Adjunct Faculty for Keuka College from 2012 to the present. She has taught various courses such as Statistics for the Social Sciences, Personality Theory, Forensic Psychology, Abnormal Psychology & Psychopathology Ethics for Criminal Justice Professionals, Deviance & Social Control, Ethnic Diversity, Critical Thinking, Integrative Studies 11: Crime & Justice, Elementary Statistics for Action Research, Introduction to Action Research and Action Research Project.

Professional Interests

Research interests are varied and include: Strickland, S. (2014) Predicting Depression and Psychosocial Adaptation in Post Traumatic Brain Injury with Memory and Executive Functions: Published Dissertation.

Additional research on Working Memory; Biological Assessment of Brain Injury; History of Cognitive Movement; Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function; Brain Development and Adolescent Brain Injury; Mild Traumatic Brain Injury; Self Efficacy; Ethics in Testing & Assessment; Diagnosis of Depression following Traumatic Brain Injury; Pharmacological Approaches to Traumatic Brain Injury; Stress and Depression; TBI and Endocrine Disorders; Immunology and Depression, Changing Health Behaviors-Diabetes, Post-Partum Depression.

Susan Strickland has worked as a psychologist providing counseling and behavioral services for the New York State Department of Health Program, Medicaid Waiver for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury and other chronic medical conditions from 1997 to the present.

Additional Information

Prospective students intending to major in Keuka College’s teacher education programs should declare their intention upon entering the College but may transfer into an education program if they have enrolled in a different program.

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All Keuka College sophomores in good standing and equivalent transfer students who complete (or transfer in) a list of freshman-level introductory courses by the end of an academic year are eligible to apply for the Teacher Certification Program in the fall of their sophomore year, before enrolling in major-specific professional courses. 

Satisfactory completion of the application process requirements will allow students to be admitted to and continue in the Teacher Certification Path. Application process requirements include:

Successful completion of: 

  • EDU 105
  • ENG 112 (or equivalent)
  • MAT 102 (or equivalent)
  • EDU 210

Achieve a minimum GPA requirement:

  • Overall GPA: 2.6
  • Education GPA: 2.67
  • Content GPA: 2.67

Complete required forms and tasks:

  • Submit an Application form
  • Participate in a Dispositions, Attributes, and Proficiencies (DAP) group interview  
  • Participate in an Oral Fluency task

Students’ results are reviewed and subsequent recommendations for admittance to the certification program or dismissal are communicated to students before their junior year begins.  

To be eligible for placement in student teaching, a student must have an overall grade-point average (GPA) of 2.75 and a GPA of 3.0 in all Education courses. In addition, Adolescent Education majors need a concentration GPA of 3.0. This level must be attained one semester prior to the student-teaching placement.

The candidate must have successfully completed the education Field Period® requirements.

The College does not award teacher certification, the New York State Education Department is the only entity that does that.

Upon the successful completion of all requirements for the major and degree, the college recommends the candidate for certification. The candidate is responsible for fulfilling all certification requirements, which include: major requirements, fingerprinting, certification exams and application for certification.

In cases where the candidate is non-matriculated, or is seeking an additional certification, the candidate is responsible for applying for that certification through a state-recognized certification office.

In all cases, state requirements for certification include:

Anticipated Testing Requirements

Early Childhood Education
  • Educating All Students (EAS)
  • Multi-Subject: Teachers of Early Childhood Education (Birth - Grade 2)
  • Content Specialty Test: Students with Disabilities
  • edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment)
Childhood Education
  • Educating All Students (EAS)
  • Multi-Subject: Teachers of Early Childhood Education (Grades 1-6)
  • Content Specialty Test: Students with Disabilities
  • edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment)
Adolescent Education
  • Educating All Students (EAS)
  • Content Specialty Test in Area of Content (Social Studies, English, Math, or Science)
  • Content Specialty Test: Students with Disabilities (if dual certified)
  • Multi-Subject Test: Secondary Teachers (Grades 7-12) (if dual certified)
  • edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment)
Adolescent Special Education Generalist
  • Educating All Students (EAS)
  • Content Specialty Test: Students with Disabilities
  • Multi-Subject Test: Secondary Teachers (Grades 7-12)
  • edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment)

TEACH Certification Application ProcessInformation from New York State's exam requirements for initial certification is available on the State's website.

For those candidates who received the TEACH grant, more information about the TEACH certification application process is available from the New York State Office of Teaching Initiatives.

New York State Teacher Certification Results

Results are reported in aggregate across all levels.

NYS Teacher Exam Pass Rate Job Placement (in Related Field) Attending Graduate School
Program Year Number of Completions EAS Pass Rate CST-SWD Pass Rate    
2014-15 21 100% 91% 33% 52%
2015-16 21 100% 92% 52% 67%
2016-17 13 94% 94% 64% 45%

Call for Third-Party Comment

Submission Deadline: September 21, 2021

On October 20-21, Keuka College will host an accreditation visit by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). In preparation for the visit, the AAQEP Quality Review Team is soliciting public comment about the quality of Early Childhood, Childhood, Adolescent, Special education, and Literacy educator preparation provided by Keuka College. All comments must be submitted by September 21 through the AAQEP website: Submit a comment here.

Contact Information

Dr. Klaudia Lorinczova

Division Chair

Professor of Educational Studies

(315) 279-5699
[email protected]