In 2004, the Dean of the COE appropriated a one-half faculty position to fund a Coordinator of COE Assessment with responsibility for refinement and full implementation of the unit’s assessment plan. Each academic year, individual functional units receive state funds to be managed by the department chairs or office directors to meet standards as evidenced in data identified in the COE Assessment Plan from entry into the Teacher Education Program through initial certification to entry into and exit from advanced degree programs.

The COE supports outreach centers that aggressively seek grant funds to expand resources and services needed to prepare candidates to meet standards.

• The Columbus Regional Math Collaborative (CRMC) supports mathematics education through federal grants that provide support staff and a lending resource center stocked with resources to enhance mathematics and science instruction.

• The Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (CCRRA) manages state grant funds that provide quality training for child care providers. The CCRRA maintains a lending resource center equipped with books on age appropriate practices, videos on child development, manipulative toys and games, children’s CDs, lamination, Ellison Press, and bookbinding machines.

• The Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC) has a history of successfully securing federal grants for the purpose of advancing the knowledge and skills of faculty and teacher candidates in the area of information and communication technologies. Grants secured under the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology federal initiative include:

• 1999 - 1.2 million for technology integration training for university faculty from three regional state universities.
• 1999 - 1.7 million with the University System Board of Regents and 4 public and private universities to provide technology integration training for middle grades faculty, University Supervisors, and middle grades Cooperating Teachers for mentorship and supervision of teacher candidates during field experiences.
• 2001 - 1.6 million with the State Data and Research Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology and 14 partner colleges and universities to prepare technology-rich field placement sites for teacher candidates.
• 2003 - 1.48 million dollar to implement the Promise of Teacher Quality Project, a regional initiative to use modern technologies to improve reading attainment.

• The Center for Assessment and Reading Education (CARe) provides faculty and teacher candidate resources including five current basal reading, writing and spelling curricula, leveled trade books and big books, phonic tool kits, digital cameras, laptop computers, camcorders, tape recorders, and a variety of software applications.

The College of Education has superior resources to support faculty and candidates preparing to become technology proficient teachers. Faculty members benefit from technical support provided by the Instructional Technology Services department and the Computer Information and Networking Services (CINS) department. The Student Help Desk provides onsite, email, and telephone support to students seeking assistance with the most common software packages including: Office XP, FrontPage, Pegasus Mail, Internet Explorer, Campus network, and WebCT access. CINS operates 19 campus computer labs: Arnold Hall rooms 203, 204, 206, 207, 215, 241, Center for Commerce and Technology rooms 122, 123, 124 (Open Lab), 208, 350, 407, 450, Jordan Hall rooms 335, 342, LeNoir Hall room 126, Schwob Library room 104, and Woodall Hall rooms 126, 147, 158, 159. Students residing in campus housing have access to the CSU Residential Network. The ResNet features unlimited internet and email in dorm rooms, a dedicated data line per bed, high speed internet connection, which is free of charge for students. The Partner School Network accommodates the technology needs of teacher candidates during field experiences. For the most part, cooperating teachers are InTech certified educators assigned to technology equipped classrooms that offer computers with data projectors, scanners, digital cameras and technical support personnel.

The Schwob Library offers faculty and teacher candidates hundreds of electronic resources through GALILEO (Georgia Library Learning Online), which has earned a reputation as one of the world’s premier electronic database collections. In addition to GALILEO electronic resources, the CSU Library subscribes to databases, including: KCDL Online Index (Kraus Curriculum Development Library), JSTOR (Arts and Science I and Ecology and Botany Collections—129 scholarly journal backfiles), Groves Music Online, The Music Index, Criminal Justice Periodical Index, and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts.