By TILISHA ALEXANDER

Staff Writer

The Louisiana Board of Examiners held a conference in partnership with the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and the College of Education from Oct. 28 to 31.

The conference was held at the Ramada Inn, located on Interstate 20 in Ruston.

Lawrence Leonard, an associate professor of curriculum, instruction and leadership, said the purpose of the training conference was to instruct new members of NCATE.

"The keynote speaker for the event was Jeanne Burns, an associate commissioner for teacher education initiatives," Leonard said.

"There were a total of eight sessions targeted toward training new members."

Leonard said the first session gave a general idea of the Louisiana Partnership with NCATE.

"This was basically an overview of the program and why it is important to Louisiana educators and institutions," Leonard said.

"Without an accreditation program, a lot of majors would not have the proper criteria to supply students with what they need in the classroom."

Leonard said the second session gave a discussion of the role of the Board of Examiners and NCATE code of conduct.

"The code of conduct upholds the mission that quality service will be provided both sensitively and professionally and adheres to the equal opportunity provisions of federal and civil rights laws," Leonard said.

"It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age or disability."

The third session gave an understanding of the logistics of planning a joint visit.

"So far the university has been tremendously involved with BOE and NCATE, and what new members are to understand is all plans coincide with one another to promote the best programs in our schools," Leonard said.

Session four allowed new members to understand the conceptual structure of the board.

Leonard said the conceptual structure is the vision of the organization as well as the purpose.