OSU faculty member leads statewide university effort in supporting Oklahoma educators

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Media Contact: Kirsi McDowell | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-8320 | [email protected]

From research to leadership, Dr. Toni Iveyis paving the way for teacher education at Oklahoma State University and across the state.

Ivey began her career at OSU in 2009 when she was hired as an assistant professor in science education. Since then she has worked her way up the professional ranks and is now the director of the Office of Educator Support and P12 Outreach. Her work and collaboration expands to a statewide leadership role with the Oklahoma Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (OACTE) for 2025-26.

At OSU, Ivey and her team support students pursuing professional education degrees. OSU offers the most comprehensive educator preparation program in Oklahoma.

Dr. Stephanie Hathcock, the interim school head for the School of Teaching, Learning and Education Sciences, said Ivey's work is fundamental in ensuring OSU students have the best education available.

"The entire office [of educator support] does a few really important things for us. They place all of our students in available field experience opportunities, and they work with districts around the state to place students with quality educators," Hathcock said.

"Toni's office, and Toni in particular, makes sure that our accreditation is sound, we're collecting the proper data, submitting the proper reports and preparing for any site visits."

OSU is nationally accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation programs.

Ivey's role as director requires her to thoroughly analyze data concerning professional education programsin the College of Arts and Sciences, Ferguson College of Agriculture and the College of Education and Human Sciences. This data can include, but is not limited to, certification exam scores, GPA, background checks and field placement hours.

Recent data collected signifies that OSU prepares students for excellence.

In more than half of the 21 subject area certification exams, OSU education students had a 100% pass rate in (2023-24). These exams included: agricultural education, earth science, reading specialist, world history/geography, Spanish, middle school level social studies, school psychologist, instrumental general music and vocal/general music.

Across all certification exams, OSU students performed higher than state averages.

Ivey, who is supported by the program area faculty and staff, furthers this charge by collecting and analyzing data that isn't required by the state, but is essential in providing students with quality education at OSU.

"She has a really great ability to synthesize data," Hathcock said. "To look at something and say 'how can we crunch some numbers and figure out how this is working well for us or no longer serving us?'"

Not only is Ivey examining and strengthening the curriculum and education at OSU, she is also working alongside universities and colleges throughout Oklahoma in a leadership role with OACTE.

The organization is dedicated to finding the best ways to serve future educators, and ensuring that Oklahoma has a strong public school system. In 2025, Ivey was elected president of the organization and meets regularly with representatives from each of the member institutions. While Ivey leads the way for future educators at OSU, she is determined to enhance education across the state.

"What's really great about our monthly meetings is that our state agency partners, like Oklahoma State Department of Education, Oklahoma Education Quality Association and the Regents for Higher Education, are in attendance and we're able to talk to each other," Ivey said. "It's a really great way to find out what's happening across the state, what the needs are and try to solve problems together."

Working alongside other academics who support Oklahoma educators is something Ivey prides herself in.

"We all have common goals - we all want to do what's best for our education preparation programs," Ivey said. "We all want to increase the numbers of highly qualified teachers in the state, and we are trying to work with legislators and other agencies to try to figure out how we can get more students through our programs."

What makes Ivey stand out in a room full of educators is her passion. It wasn't until Ivey was halfway through a master's degree in geochemistry when she realized she wanted to be an educator.

"I was teaching undergraduate labs, and I really got interested in why my students did and did not know things, and how to help them better understand things," Ivey said. "I was so interested in it that I walked across campus to the college of education, and I sat down and said, 'I want to change my major.'"

As Ivey continues to support educators across the state, she remains an exceptional role model for future teachers.

For more information about the services provided by the Office of Educator support, visit okla.st/oes.

Story By: Annie Ross | [email protected]