See the standard
Comments on analysis
Courses reviewed: EACH 363, EDUC 250, READ 363, READ 460, READ 464, and READ 480
The research-based content proven to be necessary for teaching all children to read should be clearly evident in course materials such as lecture topics, assignments and textbooks. All of a program's required reading courses — not just some courses — should impart what is necessary to teach reading.
The program meets the standard because its coursework covers all five of the components of effective reading instruction:
- Phonemic Awareness
- Phonics
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension Strategies
|
A
|
Elementary Mathematics
See the standard
Comments on analysis
Students cannot excel in mathematics without skillful instruction in the earliest years of school. Teacher candidates generally require three semesters of coursework, complemented by adequate field practice, to progress from a procedural to a conceptual understanding of the essential mathematics topics taught in the elementary grades.
Courses reviewed: MATH 237, MATH 238, EDUC 323, and EDUC 370
Through a review of the coursework noted above, the program was found to provide teacher candidates with adequate coverage of numbers & operations, algebra, geometry, and data analysis & probability. The program was also found to require at least three SCHs of coursework focused on the methods of mathematics instruction.
|
Coming Fall 2020
|
Building Content Knowledge
See the standard
Comments on analysis
Because they teach all subjects, elementary teacher candidates need to have a solid grasp of literature and composition, American and world history, geography and science. Teacher candidates should also develop some expertise outside of their professional studies, not only to enrich their own academic experience, but also to serve as a fallback major in the event that the student teaching experience is unsuccessful.
Requirements established by the program and/or the institution in which it is located ensure that all elementary certification candidates must take relevant classes in the checked topics below.
Literature & Composition |
| ✗ World literature Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers, at a minimum but not exclusively, both the major literary genres and the significant works and movements of Western literature, beginning with ancient Greek and/or Roman sources.
|
| ✗ American literature Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers major authors and themes in American literature from roughly the colonial period to the modern era.
|
| ✔ Writing, grammar and composition |
| ✔ Children's literature |
History & Geography |
| ✗ Early American history Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that focuses on U.S. history from the age of discovery or colonial period or founding of the republic to the Civil War or Reconstruction.
|
| ✗ Modern American history or Government Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that focuses on US history from the Civil War or Reconstruction to the modern period (beginning anywhere from 1865 to 1900 and concluding near the present) or on the constitutional underpinnings, the specific branches, and state and national features of our democracy.
|
| ✗ World history—ancient |
| ✗ World history—modern Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that provides general narratives of all major civilizations in modern times.
|
| ✗ Geography Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that addresses both physical and cultural geography -- analyzing the world from a geographic perspective and emphasizing the unique qualities of world regions; the spatial interactions of people, elements, and regions; and, major regional and global problems and prospects.
|
Science |
| ✗ Biology Because of the range of course options permitted, all elementary teacher candidates are not required to take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers biology and matter related to biological processes, including topics such as cellular structures and dynamics, genetics, taxonomy, evolution, plant and animal physiology, developmental biology, and ecology. Cellular and molecular biology should be more prominently featured than ecology and/or evolution.
|
| ✗ Chemistry Consider requiring all elementary teacher candidates take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers topics such as measurement, matter and energy, atomic theory and structure, the periodic table, chemical reactions, stoichiometry, chemical bonding, states of matter, reaction rates and equilibria, acids and bases, nuclear chemistry, and biochemistry.
|
| ✔ Physics |
| ✗ Earth science Consider requiring all elementary teacher candidates take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers earth science, including topics such as geology, climatology, astronomy, and oceanography.
|
|
Coming Fall 2020
|