Berry College

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Comments on analysis

Courses reviewed: EDU 204, EDU 320, EDU 321, and EDU 429

The research-based content proven to be necessary for teaching all children to read should be clearly evident in materials such as lecture topics and assignments from at least one course and textbooks from all coursework.

While the program earns a passing score on this standard, its coursework covers only four of the five components of effective reading instruction:

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension Strategies

Coursework does not address the following component of effective reading instruction:

• Fluency

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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: MAT 220, and MAT 321

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.

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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 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 ancient times.
	✗ 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
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 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 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 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 falls into one of these broad categories. Physics: an introductory course covering motion, energy, conservation laws, gravity, phase changes, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, sound, light, and wave dynamics. Physical Science: an introduction to physical science which features physics prominently. Earth Science: an introductory course that covers one or more of geology, climatology, astronomy, and oceanography.
	✗ Earth science