Search nctq.org

Castleton, Vermont

Castleton University

Undergraduate Elementary, Traditional

Suggested citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2020). Castleton University Undergraduate Elementary. Teacher Prep Review. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://teacherquality.nctq.org/review/view/Castleton-University-VT-1

National Percentile

Coming Fall 2020
Click arrow to view comments
Enrollment
Admissions
 Coming Fall 2020
Program Diversity
 Coming Fall 2020
Knowledge
Reading Foundations
See the standard
Comments on analysis

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 does not meet the standard. Looking at a full range of course materials, there is little or no evidence of adequate instruction on the components of effective reading instruction.

 F
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: MAT 3020, and MAT 4210

Through a review of the coursework noted above, the program was not found to provide teacher candidates with adequate coverage of numbers & operations, algebra, geometry, and data analysis & probability.

Next Steps
To improve under this standard, additional attention should be paid to the coverage of content and selection of textbooks used to support 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
 ✗ American literature
Consider revising required coursework in American literature so that it covers major authors and themes in American literature from roughly the colonial period to the modern era.
 ✔ Writing, grammar and composition
 ✗ Children's 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 course that provides an introduction to major authors, works and forms of children's literature and includes some examination of children's literature as an historical phenomenon.
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
 ✔ World history—ancient
 ✗ World history—modern
 ✔ 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
 ✗ Earth science
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 earth science fragment

Coming Fall 2020
Practice
Clinical Practice
Coming Fall 2020
Classroom Management
Coming Fall 2020

See all Undergraduate Elementary Programs

Other Ranked Programs at Castleton University
Undergraduate Secondary