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St. Peter, Minnesota

Gustavus Adolphus College

Undergraduate Elementary, Traditional

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

National Percentile

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Enrollment
Admissions
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Program Diversity
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Knowledge
Reading Foundations
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Comments on analysis

Courses reviewed: EDU 320, and EDU 375

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.

The program earns a passing score on this standard because its coursework covers all five of the components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies.

 B
Elementary Mathematics
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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: MCS 140, and EDU 373

Through a review of the coursework noted above, the program was found to require too few SCHs of content-focused coursework for teacher candidates to develop a comprehensive understanding of elementary mathematics.

Next Steps
To improve under this standard, require teacher candidates to complete at least four SCH of coursework focused on developing their conceptual understanding of numbers & operations, algebra, geometry, and data analysis & probability.

 Coming Fall 2020
Building Content Knowledge
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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
 ✗ American literature
 ✗ Writing, grammar and composition
Consider revising required coursework in Writing, grammar and composition so that it addresses composition, in particular the writing of expository, argumentative, descriptive, and narrative essays.
 ✔ Children's literature
History & Geography
 ✔ Early American history
 ✗ 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
 ✗ 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
 ✗ Chemistry
 ✗ Physics
Consider requiring all elementary teacher candidates take the equivalent of a three semester credit hour general education course that covers physics or physical science, including topics such as motion, energy, conservation laws, gravity, phase changes, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, sound, light, and wave dynamics.
 ✗ Earth science

 Coming Fall 2020
Practice
Clinical Practice
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Classroom Management
Coming Fall 2020

See all Undergraduate Elementary Programs

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