Muhlenberg College

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Comments on analysis

Courses reviewed: EDU 211/212, EDU 326, and EDU 327/328

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:

• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension Strategies

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

• Phonemic Awareness

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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: MTH 114, and EDU 334

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.

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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 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 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
	✗ 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 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 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 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 earth science, including topics such as geology, climatology, astronomy, and oceanography.