By Steven Krolak
(NEW ALBANY, Ind.)–The undergraduate elementary education program at IU Southeast has been recognized as among the best in the nation in a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) that examined the performance of more than 1,100 teacher preparation programs across the country in preparing future teachers to teach elementary mathematics.
The IU Southeast program is one of only 79 nationwide to receive an “A+” for meeting 100 percent of recommended instructional hours across all mathematics content topics and pedagogy in the NCTQ report.
“We are proud to receive this recognition for our program, our faculty and our students,” said Dr. Faye Camalahan, dean of the School of Education.
The 2022 NCTQ Teacher Prep Review examined how much time programs dedicate to mathematics, as well as how that time is spent, evaluating programs for their coverage of both the key mathematics content that elementary teachers need as well as how to teach those concepts.
The NCTQ elementary mathematics standard recommends that elementary teacher preparation programs require a minimum of 105 instructional hours in elementary math content, including numbers and operations, algebraic thinking, geometry and measurement, and data analysis and probability, as well as a minimum of 45 instructional hours in math pedagogy.
The report was developed with the help of mathematicians and math educators, as well as representatives from teacher preparation programs. It includes recommendations for how program leaders and the state agencies responsible for their regulation can accelerate progress in preparing elementary teachers to teach math.
“Our curriculum is aligned to the accreditation standards and assessments for teacher preparation,” Camahalan said. “Our faculty and staff continuously engage in various professional development experiences, and our teacher-candidates learn hands-on, from theory to practice, with the help of our K-12 school partners.”