Southeastern named as one of nation's top teacher prep programs for classroom management, clinical practice
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s undergraduate and graduate elementary
teacher preparation programs have been named among the top in the country by the National
Council on Teacher Quality, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research and policy organization,
for strong training in classroom management strategies and high-quality clinical practice
experiences.
This month, NCTQ released its 2020 Teacher Prep Review: Clinical Practice and
Classroom Management, which finds encouraging progress in teacher preparation programs’
adoption of evidence-based classroom management strategies that are universally effective,
regardless of student age or the subject being taught. For the first time since NCTQ
began publishing ratings in the 2013 Teacher Prep Review, half of the nearly 1,000
traditional elementary teacher preparation programs evaluated earn an A or B grade,
up nearly 30 percent from seven years ago.
Southeastern’s programs stand out as among only 17 elementary programs in the
country that earn an A in both clinical practice and classroom management and serve
as a model of excellence for others.
“We’re delighted the National Council for Teacher Quality recognizes the hard
work College of Education faculty and school partners have devoted to making sure
our teacher candidates are prepared for the classroom,” said College of Education
Dean Paula Summers Calderon. “We take pride in ensuring our teacher candidates have
the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions to deliver quality instruction
in any school district in the country.”
According to NCTQ, fewer advancements have been made nationally in the adoption
of quality control metrics of clinical experiences, including student teaching and
residencies, particularly in the process for selecting mentor teachers, which is managed
not only by teacher prep programs, but also by their partner school.
Southeastern’s program was recognized for its strong clinical experience requirements,
including the following: calling for candidates to spend 10 or more weeks in an experienced
teacher’s classroom with at least four days per week or the equivalent in the classroom
each week; screening mentor teachers for mentorship skill and/or instructional effectiveness
as measured by student learning, among other skills; and requiring program supervisors
to give student teachers written feedback based on observations at least four times
during the clinical practice experience.
The evidence for the importance of high-quality clinical experience is undeniable.
A National Research Council report said that clinical practice experience is one of
three “aspects of preparation that have the highest potential for effects on outcomes
for students,” and recent research has found that having a high-quality clinical practice
experience can mean a first-year teacher starts out as effective as a typical teacher
in their third year.
Now in its fourth edition, the Teacher Prep Review assigns a team of experts
to evaluate teacher preparation programs on their adherence to evidence-based classroom
management strategies and their requirements that support quality clinical practice
experiences.
