Southeastern's secondary education program ranked among best in nation by national group

Wednesday, June 18, 2014
by: Rene Abadie

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University's program in secondary education was ranked among the best in the nation in a report issued Tuesday (June 17) by the National Council on Teacher Education.

Southeastern's program was ranked 28th in the nation among secondary education programs, the best ranking in the state in that category with the next highest Louisiana institution at 127. The university was among the few institutions the report recommends to aspiring teachers as top-rated schools with low tuition.

The report, "2014 Teacher Prep Review," is an annual assessment of the nation's teacher preparation programs. In the report, NCTQ conferred Top Ranked status to 26 elementary and 81 secondary programs, accounting for only seven percent of all programs.

This is the second year Southeastern has been recognized for its secondary education program by NCTQ. Last year, in a different ranking system, Southeastern earned 3.5 stars on a 4.0 scale, placing the university on the NCTQ national honor roll.

"It is encouraging to be recognized by a national body for our efforts in recent years in redesigning our teacher preparation program," said Southeastern President John L. Crain. "Southeastern has always been recognized as one of the largest preparation centers for teachers in the state, but the quality of our graduates has always been first and foremost in our priorities."

Shirley Jacob, interim dean of the College of Education, said the NCTQ report gave Southeastern especially high marks in the areas of middle and high school content, student teaching, and outcomes. Southeastern was also recognized for its teaching of classroom management skills.

"We have to share credit with other academic programs at Southeastern, which teach the content the teachers need to grasp and which is essential in the ability to provide students with a high level of instruction. We also recognize the important roles that our affiliated middle and high schools play in providing excellent teacher supervisors who mentor and oversee the work of our teacher candidates in their schools in the various districts in the region. Much of a new teacher's success depends upon the support they receive during their student teaching experience."

Southeastern is a member of the University of Louisiana System, along with eight other regional institutions.

"The UL System generates 74 percent of Louisiana's graduates in education at its nine universities, and this report reinforces the quality work taking place in those programs," said System President Sandra Woodley. "Special acknowledgement should be given to Dr. Jeanne Burns, associate commissioner for Teacher Leadership and Initiatives, and our deans of education for their efforts to put Louisiana on the cutting edge and also for working with NCTQ to ensure they had access to the information and data necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of our programs. While there will always be room for improvement, it is certainly nice to be recognized for what is working."

 


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