Are Utahs Education School Graduates Ready to Teach Reading and Mathematics in Elementary Classrooms?
As a follow up to the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) national studies of how well elementary teachers are prepared to teach reading and mathematics, NCTQ looked at preparation in both subjects in all undergraduate teacher preparation programs in Utah. This study evaluated Utah’s nine undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs across four critical areas: admission standards; teacher preparation in reading; teacher preparation in elementary mathematics; and exit standards. The study found that: (1) Utah’s teacher preparation programs benefit from a more selective pool of applicants due to the selectivity of some of its colleges and universities; (2) Although most preparation programs in Utah provide some exposure to effective reading instruction, few fully prepare candidates to teach the science of reading; (3) Programs use a wide variety of reading textbooks, many of which do not address the science of reading; (4) Only two Utah preparation programs satisfactorily
