Raising the Bar on Teacher Prep
Our nation's schools employ 3 million teachers and rely on 27,000 programs in 2,000 separate institutions for training those teachers. Since 2006, NCTQ has reviewed programs, made recommendations, and highlighted the best we've seen of key elements for undergraduate and graduate programs for elementary, secondary and special education.
Scope
The NCTQ Teacher Prep Review evaluates the quality of programs that provide preservice preparation of teachers. The Review database includes both traditional and non-traditional programs.
Traditional Programs
The Teacher Prep Review evaluates a total of 2,506 undergraduate and graduate elementary, secondary, and special education programs offered by education schools in 1,120 public and private institutions of higher education.
Alternative Route and Residency Programs
The Teacher Prep Review also examines 129 alternate route programs and 18 residencies leading to elementary and secondary certification.
The Reach of the Review
The university- and college-based preparation programs evaluated by Teacher Prep Review are responsible for producing 99 percent of traditionally prepared teachers. The approximately 240 institutions that produce fewer than 20 teachers annually (and together produce less than 1 percent of the nation's public school teacher candidates) are not included in the sample. The number of alternative route and residency programs included in the Review has almost doubled since non-traditional programs were first included in 2014. We continue to expanding our reach to include even more traditional and alternative certification programs.
Who is in the Review
| Programs | Public (502)1,233 Programs | Private (600)1,273 Programs |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate Elementary | 395 | 477 |
| Graduate Elementary | 122 | 144 |
| Undergraduate Secondary | 369 | 452 |
| Graduate Secondary | 175 | 161 |
| Undergraduate Special Education | 94 | 20 |
| Graduate Special Education | 78 | 19 |
Top Programs
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Updated 2016
Undergraduate Elementary Prep
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Updated 2017
Undergraduate Secondary Prep
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Updated 2014
Undergraduate Special Ed Prep
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Updated 2018
Grad and Alt Elementary Prep
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Updated 2018
Grad and Alt Secondary Prep
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Updated 2014
Graduate Special Ed Prep
Top Ranked Programs
Showing top 10% of 2,506 ranked programs. Click the items below to show or hide a program.
Search Teacher Prep Review
A comprehensive review of 2,600 teacher programs in the U.S. rated on 12 standards. Search by institution, state, or program. To see the top programs in the country, click the button below.
Top Programs
2018 Teacher Prep Review
Check out the analysis of the latest review of teacher prep programs that includes ratings for 567 traditional graduate programs, 129 alternative route programs, and 18 residencies preparing both elementary and secondary teachers.
Spoiler alert: besides one notable improvement, the ratings highlight the disconnect between the preparation teachers receive and the real demands of teaching.
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