Greensboro College’s Teacher Education Program Gets Top Grade in Preparing Elementary-School Teachers to Teach Reading
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Greensboro College’s teacher-education program has received a grade of “A” from the National Council on Teacher Quality for its preparation of elementary teacher candidates to teach children to read.
“We are happy to recognize the strong preparation in reading instruction that your graduate program provides to your elementary teacher candidates,” council President Kate Walsh said. “This program was part of a small group — only about a quarter of programs nationwide — to qualify for an ‘A’ by providing a combination of the following:
- Explicit instruction on each of the five components of reading instruction;
- Support for instruction with high-quality textbooks that accurately detail established principles of scientifically-based reading practices; and,
- Evidence that teacher candidates must demonstrate mastery through in-class assignments, tests, and fieldwork.”
Scores of teaching programs nationwide are being published in the council’s 2020 Teacher Prep Review. The council has reviewed teacher-ed programs annually since 2013.
Early reading, the council says, is the most important of seven standards it applies to teacher-ed programs. Program scores for the others — elementary math, building knowledge, selection criteria, diverse recruitment, classroom management, and clinical practice – will be released later this spring.
The director of Greensboro College’s Teacher Education Program is Rebecca F. Blomgren, dean of the School of Social Sciences and Education and Jefferson Pilot Professor of Education, and the assistant director is Pamela J. Bennett.
Blomgren holds A.B. and M.Ed. degrees from Indiana University and an Ed.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She joined the faculty in 1988.
Bennett holds an A.S. from Southern West Virginia Community College and a B.S. from Greensboro College. She joined the faculty in 1991.
Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.
Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and six master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features a 17-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.greensboro.edu.
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