The National Council on Teacher Quality released a report on the best and worst of teacher training programs this week. Five Florida colleges were singled out for offering “substandard” teacher prep. But one of those colleges says it was incorrectly ranked based on a program it doesn’t offer.
The study ranked 1,100 teacher training programs on how they handled subjects like reading, math, special needs and classroom management. The weakest programs on that list came with yellow caution signs that meant quote “prospective teacher candidates are unlikely to gain much, if any, teacher training”So when Dr. Tiffany Hunter saw the consumer alert symbol next to Florida State College at Jacksonville, she couldn’t believe it. Hunter is dean of education for the college--which got the yellow flag for its elementary education program. And that is a problem, says Hunter:
"We don’t even offer an elementary education program", said Hunter. "All we have is a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education"
Graduates of the program are not eligible for a certificate in elementary education. A spokesperson from NCTQ wrote in a statement that the group intentionally included Early Childhood certifications in the review of elementary programs.
Hunter says that while she’s not happy with the ranking, she’s not as worried as she was when she first saw it.
"If anybody contacts our institution to find out about our elementary ed program, they’ll find that we don’t have one", Hunter said.
Hunter has filed a rebuttal to the rankings and says she was told it could be a month or two before the list is updated.