The ULM School of Education earned an A+ rating from the National Council on Teacher Quality for its elementary math teacher preparation, one of only four Louisiana universities to achieve this distinction. School of Education Associate Director Dr. Shalanda Stanley says the NCTQ evaluated 17 programs, focusing on time dedicated to key math content and math pedagogy.
“Based on everything that we give them, they have their rubric and they give you a letter grade, anywhere from A+ to F-. ULM School of Education received an A+, so that was the highest that you can get, and we’re very proud of it,” Stanley said.
This follows ULM’s prior A+ rating in Reading Foundations. With 25%t of Louisiana’s 4th graders lacking basic math skills, per the National Assessment of Education Progress, ULM’s rigorous, CAEP-accredited programs, led by Stanley, prepare teachers to address critical educational needs.
“We are producing teachers who are ready to make a difference, and we can prove it through our accreditation. I mean, that’s one of the things we have to do. It’s proving that positive impact on student performance,” Stanley said.
Stanley says the difference is shortening the gap between learning how to do it and actually practicing implementation with students getting hundreds of hours of field experience prior to full-time teaching.
“This A+ is just another feather in our hat to say that we’re on the right track, that we’re doing what we know to do to best prepare teachers so that we can best prepare our most important stakeholders in Louisiana, which are the students,” Stanley said.
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