The undergraduate elementary teacher preparation program at Fayetteville State University has earned an A+ from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) for how well it prepares future teachers to teach reading to elementary students.
The report, Teacher Prep Review: Decoding Progress in Reading Preparation, published on June 9, spotlights Fayetteville State University for meeting the standards set by literacy experts for coverage of the most effective methods of reading instruction. Specifically, the program prepares aspiring teachers in all five components of scientifically based reading instruction, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary, and avoids many instructional practices that research has shown to be ineffective or counterproductive for teaching children to read.
A child’s ability to read proficiently in the early grades shapes everything that comes next in school and in life, yet, according to NAEP data, four in 10 fourth graders in North Carolina cannot read at a basic level. Teacher preparation is one of the most direct levers available to change that, but only if it aligns with research-based instructional methods proven to help most students become successful readers…