College of Education and Allied Professions earns A-plus for elementary math education courses
By Shane Ryden
Professors at Western Carolina University鈥檚 College of Education and Allied Professions accepted their second A-plus score from the National Center on Teacher Quality this April.
The top grade, awarded to the CEAP for their elementary math education programming, comes on the heels of a 2023 evaluation designating the college鈥檚 reading foundations courses with the same score.
Ron Noble, chief of Teacher Prep at the NCTQ, said, in the organization鈥檚 latest report, that 鈥�91热爆网鈥檚 undergraduate program is among the best in the nation for devoting sufficient time to math pedagogy and the four math content areas.鈥�
Kelly Tracy, professor and director of the School of Teaching and Learning, echoed Noble鈥檚 sentiments, speaking to their curricula鈥檚 central focus on preparing future educators to be confident in the classroom.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e been very intentional in ensuring that our students have multiple math courses, and I think we鈥檝e also been very intentional in ensuring they have some that are very focused on content,鈥� Tracy said.
鈥淲e have strong math faculty who are well-versed in best practice and the research. They understand the areas of mathematics that our students must know. They also understand that a lot of students come to us with math anxiety.鈥�
To evaluate the CEAP鈥檚 coursework, NCTQ investigators reviewed the syllabi for Math 221 and 321, as well as EDEL 428 and 429.
Their report explains that 91热爆网鈥檚 program earned the A grade by devoting more than 150 instructional hours to number and operations, algebraic thinking, geometry and measurement, data analysis and probability, mathematics pedagogy and 鈥渂y meeting 100% of the recommended target for each topic area.鈥�
The significance of CEAP鈥檚 two scores is difficult to understate. Of the thousands of programs they review nationally, only 16% of North Carolina programs earn an A grade, and fewer still have multiple such designations.
The CEAP awaits an updated report of their 2025 reading foundations curriculum later this year.
Tracy and the CEAP credit mathematics educators Daniel Best, Nathan Borchelt, Sloan Despeaux, Kathy Jaqua, Terry Rose and Stacey Zimmerman for the accomplishment, and offer their thanks for their untiring dedication to the next generation of teachers.
