CU Denver teacher prep program wins state approval

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO

e University of Colorado Denver has won full state approval for three teacher preparation program tracks after addressing problems in how it trains aspiring educators to teach children to read.

e State Board of Education unanimously voted to reauthorize the elementary education, special education, and early childhood education programs nearly a year after granting only partial approval because of weaknesses in reading coursework.

State o cials praised the university for improvements that ensure aspiring teachers understand and can apply key components of science-based reading instruction and don’t receive con icting information about how to teach reading.

e decision, which came in June, is the latest step in an ongoing state e ort to hold Colorado’s teacher preparation programs accountable for properly training future educa- tors how to teach reading. e state began cracking down on teacher prep programs — speci cally their approach to reading instruction — in 2018 as part of a broader push by lawmakers, state education o cials, and parents of children with dyslexia to get more students reading at grade level. e state’s outgoing education commissioner Katy Anthes received praise for leading the push for more oversight of reading instruction in teacher prep programs.

“ ese educator preparation reauthorization items have you written all over them,” Colleen O’Neil, associate commissioner of educator talent at the Colorado Department of Education, said to Anthes during the meeting. “Because what you did was ensure every student knows how to read.” e University of Colorado Denver is one of several teacher prep programs that revamped reading coursework in recent years following poor state reviews. e state’s two largest prep programs, the University of Northern Colorado and Metropolitan State University of Denver, also made changes. e reading coursework overhauls seem to have paid o .

Also, the state board has granted full approval to all majors in the teacher prep program at Colorado Christian University and an alternative prep program o ered through East Central BOCES. Both programs were reauthorized on their rst try.

Earlier this week, a national organization gave Colorado major kudos for how its teacher prep programs cover reading instruction, ranking it No. 1 in the country. Just a few years ago, Colorado was in the middle of the pack.

In that report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, most of the state’s teacher prep programs earned an A or A+ for elementary education, including the University of Colorado Denver’s undergraduate program, Colorado Christian University’s undergraduate program, and the University of Northern Colorado’s undergraduate and graduate programs. e report didn’t analyze reading coursework in alternative teacher prep programs.

Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.