A new report from a national education policy organization gave a handful of Montana colleges an “F” grade for how well they prepare future elementary school teachers in reading instruction. The University of Montana’s education program is pushing back against that assessment.
The National Council on Teacher Quality’s 2023 report gave Montana State University and Salish Kootenai College “A” grades for their reading instruction programs. Four other schools, including the University of Montana, were given a failing mark.
The study examines schools’ syllabi for how well they teach literacy instruction according to science-backed standards and doesn’t include faculty surveys or site visits.
Dan Lee is the dean of UM’s College of Education. He says he was surprised by the rating. UM received an “A” in the last report.
“We just think that this report simply missed the mark; that it didn’t see our syllabus,” Lee said. “And, if they had, they would’ve seen that it’s the same course as in 2020 when we got an “A,” the same learning activities — a nearly identical syllabus.”
Other education policy organizations and universities have criticized the National Council on Teacher Quality’s methodology.
Organization president Heather Peske defended the report. She said a syllabus doesn’t capture everything that occurs in a classroom, but it does indicate the topics covered.
“If we’re asking the question of, ‘Why can’t two-thirds of Montana’s fourth-grade students read proficiently,’ I submit to you that it’s because we’re not preparing teachers well enough,” Peske said.
Peske added the organization is open to communicating with schools about the reasoning behind their scores.
34% of Montana fourth graders read at or above proficiency last year, according to the Nation’s Report Card — slightly higher than the national average.