School of Education

Indiana principals rank School of Education alums highly

Survey reveals opinions of IUB grads in the classroom

Friday, October 10, 2008

A new study commissioned by the Indiana University School of Education evaluating the perceptions of Indiana principals about graduates found that most principals think highly of the teachers they’ve hired from IU. The study of 112 principals covered opinions on 139 graduates from the Bloomington campus between 2003 and 2006.

The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP), Indiana's leading non-partisan education policy research center which is part of the IU School of Education, conducted the study as part of a continuing effort to contribute to the knowledge base that the school used to improve the quality of pre-service teacher education.  The study was designed to answer two questions:  In the opinion of the principals, how well prepared are teachers who are graduates of the IUB SOE? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the IUB Teacher Education Program?

Among the positive results the study found are:

• Principals think IUB graduates are stronger in selected teaching skills compared to graduates of other teacher preparation programs.

• Principals are more positive about IUB graduates’ performance compared to that of graduates of other teacher preparation programs.

• A majority of teachers were assigned to teach in the areas for which they were prepared at the IUB SOE.

The full report is available here. On the same page, you will also find a 2004 report which examined how well alumni view the IU School of Education at Bloomington.

Some of the other findings from principals about IUB graduates include:

• In the area of content knowledge, both elementary and secondary education teachers were found to be well prepared to teach content areas.

• In regard to knowledge using effective instructional strategies, teachers were found to be prepared strongly or excellently.

• Principals were pleased with IUB graduates’ performance in providing personalized learning for students compared to graduates of other teacher education programs.

• Principals were asked how satisfactorily IUB graduates provide meaningful experience by managing the classroom environment to maximize learning. When examined by school size, locale, and school level, graduates performed best in urban fringe areas at both elementary and secondary schools in controlling misbehavior and responding to students’ emotional and social problems.