Each year the School of Education distributes a graduate survey to BSED alumni two years after graduation. For the 2020-21 Post-Graduate Survey:
- 95% of survey respondents from the last five years said they would recommend the IU School of Education’s Teacher Education Program to others.
- 84% (149 of 177 graduates) were employed as teachers.
| Employment Status | 2018-19 | % | 2019-20 | % | 2020-21 | % |
| Employed as P-12 Teacher | 178 | 87.3% | 160 | 85.6% | 149 | 84.2% |
| Employed elsewhere within Education | 8 | 3.9% | 10 | 5.4% | 10 | 5.7% |
| Employed outside Education | 13 | 6.4% | 12 | 6.4% | 15 | 8.5% |
| Attending Graduate School | 4 | 2.0% | 4 | 2.1% | 1 | 0.6% |
| Seeking Employment | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Not Seeking Employment | 1 | 0.5% | 1 | 0.5% | 2 | 1.1% |
| Total # with Known Status | 204 | 100% | 187 | 100% | 177 | 100% |
| No Information Available | 29 | 25 | 33 | |||
| Total # of Graduates | 233 | 212 | 210 |
Respondents’ individual quotes:
Elementary
"I loved the variety of classes that were offered in the clusters. The teachers were very knowledgeable, passionate and helpful. My one suggestion would be to have the cluster teacher be the field supervisor."
"I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the IU Teacher Education Program. The professors were extremely caring and willing to help in any way possible. The field experiences allowed for real, meaningful classroom exposure, allowing for IU students to get a taste of what having their own classroom would be like."
"I was very pleased with the class sizes at IU. I never felt too overwhelmed because the teachers were able to give time to each student if needed. I also was very pleased with the extra opportunities we were given to get involved in the community. I was able to volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club, which I continued to do even after the class if was required for. I also was given the opportunity to volunteer for a Science Outreach program in which I taught science to students once a week. Lastly, I enjoyed the clusters. I was able to make lasting friendships and truly feel comfortable sharing and working with my peers."
"Most professors were amazing! They were very insightful and taught meaningful info during class."
"Really enjoyed the cohorts and going through the same classes with the same group. After teaching two full years, I would suggest even more field experiences."
"Strengths of IU ED program are their ways of teaching reading. They have adopted the most current ideals on how reading instruction should be."
"The amount of classroom experiences provided is a major strength."
"The program is very hands-on, which allows for a seamless transition into the classroom."
"The various opportunities to actually be in a classroom with students were incredibly beneficial. Working with many different teachers was also very helpful in building one's own teaching beliefs and style."
English/Language Arts
"Field Experiences and Student Teaching Placements were extremely beneficial. From my own experience and from accounts of my colleagues', the cooperating schools and teachers were supportive. However, some of the teacher education program classes were taught poorly. Often, instructors could not connect course material to practical and philosophical applications in the classroom. One such class I was enrolled the students expressed their dissatisfaction with the course with administration and the instructor left the course, only to have a second instructor try to pick up where she left off."
"Strengths: availability of resources, connection to good local school districts, good content courses (English department)."
Science
"It has great classes and opportunities to improve your practices as a teacher!"
"The program did a great job creating a community of future teachers."
Special Ed TAL
"I feel like the TAL program prepared me very well for what I would experience in my career in education."
"I felt that the majority of the courses within the program were very beneficial and purposeful."
"I had an amazing experience at IU in the TAL program and it prepared me well for the real world!"
"I loved being able to take part in many different classrooms throughout my practicum."
"I really enjoyed having different teaching assistants and small class sizes. The TEP was full of support throughout the experience."
"I was in the TAL program, so most of my feedback will be geared specifically toward my experience in that program, however some could certainly be generalized to the IU TEP experience as a whole. One strength of the program was the amount of field placements that we had. I think being in the classroom from the first year was invaluable experience. We were allowed to see such a variety of classrooms, it really helped to figure out who you wanted to be as a teacher."
"The professors and teachers are incredible and will help you in any way possible. They prepared me for my job as a teacher."
World Languages
"The amount of field experience we receive is wonderful, especially compared to other programs!"
"While there is nothing that can replace real teaching experience in terms of preparation (and learning as you go), the amount of classroom experience that I received at IU prior to graduation was excellent."