The teacher-education program at Hope College has continued its history of ranking as one of the state’s best, placing second in the 2018 Educator Preparation Institution Performance Score report of Michigan’s Department of Education.
“We’ve always done really well,” said John Yelding, who is the Susan M. and Glenn G. Cherup Associate Professor of Education as well as department chair. “We’ve always been right near the top, never below third.”
The college’s program prepares students to teach in elementary and secondary schools, with content emphases in a wide range of departments in the arts, humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences, in addition to providing training in special education and early childhood education. Criteria in the state scoring include teacher candidates’ three-year cumulative pass rate on the Michigan Test of Teacher Competency, surveys of teacher candidates and college supervisors and educator effectiveness evaluations. Of the 32 programs in the state’s report, the only institution ranked higher than Hope is a small program that focuses on exclusively on art education in the visual arts — and gained its authorization to certify teachers while working under the tutelage of the Hope College Department of Education.
The teacher-education program at Hope provides prospective teachers with a blend of classroom instruction and clinical experience. Students participate in clinical placements beginning with their first course in the program, Educational Psychology. That model of carefully matched classroom instruction and clinical experiences continues throughout their program, culminating in a full semester of student teaching. Student teaching and field placements are available not only locally but also through off-campus programs including Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota; and Liverpool in the United Kingdom. An on-going relationship with Interaction International has also provided student-teaching opportunities in nations including India, Kenya and Thailand.
Hope’s chapter of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development was the first student-run chapter to be recognized by the ASCD. The chapter provides professional development and service opportunities for teacher-education students, as does the college’s student-run chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children.
The college’s teacher-education program is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. The National Council on Teacher Quality ranks Hope’s secondary-education program as the best in Michigan and one of the top 16 in the nation.