What Matters Most in Distinguished Literacy Teacher Education Programs?

Abstract

This study is a research collaborative conducted with multiple sites to examine the programmatic features within six literacy teacher education programs that have received the Certificate of Distinction of the International Reading Association (IRA). The objectives were to identify the features that were most highly ranked by internal and external experts and to delineate specific examples of how the features were actualized. A classical Delphi method was applied, and participants included leading literacy faculty members at each of the six institutions, the internal experts ( n = 18), and members of program review teams identified by IRA, the external experts ( n = 3). Analyses of results revealed that 14 programmatic features ranked higher in value than others at a statistically significant level. The study found that the internal and external literacy teacher education experts agreed on the most highly valued programmatic factors. These include the importance of relevant field experiences, the development of teacher candidates’ abilities to teach and assess children through a wide variety of instructional strategies and assessment instruments, and ways to integrate literacy and language strategies throughout the curriculum.