

“These educator preparation reauthorization items have you written all over them,” Colleen O’Neil, associate commissioner of educator talent at the Colorado Department of Education, said to Anthes during the meeting. Colorado teacher prep programs ranked first in nation for reading instruction, report says.The state began cracking down on teacher prep programs - specifically their approach to reading instruction - in 2018 as part of a broader push by lawmakers, state education officials, and parents of children with dyslexia to get more students reading at grade level. Thursday’s decision is the latest step in an ongoing state effort to hold Colorado’s teacher preparation programs accountable for properly training future educators how to teach reading. State officials praised the university for improvements that ensure aspiring teachers understand and can apply key components of science-based reading instruction and don’t receive conflicting information about how to teach reading. The State Board of Education unanimously voted to reauthorize the elementary education, special education, and early childhood education programs nearly a year after granting only partial approval because of weaknesses in reading coursework.

The University of Colorado Denver won full state approval Thursday for three teacher preparation program tracks after addressing problems in how it trains aspiring educators to teach children to read.
