penny1121

Does anyone know about the reputations of the education departments for the following schools or know anyone who was/is an education major at any of these?
Albright
Muhlenberg
Susquehanna
Loyola (Maryland)
Scranton
TCNJ
Ramapo
University of Mary Washington

Thanks in advance!

collegehelp

Penny, I think TCNJ and Scranton and Susquehanna and Loyola Maryland would all be fine. TCNJ and Scranton have the biggest elementary ed programs.

Here is the number of elementary ed graduates last year, the SAT 25th percentile, and the SAT 75th percentile. I hope this helps you find the right school for you.

The College of New Jersey 118 1140 1330
University of Scranton 70 1030 1220
Susquehanna University 34 1050 1220
Loyola College in Maryland 27 1120 1310
Albright College 10 900 1125
Muhlenberg College 0 1110 1310
Ramapo College of New Jersey 0 1060 1250
University of Mary Washington 0 1090 1290

mikemac

One word of caution if you have an idea of what state you'd like to live in after college -- if you go out of that state for your degree check that they have reciprocity agreements in place so that a teaching credential earned out-of-state is honored without requiring you to take additional classes, serve a new probationary period, etc. This used to be an issue with teachers coming to CA. Many states have set up regional alliances so hopefully this isn't an issue for you, just wanted to point it out since its a non-obvious problem that not many people know about at 17 or 18.

penny1121

Ramapo, Muhlenberg, and Mary Wash do not have elementary ed majors. You need to major in psychology or any other field, in addition to the education courses. The graduates will have a subject matter or psych major as well as teacher certification in el ed.

I'd love to hear from anyone who knows students who participated in any of these programs.

beanieboo

one of my best friends goes to TCNJ for elementary ed. i would say the best school for teaching in the state. 3 teachers at my highly ranked public HS are recent grads of TCNJ. id be happy to answer any other questions about it

happymomof1

penny1121 -

One of the very best sources for information about Elementary Ed. programs is the person who does the most hiring at your local school district. The teachers and principals at the elementary schools can give you the scoop on all of the colleges/universities that they and their colleagues have attended. Ask the most recent graduates about their student teaching placements and advisors. Teacher hiring can be very, very local. Colleges that neither of us have ever heard of often are the primary source for elementary school teachers in a particular geographic area.

As mikemac wrote above, you need to know where you want to work after you finish college so that you can be sure that your coursework and preliminary teaching certificate are recognized without too much of a fuss. You can start by doing a little research on what is required for teacher certification by reading the various states' departments of education websites.

Another factor that you need to consider is the cost of your education vs. the starting salary. Try not to come out of school so burdened down with debt that you aren't able to pay off those loans in a reasonable amount of time!

Wishing you all the best!

penny1121

Thanks for your help ... and thank you Collegehelp for the statistics. I assume they came from the common data set for the colleges ?

collegehelp

penny,
my data came from the US Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics, IPEDS website.