The Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University (MSU) has been ranked 16 years in a row as the top school for elementary teacher education by U.S. News & World Report, the leading college surveyor. MSU's elementary education degree includes specialized programs like the Urban Educators Cohort Program, as well as a one-year public school teaching internship. MSU students teach in the Lansing, Detroit metropolitan or Grand Rapids areas, or at schools with which MSU has developed strong relationships in Chicago, or internationally in Dubai and South Africa. Students must complete education studies courses as well as courses in one of the following four integrated teaching majors: language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. To graduate and qualify for the fifth-year internship, students must maintain an overall GPA of at least a 2.5. MSU believes that its elementary teacher education students should be both proficient and well-versed in both the subject matter they plan to teach, and the expected educational theory courses in the major. MSU undergraduates are eligible to apply to the Department of Teacher Education once they have reached sophomore status, have an overall GPA of at least a 2.75, and have passed all three sections of the MTTC Basic Skills Test. After the completion of the internship year, graduates must apply for teacher certification.
Michigan State University
Department of Teacher Education
313 Erickson Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-5091
educ.msu.edu/te
The Elementary Education program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UWM) offers two overlapping program options for students to specialize in Early Childhood/Middle Childhood, from birth to age 11; or Middle Childhood/Early Adolescence, from ages 6 to 13. UWM undergraduates interested in pursuing elementary education will declare themselves "pre-elementary education" majors as freshmen, and then apply for admission to the program as sophomores with 40 credits earned by the end of their fall sophomore semester, a 2.5 cumulative GPA, and a passing score on the Pre-Professional Skills Test. Once admitted, elementary education students at UWM study their craft through the five-semester Professional Education Sequence, which includes courses on classroom instruction theories and practicum experience, where students develop professional skills for three half-days a week for nine weeks one semester. The capstone of the professional experience is a semester-long teaching assignment during which students will attend a UWM seminar one day a week. Once all university requirements are completed, including 40 credits of liberal arts courses to give new students a diverse academic background, students apply for teacher certification.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Teacher Education Building
School of Education
225 N. Mills St.
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-4600
education.wisc.edu
The Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education at the University of Georgia (UGA) offers elementary education degree programs in the following areas: Early Childhood and Elementary Education, and Middle School Education, the latter of which was one of the first programs in the country to focus on the educational needs of teaching grades 4 through 8. UGA undergraduates must apply to the department to major in elementary education in their sophomore year. More students apply than there are slots in the program. To be considered, undergraduates must have a 2.75 cumulative GPA, three letters of recommendation, and at least 50 hours of documented pre-professional experience, depending upon which area the student wants to pursue. The department's curriculum focuses on issues of diversity in the classroom and offers two different cross-cultural study-abroad programs, including one in Italy and another in Mexico. Upon graduation, students can apply for teacher certification. In Georgia, applicants must have scored a verbal and math composite score on the SAT of at least 1000, an English and math composite score of 43 on the ACT, or a verbal and quantitative composite score of 1030 on the GRE.
University of Georgia
Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education
629 Aderhold Hall
Athens, GA 30602
706-542-4244
coe.uga.edu