Coming soon to a classroom near you: Taylor University students prepared to deliver the highest quality reading instruction. In a world saturated with information, literacy is more important than ever, and Taylor’s Elementary Education program is equipping young teachers to serve their students and ensure everyone walks out of the classroom a capable reader.
This spring, Taylor University’s undergraduate program in Elementary Education was honored with an A+ score in Reading Preparation by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). After evaluating syllabi, assignments, and more to see how Taylor is preparing teachers to meet literacy standards, NCTQ reported, “The program earns an A+ for exceeding NCTQ's threshold for adequate coverage across all five components.”
This rating is just one indicator of the Elementary Education program’s commitment to excellence. When asked how the NCTQ rating made her feel about her work in the department, Dr. Shelly Engle, director of teacher education and assistant professor of Education, spoke of encouragement: “It affirms the work that we’re doing and the caliber of graduates we’re putting forth.” Paired with glowing feedback from local school partners and students’ high passing rates on licensure exams, this NCTQ rating rounds out a chorus of validation for the program that the Education faculty are constantly improving.
Taylor’s Elementary Education program features a rigorous sequence of literacy courses, with five classes incorporating reading preparation, including the recently piloted course in corrective reading developed by Dr. Luke Oliver, director of science of reading initiative. However, the beating heart of the program is its in-class practice. Over 500 practicum hours give students ample opportunity to apply course content to real-world scenarios. In the Junior Methods Practicum (JuMP), Elementary Education students spend every Tuesday and Thursday in real-world classrooms. They might learn a technique on Monday, try it out in a classroom on Tuesday, and workshop it with their peers on Wednesday.
This rhythm of instruction and practice produces confident students, Dr. David McGinness, department chair and assistant professor of Education, said, “because they know the process. There are steps. There are systematic techniques they can use to get the students to read. Their confidence is built not just on knowing the process but implementing it and seeing success.”
More important even than confidence is the heart for service that these practicum hours foster in students. Dr. Benjamin Hotmire, dean of faculty development, education, and social & behavioral sciences, said, “We need well-prepared teachers who love Jesus to go serve, to be in spaces where they’re impacting children’s lives. To see that there are students at Taylor who want to do that, and they come in hungry and engaged. I don’t know how you can’t be excited about that.” Practicum hours are where passion becomes service. Student teachers have authentic opportunities to worship God through the lifelong impact they are making in children’s lives.
This service-minded approach is something students are carrying with them beyond Taylor. Of her experience in the Elementary Education program, Dominique Thiessen ’26 said, “The Elementary Education program shaped me into a more holistic person, teaching me that I can glorify God not only through my future career but in every part of my life. One of the biggest things I learned is that understanding why and how I learn something is just as important as learning the content itself. Teaching is a mission field where I have the privilege of pointing students to Christ through the way I love, serve, and care for them.”
At the end of the day, preparing teachers who are confident in reading instruction and committed to serving students wholeheartedly is important for Taylor because reading “is the key that opens the door,” Dr. McGinness said.
“It’s just that opportunity to do more and dream more, to think bigger thoughts, and to have adventures through reading that we’ve all had from books that we’ve read. It just makes life so much richer,” Dr. McGinness continued.
The Elementary Education program isn’t stopping at an A+. In their mission to “develop competent, caring, reflective teachers prepared for world service,” the Education Department continues to refine their program because, as Dr. Engle said, “Every student deserves to walk out of our classrooms as a reader. They deserve to have those skills, no matter what it takes.” Taylor is committed to serving God by opening the door for the next generation of readers.
