10/20/15 rr
HAYS, Kan. -- The Fort Hays State University College of Education was graded against schools of all sizes and locations and was ranked No. 6 in the nation by the National Council on Teacher Quality, making it the second year in a row it has ranked on the NCTQ assessment.

Of the colleges listed on the NCTQ's 2015 Top 25 "Best Value" U.S. Colleges of Education, FHSU was the only university in the 12-state Midwest Region that stretches from Kansas to North Dakota and east to Ohio and Michigan.

Dr. Paul Adams, College of Education dean, congratulated the all former and current faculty members of the college.

"Great work by the College of Education and especially to the efforts of Tiffany Hester and Adam Holden for laying down the foundation over the last couple of years for this recognition," he said.

Last year, FHSU's history and government was the third-highest ranked secondary education program, and the secondary education program was the 12th-highest ranked elementary education program in the NCTQ "Teacher Prep Review 2014" list.

The NCTQ is a non-profit whose mission is to ensure "that every child has an effective teacher," and provides consumer reports about the quality of teacher education programs. In the past the NCTQ has released its "Teacher Prep Reviews," but this year they also did their Top 25 "Best Value" list.

"While there are an unlimited number of guides to help people buy products, from the right car to the right refrigerator, when it comes to picking the best college of education, one of the most important decisions one can make, people are left to fend for themselves," said Kate Walsh, president of NCTQ.

The council has an extensive examination process that gathers curriculum information from colleges by using materials submitted by universities, homework assignments and by contacting individuals on-campus. It then assigns programs grades ranging from A-F. Of more than 2,300 elementary and secondary programs graded from more than 1,100 colleges and universities, 416 programs across 35 states received a grade of A or B, and FHSU was the only university in Kansas to receive As.

FHSU received an A-minus in elementary and an A in secondary, both of which were further broken down into categories.

Elementary education was judged on admission selectivity, content knowledge, teaching reading, student teaching, classroom management, assessing classroom learning and rigor. The program ranked particularly high on admission selectivity, social studies content knowledge, teaching reading, classroom management and assessing classroom learning.

Secondary education was judged on admission selectivity, content knowledge, student teaching, classroom management, assessing classroom learning and rigor -- scoring A's in all but two categories.

For more information on the NCTQ, visit www.nctq.org.

For more information about the college, visit www.fhsu.edu/te/.