ASU's iTeachAZ program praised by US Department of Education

The iTeachAZ program at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College received accolades in a June 13 article by staff of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement.

The story states that the teacher preparation program, with $24.7 million in support from the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program, “creates a seamless transition from the student teaching experience to the K-8 classrooms where iTeachAZ candidates find themselves after graduation.”

Randall Watkins, principal of Michael Anderson School in Avondale, Arizona, is noted as saying he “aggressively recruits iTeachAZ graduates for classroom openings because he knows ‘they will be ready to come in and provide high-quality instruction.’”

Also quoted in the article is Avondale Elementary School District Superintendent Catherine Stafford. She commends graduates of the program as being highly prepared to lead a classroom, saying, “This is not a first-year teacher; this is an iTeach teacher.”

As a result of the competitive edge future teachers in the program receive, iTeachAZ was recently added to the Innovations Inventory of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.