DECATUR, Ill. – Millikin University’s Elementary Education (ELED) program recently received an “Exemplary” rating from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) in their annual evaluations of Illinois teacher preparation programs.
This is the program’s fourth consecutive year receiving the “Exemplary” rating, the highest rating the ISBE gives out in their rankings.
“Not only have we retained our "Exemplary" Elementary Education program rating for a fourth consecutive year, but we've managed to maintain our stellar level of exemplariness for a second consecutive year,” Director of the School of Education Dr. Chris Cunnings said. “Since 2020 -- which was the inception year of the state's forward-facing and publicly published teacher preparation program grades -- our ELED program ratings have gone as follows (from 2020 to 2024): 76%, 82%, 84%, 92%, 92%.”
In 2020, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) implemented a tool for evaluating all college and university teacher preparation programs throughout the state of Illinois. The evaluations aimed to ensure all new Illinois teachers are learner-ready on day one in the classroom and provide data to teacher preparation programs to support a continuous improvement process and strengthen teacher preparation statewide.
The ISBE ranks programs on several factors, including the quality of the teaching candidates, knowledge and skills for teaching, performance as classroom teachers, and contributions to state needs. Schools are designated "Exemplary" (earning 75% or more of the possible points), "Commendable" (50-74.9%), "Developing" (25-49.9%), and "Needs Improvement" (fewer than 25%).
Through Performance Learning opportunities in the classroom and events like the Interview Bootcamp and the Tomorrow’s Teachers Conference, Millikin School of Education students can build a strong network of connections that will assist them well beyond graduation.
“This publicly accessible program rating is a huge testament to the quality of Millikin’s ELED program, the outstanding efforts and talents of our School of Education faculty, and to our collective commitment to serving as excellent advisors/mentors for our ELED teacher candidates,” Cunnings said. "Not only did our Elementary Education program see another strong annual review from ISBE, but we also organized and implemented our best-attended Tomorrow's Teachers Conference on record this year. This shows that we are committed to designing and delivering outstanding education programs, but we're also committed to growing the teaching profession and making good on Millikin University's commitment to performance learning.
"I'm proud of the collective work we've done during my nine years here at Millikin University, and I'm especially proud of the work that our tremendous SOE faculty members have done to help us continually improve our courses, education programs, and academic advising."
