Overview
- On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a review of roughly 700 university-based programs showing the share earning an A rose from 26% in 2023 to 53%.
- About one in five programs still teach discredited approaches such as three-cueing and some programs continue to receive failing grades for relying on outdated methods.
- Many programs give too little practical training in key skills: 65% met NCTQ’s standard for phonemic awareness, 7% ignored it, 60% spent less than two hours on instruction for English learners, and only 16% offered practice teaching English learners to read.
- States that tied accountability, audits or funding to reform have seen large gains in program ratings, with Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and Mississippi cited as examples of policy-driven change.
- The review relied on course documents and textbooks and a large number of programs declined to participate, which critics say limits how fully the results represent national practice and leaves questions about whether changes will reach classrooms and students.