Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award

Named in honor of Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire and a crew member of the Space Shuttle Challenger, this award honors exemplary teacher education program at AASCU institutions. Specifically, it recognizes programs that have done an exemplary job of using evidence of their graduates’ impact on P-12 learning outcomes to inform improvements to their pre-service preparation and professional development programs. To win this award, teacher education and professional development programs must not only demonstrate effectiveness in producing P-12 learning outcomes, but also explain how they have redesigned their programs as a result of these P-12 learning outcomes.

Review and Selection Process

Each year, a first screening of all applications is conducted by the Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities (TECSCU). A committee of AASCU presidents and chancellors subsequently reviews all applications and selects winners.

Image Credit: "Christa McAuliffe" by NASA Johnson, CC BY-NC 2.0, cropped