The University of Northern Iowa reported on Mar. 14 that nearly all of its recent teacher education graduates found employment or continued their studies in the fall following graduation. According to the university, 98% of students who completed the program between fall 2024 and summer 2025 were employed or pursuing further education by fall 2025.
This high placement rate is significant as one in four teachers in Iowa are UNI alumni, contributing to almost all full-time teaching positions in the state being filled for the 2025-26 school year. The university’s teacher education program continues to be recognized for preparing educators who serve classrooms across Iowa.
“UNI continues to be one of the best teacher education programs in the nation,” said Benjamin Forsyth, associate dean for educator preparation and associate professor. “It has had that reputation for a long time, and it lives up to that reputation.”
Elizabeth Forcht, a recent graduate with a history teaching degree, described her experience at UNI as instrumental in securing her first teaching position at Cedar Falls High School. “It’s a great feeling knowing when I tell people I graduated from UNI, their immediate reaction is going to be they know I’m prepared to be a teacher,” Forcht said. “They just set us up for success so well, and I’m proud to put that on my resume. I’m proud to say that in an interview, because I know it just helps me out, saying I came from such a prestigious education school.”
A key component of UNI’s program is early and frequent field experience in real classrooms. “When we talk to students about coming to UNI, we will often say we do field experiences early and often,” Forsyth said. He added that while this approach is common among strong programs nationally, it remains central at UNI.
Forcht credited these classroom experiences with making her coursework more relevant and helping her confirm her career choice. She also highlighted support from faculty like Chad Christopher, social science and history teaching coordinator: “He had great experience being a social studies teacher himself and helped me navigate the job finding process,” she said.
Forsyth noted that ongoing feedback from new teachers and administrators leads to continuous improvements within the program. Recent changes include doubling courses focused on teaching English language learners (ELL) after surveys indicated this was an area where additional guidance was needed. “That’s been a big focus for the last year and a half or so: how do we make sure the ELL instruction is the best it can be for our candidates?” Forsyth said.
The curriculum has also undergone transformation over the past two years with updates aimed at better integrating methods courses with clinical experiences and aligning coursework with professional standards. “We’re really proud of the changes that’s made: better interactions between methods and clinical experiences, much more timely core of coursework called Educator Essentials and aligning our work with professional standards and balancing the content with pedagogy,” Forsyth said.
Looking ahead, university officials say they will continue assessing course effectiveness as part of ongoing efforts to prepare future educators.
