Iowa’s private colleges and universities may be helping ease Iowa’s teacher shortage. A survey shows the 30 schools showed education as the most popular choice of majors among incoming freshmen. Clarke College in Dubuque is a good example. Sister Margaret Feldner is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Clarke.She says the number of students taking education courses at the school have quadrupled in the last four years. Feldner says students are responding to a call for more teachers.Many new teachers drop out after their first year when they find out the job wasn’t exactly what they expected. Feldner says Clarke has worked to better prepare future teachers by letting the students spend more time in an actual elementary school classroom to gain experience before they graduate. She says students seem to like the new approach.The Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities says 70-percent of the graduates from its schools in 1999 stayed in Iowa.
