• The top teacher colleges lie in the eastern United States.teacher image by PD-Images.com from Fotolia.com
  
  Knowing how to educate the nation's youth is just one of the skills required of teachers in today's world. Often they need negotiation talents, a quick wit and a passion to push students beyond their limits. To achieve these abilities, many future teachers study in the top teaching programs offered in colleges across the country.
  
  

Dartmouth College

• U.S. News & World Report ranks Dartmouth College as offering the top undergraduate teaching program in the country. Students can chose certification in either elementary education or a secondary education area, including biology, Spanish, English, physics and mathematics. All students, however, are trained in four areas: numeracy, reading, language and science education. Each year over winter break, a select group of students travels to the Marshall Islands to teach. Each summer, students have a chance to work with at-risk high school students in the Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth program.
  
  Dartmouth College
  6016 McNutt Hall
  Hanover, NH 03755
  603-646-2875
  dartmouth.edu
  
  

Princeton University

• Princeton University's Program in Teacher Preparation ranks second in the country, according to U.S. News. The program involves both classroom work and observed student teaching at a middle or high school. To be certified in New Jersey, teaching candidates must take one course in each of seven areas: humanities, mathematics, technology, fine arts, social sciences, human and intercultural relations, and science. During their studies, teaching candidates maintain a portfolio tracking their progress through written reflections and evidence-based analysis. Students also receive training in psychology as it relates to a classroom setting.
  
  Princeton University
  Program in Teacher Preparation
  41 William St.
  Princeton, NJ 08540
  609-258-3336
  princeton.edu
  
  

Yale University

• Students studying in Yale University's Teacher Preparation Program need not be education majors, as many majors can be combined with the program. Students enter the program, which consists of seminars and student-teaching experience, following their sophomore year. Yale offers three certification program areas: early childhood education, elementary education and secondary education. Students also can take courses that provide training toward teacher certification in Connecticut or at private schools across the nation. Yale's teacher program ranks third the in the country, according to U.S. News.
  
  Yale University
  Teacher Preparation Program
  35 Broadway, Rm. 204
  New Haven, CT 00651
  203-432-4631
  yale.edu