The teacher education programs at Virginia Tech are based on INTASC standards and standards set forth by national professional organizations and/or Virginia guidelines. They are accredited by those same organizations. The education unit is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. There are 26 teacher education programs; 14 of them have both undergraduate and graduate options and 12 are graduate only. In the five-year elementary program, students are accepted into teacher education in their freshman year. In the undergraduate programs, students are accepted into professional education as juniors. Student in the graduate programs apply from Virginia Tech as well as from other universities. In the 2000-2001 academic year, 143 students completed licensure programs; 609 students were enrolled in licensure programs.

All programs have field experiences prior to student teaching in varying configurations, from school placements each year of the five-year elementary program to all-day experiences similar to student teaching in the graduate programs. All programs have a minimum of 150 hours of supervised student teaching as a requirement although most students exceed the minimum. Nineteen full-time faculty, two part-time faculty, and 19 graduate assistants supervise field experiences for a supervision ration of 3.6. All field experiences are supervised by both faculty and doctoral students who are content specialists in the area being supervised.