The Hechinger Report recently reported on a new, masters-level course called ‘Compassion and Dignity for Educators’ being offered at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Excerpts from the piece appear below: The ability to understand a child’s struggles — and then do or say just the right thing to help them through — is arguably the Read more about Putting compassion on the teacher prep syllabus[…]
Tennessee is the first state to be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a permanent Grow Your Own model, with Clarksville-Montgomery County School System and Austin Peay State University’s Teacher Residency program becoming the first registered apprenticeship program for teaching in the country. Tennessee is the first state in the country to Read more about Teacher Occupation Apprenticeship Programs Provide Path to Become a Teacher for Free[…]
A new piece from the Brown Center Chalkboard reviews innovations in teacher preparation taking place at the University of Virginia that make the most of classroom simulators. Excerpts appear below: In teacher preparation, simulated practice is designed to complement—not to replace—student-placement experiences. However, it also has the potential to powerfully address “experience gaps” that we Read more about Using Classroom Simulators to Transform Teacher Preparation[…]
Education First recently organized a Residency Sustainability Webinar Series to spotlight successful approaches teacher preparation programs and districts have used to develop and implement high-quality, sustainable and affordable teacher residencies. They identified promising innovative staffing strategies from both the series and the broader field in their latest paper, Innovative Staffing Models to Sustain Teacher Residencies. Read more about Innovative Staffing Models to Sustain Teacher Residencies[…]
As educator preparation programs prepare teacher candidates to be successful in the classroom on day one, they recognize that they must anchor that preparation in teacher residencies – high-quality clinical experiences where candidates receive a full year of practice under an experienced, highly effective mentor teacher in a K-12 classroom. What’s more, these experiences optimally Read more about Scaling the Site Coordinator Role[…]
Are there widespread teacher shortages in U.S. public education? Recent headlines suggest there are. But a closer look at school staffing trends in recent years yields a different story, one with important consequences for education policymakers. In a new report from FutureEd and EducationCounsel, Principal Sandi Jacobs analyzes pre-pandemic teacher supply and demand trends, identifies Read more about In Demand: The Real Teacher Shortages and How to Solve Them[…]
With the release of data never before published, NCTQ focuses on a uniquely challenging point of teacher certification: licensure tests. Their report, Driven by Data: Using Licensure Tests to Build a Strong, Diverse Teacher Workforce, raises many important considerations around the use of licensure exams and their results. After a careful analysis of available data, Read more about Driven by Data: Using licensure tests to build a strong, diverse teacher workforce[…]
High-quality teacher preparation can play a critical role in dismantling inequities in education, such as disparities in student achievement and access to high-quality education, which often exist and persist along racial and ethnic lines. Black and Latinx students and students experiencing poverty – like Indigenous, Asian and other students of color – are more likely Read more about A DEI Guide to Teacher Preparation Outcomes and Indicators[…]
Closing the teacher diversity gap is one of the most important steps we can take to make public education more equitable. But as many school systems across the country have prioritized the issue, one institution has largely escaped scrutiny: teacher preparation programs. In a report from TNTP, researchers use data from the U.S. Department of Read more about Broken Pipeline: Teacher Preparation’s Diversity Problem[…]
Every year, local and state governments spend billions of dollars on economic development incentives, but even though corporations regularly say that a skilled or educated workforce is more important to them than almost any other factor — including tax incentives — few state legislatures focus on the training of those who develop that workforce: teachers. Read more about How Do Teacher Preparation Programs Affect a State’s Economy?[…]
Colleen Flaherty, writing for Inside Higher Ed, recently wrote an article about the problems facing teacher education programs within our nation’s universities. Excerpts from the piece appear below: The University of South Florida shocked faculty members with its recent decision to close its College of Education, which has a large undergraduate population, and retain only Read more about Death by a Thousand Cuts[…]
As U.S. schools closed their doors this past spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a little-considered effect was the impact of school closures on the preparation of the next generation of educators. Teacher and leader candidates all over the country had their field experiences abruptly cut short, and educator preparation programs (EPPs)-in partnership with Read more about Educator Preparation During COVID-19: Lessons Learned[…]
Improving diversity among educators is one way to alleviate some of the persistent and systemic racial disparities in academic achievement and student discipline. But about 80% of the educator workforce is white, while more than half of the nation’s K-12 population is racially and ethnically diverse. A new Education Commision of the States report shows Read more about Building a Diverse Teacher Workforce[…]
Writing for Inside Higher Ed, Doug Lederman reported on the best practices that were incorporated in virtual classes that students rated most highly. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Professors and students alike viewed their remote learning experience most favorably this spring when their courses incorporated more “best practices.” That’s the path to making the Read more about What Worked This Spring? Well-Designed and Delivered Courses[…]
Writing for The Hechinger Report, Jill Barshay explores a Virginia study that shows that prospective teachers improve their handling of student misbehavior when training simulations with avatars are combined with coaching. Excerpts of the piece appear below: University of Virginia researchers are rigorously testing computerized simulations of misbehaving students to see if they help student Read more about Learning to Teach Through Avatars[…]
Writing for the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Patricia Saenz-Armstrong explores how student teaching and initial licensure practices are shifting during this time of school closures. Excerpts from the piece appear below: School closures have obvious impacts on current students and teachers and are also creating challenges for teacher candidates hoping to graduate this Read more about Student Teaching and Initial Licensure in the Times of Coronavirus[…]