Educator Pipeline at Risk

Lisette Partelow and Christina Baumgardner of the Center for American Progress have authored a new report, Educator Pipeline at Risk: Teacher Labor Markets after the Great Recession, that examines the supply and demand of the teacher workforce to paint a clear picture of regional shortages across the nation and potential causes of those shortages. In Read more about Educator Pipeline at Risk[…]

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National Coalition of Teacher Prep Programs Calls For Transparency of Outcomes

A coalition of nine teacher preparation programs released a letter to the Department of Education and Congress calling for clear guidance to states seeking to enhance the quality of teacher preparation programs under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Urban Teachers–along with Aspire Public Schools, Blue Engine, Boston Teacher Residency, Match Teacher Residency, National Center Read more about National Coalition of Teacher Prep Programs Calls For Transparency of Outcomes[…]

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What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning

The National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (NCTAF), the author of the seminal “What Matters Most” report of 1996, is calling for a new compact with teachers in order to capitalize on this moment in time when policy and practice are shifting toward more engaging and relevant teaching and learning for all students. “What Matters Read more about What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning[…]

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Practice Based Preparation in Teacher Education

Teacher candidates are more likely to be effective and to stay in the profession when their preparation experiences are connected to classroom practice (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2009; Ronfeldt, 2012). Therefore, there has been considerable pressure and effort to strengthen candidate clinical experiences so that they happen early and often within candidates’ preparation. A Read more about Practice Based Preparation in Teacher Education[…]

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Understanding Field Experiences in Traditional Teacher Prep

REL Central recently released a paper titled, “Understanding Field Experiences in Tradition Teacher Preparation in Missouri.” The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of field experiences in traditional teacher preparation programs completed by first-year teachers in Missouri and how experiences vary by teaching certificate type. This descriptive study is based on data Read more about Understanding Field Experiences in Traditional Teacher Prep[…]

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Elementary Teacher Preparation in Top-Performing Countries

Sarah Sparks, writing for Education Week, explores the differences in teacher preparation for American elementary school teachers compared with teachers in four high-performing countries. Excerpts from her article appear below: U.S. elementary-grade teachers get far less training than teachers in high-achieving countries for deep understanding of the foundational math, reading, and science content they teach. Read more about Elementary Teacher Preparation in Top-Performing Countries[…]

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The Condition of Future Educators

The Condition of Future Educators 2015 reveals that only 4% of the more than 1.9 million 2015 ACT-tested US high school graduates said they intended to pursue a career in education-as either a teacher, counselor, or administrator. This is down from 5% in 2014 and down from 7% in 2010. Among the findings: Lack of Read more about The Condition of Future Educators[…]

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Tying Teacher Certification Test Scores to Secondary STEM Achievement

A recent article by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) investigates whether STEM teacher candidates who score better on licensure tests are also more effective at improving student performance once they enter the teaching workforce. After replicating earlier findings that teacher basic-skills licensure test scores are a modest and Read more about Tying Teacher Certification Test Scores to Secondary STEM Achievement[…]

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edTPA Teaching Exam’s Ties to Effectiveness Mixed

A new study finds that teacher candidates who passed the edTPA teacher performance assessment for certification and licensure on their first try tended to boost their students’ reading test scores more in their first year of teaching than those who didn’t. While that finding is good news for supporters of the Teacher Performance Assessment, or Read more about edTPA Teaching Exam’s Ties to Effectiveness Mixed[…]

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New Research Tracks Retention Rates in Teaching Residency Programs

Beginning educators who participate in teaching residency programs (TRPs) are more likely to remain in the same school district than teachers trained through other programs, according to research from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). A new report from ED’s National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) examines the retention rates of new Read more about New Research Tracks Retention Rates in Teaching Residency Programs[…]

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Lessons on Teacher Preparation

A group of leading teacher preparation program providers – Deans for Impact – released a set of policy recommendations calling for outcomes-based accountability and data-informed improvement in teacher preparation. Their recommendations are consistent with the following findings: Teacher preparation programs are disconnected from local labor market needs. There is no incentive for teacher education programs to slow the Read more about Lessons on Teacher Preparation[…]

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How to Get a First-Rate Teacher in Front of Every Student

A recent Education Week blog by Marc Tucker examines what it truly takes to get a first-rate teacher in front of every student, and compares the United States systems to the rest of the world. Some experts estimate that half of those who start a career in teaching are gone in five years, and those whose Read more about How to Get a First-Rate Teacher in Front of Every Student[…]

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Improving Teacher Prep Data: Policy Statement from Deans for Impact

Deans for Impact recently looked at nearly two dozen educator preparation programs and found that only six have access to student achievement data connected to the teachers they prepared. Less than a third have access to other kinds of data about their graduates’ performance, like classroom observations. The organization, in a new policy agenda, says Read more about Improving Teacher Prep Data: Policy Statement from Deans for Impact[…]

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New Report by Education First: Ensuring High Quality Teacher Talent

As districts face the recurring problem of ensuring every student has access to a high-quality teacher, a growing number have begun to proactively form deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with teacher preparation programs to produce teacher candidates who match their specific needs. These partnerships, when done well, take significant time and resources on behalf of both Read more about New Report by Education First: Ensuring High Quality Teacher Talent[…]

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The Changing Landscape of the Teacher Workforce

Is there really a teacher shortage? This question is a complex one and it is not easily answered. A recent analysis of the data of the teaching landscape by the Education Policy Center at the American Institutes for Research, shows that the shortages may not be as large as previously thought and that the teaching Read more about The Changing Landscape of the Teacher Workforce[…]

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Deans for Impact Publish Science of Learning Report

What do we know about how students learn, and what does that knowledge mean for how we teach? That’s what The Science of Learning, a publication from Deans for Impact, seeks to answer. Deans for Impact is an organization of two dozen Deans of education schools who have committed themselves to a common set of Read more about Deans for Impact Publish Science of Learning Report[…]

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