Transforming Teacher Preparation To Best Serve Students
Channel: New America
Date: 2021-07-28

Gone are the days when we could expect future teachers to enroll in a college of education directly after high school, earn their license, and teach for the rest of their professional lives. Now, many that go this route don’t stay in the profession, and countless others who didn’t initially consider teaching as a career later decide that it’s their calling. In response, new “fast track” routes into the profession have emerged that, given their lower costs and time investments, have been particularly appealing to non-traditional teaching candidates, including many people of color.

Greater racial and linguistic diversity among teachers has been found to benefit all students, especially students of color, but teachers entering through fast track routes often struggle to gain their footing in their first years on the job and quit teaching shortly after. While this combination of insufficiently-prepared teachers and constant turnover is a headache for school and district administrators, the repercussions for students are life long.

But what if there was a sustainable way to recruit and retain a more diverse set of teachers, especially ones from the local community, while simultaneously ensuring that their training adequately prepared them to be successful in leading student learning and led them to remain in the profession? We invite you to join us for an event where we examine why transforming teacher preparation must be a national priority now and explore how to make high-quality teacher preparation a sustainable reality through practices and policies at all levels.

Join the conversation online by using #TransformTeacherPrep and following @NewAmericaEd and @PreparedToTeach.

Agenda
Welcome
Elena Silva, Director, PreK-12, Education Policy Program, New America
Presentation of the Research Case for Transforming Teacher Preparation

Karen DeMoss, Executive Director, Bank Street College’s Prepared To Teach initiative

Panel 1: Insights from Innovative, Impactful Teacher Preparation Programs
Tania Hogan, Director of Undergraduate Student Success, School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver

Charelle James, Executive Director, Urban Teachers-Baltimore

Bernard Koontz, Executive Director of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, Highline Public Schools

Amber Thompson, Clinical Associate Professor & Associate Chair, Teacher Education Program, University of Houston

Amaya Garcia, Deputy Director, PreK-12, Education Policy Program, New America (moderator)

Panel 2: Policies To Support Scaling of Innovative, Impactful Teacher Preparation Approaches

Eric Duncan, P-12 Data and Policy Senior Analyst, Education Trust

Alexandra Manuel, Executive Director, Professional Educator Standards Board, Washington State

Ryan Saunders, Policy Advisor, Learning Policy Institute

Marla Ucelli Kashyap, Senior Director, Educational Issues, American Federation of Teachers

Melissa Tooley, Project Director, Educator Quality, Education Policy Program, New America (moderator)
Opportunities to Transform Teacher Preparation

Roberto J. Rodriguez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Teach Plus
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