Teaching is a complex task that requires an extensive body of knowledge and skills. For example, quality teachers must master not only their subject matter, but also how to organize and deliver lessons, how to assess students’ progress and refine instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners, and how to work well with parents and colleagues.

University-based teacher education programs or alternative certification programs are only the start of a teacher’s preparation. The process continues when a beginning teacher faces total immersion into the profession with full responsibility for his or her own classroom. Strong mentoring and induction programs are critical in these early years for continued preparation and success in teaching.

Eleven colleges and universities have received Teachers for a New Era (TNE) grants to transform their teacher education programs. These major grants, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as well the Annenberg Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation , are designed around three principles: (1) decisions about the teacher education program are driven by evidence; (2) arts and sciences faculty are engaged in the preparation of teachers; and (3) teacher education is an academically taught clinical practice that extends into an induction period as teachers begin their teaching career. CTQ has studied three of these university-based transformation efforts — at Bank Street College, the University of Virginia, and Stanford University.

The TNE initiative at Bank Street College was designed as a vehicle for institutional change — in particular to promote programmatic and institutional renewal by making the college’s implicit practices and beliefs explicit. Bank Street engaged teams of faculty in gathering data to better understand the character and impact of programs on their candidates and graduates, and to use those data to inform programmatic decisions. As a result, systematic data collection and analysis has become a routine practice. Indicators of strong interest among entering candidates for teaching in high-needs New York City schools also spurred a new emphasis on urban education at Bank Street. The Partnership for Quality Preparation, Placement and Professional Development program emerged as a collaboration with selected New York City high-needs schools to establish an alternative model of teacher education. The effort has increased teacher retention in the target schools, but NYC school district organizational constraints have limited the program’s impact. CTQ’s evaluation of this project offered insights into the challenges of providing induction support and promoting school reform in the ever-changing context of the NYC schools.

At the University of Virginia, the work of TNE was conducted in tandem with the local Charlottesville City and Albemarle County school systems. UVA invested sustantial funds to deliver on a promise that the institution would follow and assist its graduates and other novice teachers in these local districts. This work resulted in a new organization, the New Teacher Network (NTN), that has become the vehicle for collaboration to better support novice teachers with intensive mentoring and improved professional development and workshops. NTN leaders focus attention on systematic data collection and analysis to assess and guide their work. The work of the NTN committee has created a vision of induction that encompasses the full range of teacher development, including pre-service teacher education coursework and student teaching, support for novice teachers, and continued career and leadership growth.

At Stanford University, new teachers are prepared specifically for high-needs schools, with many of them clustered in public charter schools created by teachers, university faculty, and community leaders. Value-added studies show that Stanford graduates are far more effective than other new teachers hired in California schools. Key program components include: (1) powerful student teaching experiences that match candidates with expert teachers; (2) teacher education coursework that features close analysis of student learning; (3) opportunity for novices to develop curriculum that reflects the different ways students learn; and (4) performance assessments that guide the development of future teachers. Our Stanford University study makes the case that extensive pre-service preparation of talented recruits adds value to public education by preparing new teachers to help turn around high-needs schools.

CTQ continues to work on the cutting-edge of teacher education reform, studying IBM’s approach to transitioning its mid-career employees into math and science teaching careers -- and how urban teacher residencies can weld together the best of traditional and alternative approaches to teacher preparation.