US PREP & Louisiana Teacher Preparation Programs Work Together to Strengthen Programming

In January 2018, US PREP and nine Louisiana teacher preparation providers kicked off a nine-month collaboration. Each provider received a grant through the Louisiana Department of Education to receive technical assistance support from US PREP aligned to the LA State teacher preparation initiatives. Common goals established for the collaboration included: 

• Strengthening district partnerships through the development of MOUs and the establishment of quarterly shared governance meetings 
• Designing performance gates, aligned with the student teaching evaluation framework, to monitor teacher candidates’ progress throughout the program
• Systematizing and aligning performance intervention protocols to performance gates
• Training for student teaching supervisors in order to develop a common understanding of the student teaching evaluation rubric

Building capacity to formally and informally coach teacher candidates

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AT MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Wendy Kubasko, US PREP consultant, co-facilitating a co-scoring training with faculty and field supervisors at McNeese State University in July 2018.

The technical assistance provided by the US PREP team was delivered in a variety of ways; virtual meetings, electronic resources, face-to-face trainings, and access to the US PREP toolkit. This partnership between US PREP and the Louisiana teacher preparation programs provided a unique pathway for programs to receive support aligned to their specific needs and in impactful ways. According to Dr. Wendy Kubasko, US PREP consultant, “Student teaching assessments had the greatest impact. In more than one university, the discussions about the interpretations of the rubric were invaluable. The conversations led to the development of tools to clarify expectations for student teachers and mentors.”

When asked about the technical assistance they found most valuable, here’s what providers had to say:

• “The most valuable types of technical assistance we received were the new resources that would improve observation techniques and student teaching data collection. Also, the development of partnership agreements and how to conduct governance meetings was extremely helpful.” ~ Southern University at New Orleans
• “The professional development focused on co-scoring was extremely beneficial.” ~ Nicholls State University
• “Everything!!! Training materials, sample tools to improve our data collection, ability to ask and receive great suggestions/ideas to our questions just to name a few!!” ~ Louisiana College

Dr. Cherissa Vitter, US PREP consultant, co-facilitating a training at Nicholls State University in July 2018.