and ranking of states, institutions, programs, or teacher candidates put pressure on educator preparation providers, but rarely give them the information or guidance they need to make meaningful and sustainable change at scale.

When college of education Deans take on change efforts, they often feel isolated, as if theirs is the only institution experiencing the challenge of change. This often results in taking fewer risks, as they worry about fallout from key stakeholders such as their boards, foundations, faculty, candidates, and central administration. What these teacher education programs and their Deans need are opportunities to learn with and from other teacher preparation programs. They also need opportunities to practice and collaborate with people who have proven, successful track records in overcoming the challenge of change. 

For the last four years, US PREP has been working with cohorts of university-based teacher preparation programs to redesign their preparation models. At the forefront of these redesigns are deeper partnerships with local K-12 districts, extensive clinical preparation alongside a highly-effective mentor teacher, practice-based coursework taught by trained teacher educators, and data use feedback loops that foster deep learning and improvements.

Through this work, US PREP has learned a great deal about what these institutions must have in place to get started and what support they need. Read the full publication to learn more about how we’re redefining an approach to improvement across our coalition of university teacher preparation programs.