The Latest at NCTR
This week, NCTR is hosting its New Site Development Program (NSDP) Learning Institutes in Chicago, for programs supported through our U.S. Department of Education Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant. Yesterday, the NSDP team worked with the 2017 cohort of SEED programs to identify key objectives and research-based processes for designing a residency year curriculum. Ami Hanaoka, the Regional Director in the Bay Area for NCTR partner Aspire Teacher Residency, was also on site to take the cohort through a case study about Aspire and its approach to program design, goals for residents and teacher educators, and resident assessment strategies. Cohort 2016 programs joined the session today to share lessons learned during their first year of participation in NSDP, and spoke to their 2017 counterparts about how to develop effective teacher educators. When asked about her Institute experience, Shannon Black, Director of Talent Management at Metro Nashville Urban Teacher Residency, said, "The Institute has been very collaborative, practical, and tangible. For everything we've learned, we can go back to our programs, reflect on the content and apply it to our planning."
NCTR is featuring a four-part interview series on our blog, profiling each member of SEED Cohort 2017. Read interviews with Justin Testerman, Co-CEO of Project Renaissance, a founding partner of the Nashville Teacher Residency, and Maggie Runyan-Shefa, CEO of New Schools for New Orleans, founding partner of the Norman C. Francis Teacher Residency. Profiles of Don Doggett of the McCormick County Teacher Residency and Alan Coverstone of Belmont University's Metro Urban Nashville Teacher Residency are forthcoming.
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Department of Education News
In a 12-11 vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee confirmed Betsy DeVos' nomination for Secretary of Education yesterday. The nomination will now proceed to the Senate floor; however, the date of the final vote remains unscheduled, according to USA Today. The Washington Post reported that DeVos' written questionnaire, which responded to specific inquiries from HELP Committee members as to her qualifications, contained unattributed language, including some from top Obama civil rights officials. Though the confirmation was divided along party lines, The Hill notes that two Republican Senators have since announced their opposition to the DeVos nomination and expressed concerns over her ability to lead the Department of Education.
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Updates From Our Partners
Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR) was lauded for being the highest-rated teacher preparation program in the city in Teach901's recently released "2016 Priority School Teacher Survey". According to Memphis Daily News, MTR and other local teacher preparation programs "continue to be a significant factor in Memphis's teacher talent strategy." Read more in Chalkbeat.
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Featured News
A Clinically Focused Path To Teaching
Last week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released its latest report on the residency model, " Starting Strong", which uses high-level research to support the argument that clinical preparation and induction support are key to preparing effective teachers. Beginning with an introduction of the early roots of clinically oriented educator preparation and its ties to the medical model, "Starting Strong" introduces and explains elements of the residency model, emphasizing the importance of the application of learning through regular, deliberate practice. The report notes, "In the context of teaching, mastering and practicing basic skills such as responding to a minor disruption, planning a standard format lesson, and developing and integrating checks for understanding helps teachers make these practices habitual."
"Starting Strong" proposes that the support of teachers must begin early in the course of a residency year, starting with strong mentorship, and continue long after a residency graduate enters the classroom as a teacher of record, with continuous induction programs. "Quality residencies offer new teachers coaching, mentoring, and ongoing feedback at least through their first year as a lead teacher...Elements of all three of these existing types of programs—high-quality extended clinical preparation, induction, and residencies—can be mixed, matched, and combined to transform entry into the teaching profession."
NCTR's " Building Effective Teacher Residencies", " Clinically Oriented Teacher Preparation" and " 2015 Network Impact Overview" are specifically cited by CAP in "Starting Strong", as is Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR). According to CAP, MTR "provides free tuition, free housing, and a stipend during its residency year in exchange for a three-year commitment to teach in a local low-income school, and has some of the strongest student achievement data of any residency program or teacher preparation program in the state." |
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