Copy
What's Going On At NCTR?

NCTR was at California State University, Dominguez Hills, last week for the first of two New Generation of Educators Initiative mini-convenings. Program Director Kathlene Holmes led six campuses through a process of identifying and refining prioritized skills that teacher candidates should possess to be classroom ready. NCTR also shared a tool to assist campuses in aligning skills and identifying and filling gaps in their coursework and clinical experiences.

NCTR’s newest blog post builds on our November 15, 2017 E-Blast overview of the New Teacher Center’s latest report “School Leadership Counts”, which identified a link between instructional and teacher leadership and improved student performance. The new post looks at the alignment between the report’s findings and the teacher residency model. 
Partner Updates

Western New York Teacher Residency was spotlighted on All Things Considered on WFBO, Buffalo’s NPR News Station, and in the Clarence Bee in November. When asked how the new residency program will help schools address teacher shortages, Jeff Lindauer, Dean of Canisius College’s School of Education and Human Services, told WBFO that the residency program is, “a direct result of just listening to partner schools about their needs...”
Events and Resources
 
Webinar
Supporting Students Through Effective Educators: Evidence-based Strategies to Increase Student Learning
December 11, 2017, 2:00-3:00 P.M. EST

“In this webinar, NTC and district partners will outline:
  • The challenges districts face sifting through what works and investing in programs that increase student learning and achievement
  • The evidence-based programs and research that have proven to increase student learning
  • How such programs have been successfully implemented in districts and schools across the country."
Featured News

Colorado's Education Departments Propose Teacher Residencies

Establishing teacher residency programs was included as one recommendation for addressing teacher shortages in Colorado in a recent strategic plan issued by the state’s Departments of Education and Higher Education (the Departments). The plan and supplemental report, which analyzed Colorado’s teacher shortages, were assembled for the state’s legislature, and are the product of information gathered through 13 meetings held across the state. Researchers found that Colorado has about 5,000 vacant teaching posts each year and enrollment in teacher preparation programs has declined by 24 percent since 2010. Only 17 percent of those enrolled in preparation programs complete the program. Chalkbeat Colorado also noted that enrollment in alternative programs, including teacher residencies, has increased by 40%, but that those programs produce a small percentage of the candidates needed statewide. 

The Departments laid out recommendations for four strategic goals to address teacher shortages, including:
  1. Increasing teacher retention;
  2. Increasing teacher compensation and benefits;
  3. Developing targeted programs in areas of need, focused on content shortage areas, and;
  4. Creating programs to increase enrollment and completion of educator preparation programs. 
The strategic plan’s recommendations also include “a marketing campaign and scholarship to attract teachers to rural areas where there are severe shortages of instructors in science and special education,” according to The Denver Post. Read more about the plan and the findings of the report in the Denver Business Journal.


Student Growth and Educational Opportunity
 
School districts can move the needle on students’ academic achievement when the right educational opportunities are in place, regardless of the district’s income status, concludes a New York Times (NYT) article on new research from Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis. 
 
In the study, “Education Opportunity in Early and Middle Childhood: Variation by Place and Age”, researcher Sean Reardon reviewed standardized test scores from about 45 million students in 11,000 school districts across the country, studying 1) the average test scores of third graders, and 2) the growth in test scores from third through eighth grade. According to NYT, the research shows “that it’s possible to separate some of the advantages of socioeconomics from what’s actually happening in schools.” The research also details that “children in prosperous districts tend to test well, while children in poorer districts on average score lower,” but the comparison signals that third grade test scores are independent from the growth possible between third and eighth grade. 
 
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) provided a standout example of this performance gap closing over time. “In Chicago, third graders collectively test below the second-grade level on reading and math. But this data shows that over the next five years, they receive the equivalent of six years of education. By the eighth grade, their scores have nearly caught up to the national average,” reports NYT.
 
In the study, Reardon notes that educational opportunities “may need to target different age groups in different places,” to impact student achievement.  The CPS spotlight suggests that the district has created opportunities for such improvement, after showing the highest growth rate with students .
 
Find tools for tracking students’ progress by district, city and growth rate on NYT’s site.
In The News
Higher Ed. Overhaul Would Change FAFSA, Along With Teacher-Prep Oversight
Education Week
House Republicans introduced a new bill, the PROSPER Act, which would end Title II and sever the accountability requirement that ensures states share teacher preparation data with the U.S. Department of Education.
How Much Planning and Collaboration Time Are Teachers Getting?
Education Week
The National Council on Teacher Quality found that teachers receive about 45 minutes to an hour of planning time per day, and that 17 percent of districts require time for teacher collaboration.
Why It’s a Big Problem That So Many Teachers Quit — and What To Do About It
Washington Post (Blog)
Three staff members from the Learning Policy Institute discuss teacher attrition, why it matters and how new policy solutions could result in improved teacher retention.
DeVos Praises ‘Laudable’ Variety in ESSA Plans, Says She’s ‘Just Getting Started’ at Ed Dept.
The 74
During a recent panel discussion, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the flexibility states receive under ESSA has rendered “a wide variety in approaches to how individual states are proposing to look at things and meet students needs.”
            
Please note that the articles and events in the NCTR E-Blast do not reflect the opinions of our organization, but rather represent information that we believe will be relevant to you and your programs.

Click here to Subscribe   Forward to a Friend    Click here to Unsubscribe   
1332 North Halsted Street  |  Suite 304  |  Chicago, IL 60642 
Phone: 312-397-8878  |  Fax: 312-397-1418 
www.nctresidencies.org






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
National Center for Teacher Residencies · 1332 N. Halsted Street · Suite 304 · Chicago, IL 60642 · USA