The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) is collaborating with the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) to examine and improve the teacher/administrator preparation programs in the state.
Utah is joining the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP), which consists of over two dozen states committed to using policy levers such as licensure, program approval, data collection, analysis and reporting, and communication and stakeholder engagement to reinvent educator preparation.
These states work with educators, preparation programs within institutions of higher education, the state office of education, and districts and schools to make substantive and state-specific changes in the policy and practice of educator workforce preparation. The Network for Transforming Educator Preparation is an initiative of the Council of Chief State School Officers.
USHE and USOE are partnering in this initiative with the goal of ensuring learner-ready teachers and school-ready principals are emerging from Utah’s higher education preparation programs. The Council of Chief State School Officers’ report Our Responsibility, Our Promise: Transforming Educator Preparation and Entry into the Profession outlines these characteristics of successful K-12 school personnel:
Learner-ready teachers:
- Deep knowledge of their content and how they teach it
- Understand the differing needs of students
- Hold students to high expectations
- Personalize learning to ensure each learner is challenged
- Care about, motivate, and actively engage students in learning
- Collect, interpret, and use student assessment data to monitor progress and adjust instruction
- Systematically reflect, continuously improve and collaboratively problem solve
- Demonstrate leadership and shared responsibility for the learning of all students
School-ready principals:
- Collaborate and motivate others to transform school learning environments in ways that ensure all students will graduate college and career ready
- With other stakeholders, craft the school’s vision, mission, and strategic goals
- Lead others in using performance outcomes and other data to strategically align people, time, funding, and school processes to continually improve student achievement and growth
- Nurture and sustain a positive climate and safe school environment for all stakeholders
- Work with others to develop, implement, and refine processes to select, induct, support, evaluate, and retain quality personnel
- Nurture and support professional growth in others and appropriately share leadership responsibilities
- Lead and support outreach to students’ families and the wider community to respond to community needs
By joining the Network for the Transformation of Educator Preparation, Utah has the opportunity to learn from other states about best practices for teacher/administrator prep programs. A Utah team made up of top K-12 and higher ed professionals will meet with other states in the network in November 2015, and work to build a draft plan.
Background
In 2012, the Council of Chief State School Officers convened a task force on educator preparation. The results of that task force were released in a report that year, Our Responsibility, Our Promise: Transforming Educator Preparation and Entry into the Profession. This report resulted in the creation of the Network for the Transformation of Educator Preparation.
