Woodrow Wilson

Who Are We To Argue with #TeacherEd Magic Eight Ball?

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Is the future of teacher education a competency-based model focused on ensuring prospective teachers are able to do and apply everything they have learned? Over at Inside Philanthropy, Tracey DeFrancesco looks at that question, highlighting some of the work currently being done by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and its Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning.

As DeFrancesco writes about the WW Academy:

So can this dual academy/lab track break new ground in training methods to have a lasting impact on American education? Considering the backing from funders, a partnership with MIT, and buy-in from school districts, a shake of the Magic Eightball says, “Signs point to yes.” The main premise, here, is to prepare the STEM teachers that our schools so desperately need by reimagining training models that were developed in a different paradigm. Times have changed, and we’re hoping a fresh take will get results.

The full article, including an interview with yours truly, is worth the read. The future of teacher education may very well be now.

 

 

“A New Compact for Teaching and Learning”

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

There is little question that the edu-world is experiencing a time of transition. Whether one is talking about testing and assessment, socio-economic issues, instructional expectations, teacher preparation, design of the school or the school day, or virtually any other issue that touches today’s students, one thing is clear. The schools, teaching, and learning of the future will likely bear little resemblance to those we experienced when we were young learners.

Earlier this week, NCTAF released What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning. In its call to action, NCTAF issued a call to action focused on six key reccs designed to help shift the field toward “more engaging and relevant teaching and learning for all.” These recommendations include:

  1. Policymakers should establish and broadly communicate a new compact with teachers
  2. Every state should establish a Commission on teaching, learning, and the State’s Future
  3. States and districts should codify and track whether all schools are “organized for success”
  4. Teacher preparation should be more relevant and clinically-based
  5. States should support all new teachers with multi-year induction and high-quality mentoring
  6. Education leaders should evaluate all professional learning for responsiveness and effectiveness

The full report is well worth the read. In a era of relative doom and gloom, NCTAF provides a positive view of both what is possible and what is necessary. All of the areas provided above are of importance to the future of both teaching and learning. But dear ol’ Eduflack wants to throw a spotlight on NCTAF’s specific thinking with regard to buckets four and five — teacher and ed and teacher mentoring.

Specifically, when it comes to teacher prep, the report offers :

To stem chronic shortages and turnover and to improve teachers’ experience and efficacy, it is particularly important that pre-service teachers gain significant experience with real classrooms. Therefore,

  • Teacher preparation should include a year of clinical experience
  • Coursework should include social-emotional as well as academic learning, and experience in culturally knowledgeable and responsive practices
  • Performance assessments, proven to be a reliable way to ensure that beginning teachers are competent to lead a classroom, should be used as a strong indicator of teacher readiness
  • Teacher preparation programs and school districts need to invest in and strengthen their partnerships to improve teacher candidates’ effectiveness and retention

And when it comes to supporting those new to the teaching profession, NCTAF provides the following ideas:

New teacher induction and mentoring leads to improved teacher retention, satisfaction, and efficacy. Yet currently only a few states provide this critical foundation for their teachers. States should:

  • • Require a multi-year induction program as a licensure requirement
    • Provide sustained program funding
    • Require multi-year mentoring, with carefully selected and trained mentors
    • Consider additional release time for new teachers as is done in other countries
    • Consider pilot programs that provide differentiated induction for teachers from different pathways

From a strong clinical experience to multi-year mentoring, these are important pieces that must be factored into the future of teacher preparation and educator development. They are items that many of the organizations I work with, from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation to TeachStrong, are focusing on. And they are issues we need to spend more time not only talking about, but actually doing.

(Full disclosure, Eduflack previously worked for NCTAF, but it was many, many ages ago.)

Vote Now: Teaching CAN Be a Game!

Eduflack higher ed, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

It’s that time of year again, when the good folks at SXSWedu open up the online polling places and let all of us cast our ballots for those sessions we think would make for an interesting, compelling, and valuable SXSWedu.

Yes, the #SXSW2017 Panel Picker is now open. And dear ol’ Eduflack respectfully requests that you cast your ballot (and you can vote for as many sessions as you want, so no need to make choice while denying another) for: Think Preparing Teachers Is a Game? It Can Be.

In this session, my friends from MIT, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the WW Academy of Teaching and Learning will discuss how gaming — including role plays, virtual reality, and other scenarios — can be used to better engage prospective teachers and improve teacher education programs. You’ll even hear how 21st century gaming doesn’t just mean online and digital. Old school gaming with cards and boards and dice can be just as effective.

And if one wants to play edubuzzword bingo, they will also explore how gaming can create a next generation of career teachers prepared to lead classrooms focused on personalized learning and cognitive science.

You have the Eduflack guarantee it will be a worthwhile session. And it should also prove the perfect venue to see, first hand, some of the teacher-focused games MIT and the WW Academy are currently developing.

Vote early, vote often. And please vote for this session. All you need to do is click here and then click on the thumbs up. Easy, peasy.

 

 

The Values of #TeachStrong, Seen in Places Like Indiana

Eduflack Achievement gap, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Improvement, however, must not breed complacency. How do we ensure that all of Indiana’s schools — particularly those in high-need communities — have the teacher pipeline to meet the needs of the 21st century? How do we make sure that every child in the Hoosier state has strong teachers leading their classrooms, from the earliest learning days up through high school graduation.

– Eduflack writing on TeachStrong and the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship, in the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune

 

Transforming Teacher Ed in Michigan

Eduflack Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

If Eduflack had a nickel for every time I heard that it is just too difficult and too time-consuming to transform and improve teacher education, I’d have … sacks and sacks full of those Thomas Jefferson-portraited coins.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Late last week, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation (an organization near and dear to Eduflack’s time and focus) hosted a national convening of its Teaching Fellows in Detroit. The convening provided prime examples of how teacher ed can and has been addressed to meet the demands of the 21st century classroom. Educators from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, and Georgia gathered to talk about the value of their preparation at 28 universities through the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship and how that preparation has translated into success in their classrooms.

In delivering remarks to the gathering, Stephanie Hull, EVP and COO of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, spotlighted the specific efforts in Michigan, the host state for this year’s event. In her speech, Hull noted:

Here’s a snapshot of the work that took place through the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship in Michigan:

  • Every one of WW’s partner institutions transformed its teacher preparation curriculum to focus on a yearlong clinical experience and rigorous coursework tailored to that experience.
  • Every one of these partner universities established school-centered clinical placements and helped place Fellows in positions in high-need schools.
  • Every one of them created a double mentoring system, working through both the university and the school to support Fellows throughout their three-year teaching commitment.
  • Every one of them developed new partnerships between the education school, the arts and sciences, and in some cases the school of engineering to make all of this work.
  • Four of the six collaborated with the Detroit Public Schools to create a shared approach to mentoring, including the preparation of mentors and the kinds of support that mentors would receive in working with Fellows.
  • Of all the Fellows enrolled in the Michigan program, 80 percent were certified;
  • By the time Michigan’s last cohort of Fellows was admitted in 2014 — that’s the group of Fellows who are finishing their second year of teaching this year — we were seeing 100 percent placement rates; and
  • Retention of WW Teaching Fellows in the program has consistently been in the 90 percent range.
  • Among the schools where these WW Teaching Fellows teach, 95 to 98 percent of these schools are high-need schools, with about two-thirds of the students in these schools on free and reduced lunch, and 60 to 70 percent are students of color — so the Michigan Fellows have absolutely found their places in the schools where great STEM teachers are most needed and can make the most difference.
  • Finally, all six of the partner institutions reported to us that they had diffused the WW Teaching Fellowship model into their other graduate-level teacher preparation programs, and three had also extended it to their undergraduate STEM teaching programs as well.

These are impressive results, particularly when all we seem to hear about Michigan is the problems and struggles its educational institutions face. It shows anything is possible. And it demonstrates that tomorrow’s exemplary teachers are already being prepared today.

 

The Possibilities of TeachNY

Eduflack Achievement gap, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Earlier this month, the TeachNY Advisory Council issued an important report on how New York State can transform teacher education, ensuring a pipeline of strong, dedicated teachers for generations to come.

Over at the Albany Times-Union, Arthur Levine — a member of the advisory council former president of Teachers College Columbia University, and current president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation — offers some inspiration for how the Empire State can more this report from recommendation to action.

As Levine writes:

There is compelling evidence that the recommendations will work. States like Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey have already adopted some of the key recommendations from the TeachNY report. They have created the strong statewide partnerships necessary to transform teacher education. They have established bipartisan coalitions, led by governors and consisting of legislators, state higher education and K-12 system heads, universities, school districts, unions and other stakeholders to drive change, provide mutual support, assure accountability and enable third party-evidence based assessment.

These states have created a number of model teacher education programs of the type called for by the TeachNY report. They are characterized by four common features: high admissions standards, rigorous academic curricula, intense clinical experiences in the schools and three years of mentoring for beginning teachers.

In each case, the result has been a strong pipeline for recruiting, preparing and supporting excellent beginning teachers for hard-to-staff subjects in high-need schools. Be these urban or rural classrooms, these schools are now getting the effective science and math teachers they now need.

Give it a read!

 

Making a Difference as a #STEM Teacher

Eduflack STEM, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

“I always felt that STEM is a field that we really need more African-Americans working in and I felt that I could make a difference in that aspect.”

Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellow Darryl Baines, at a State Capitol announcement where Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Woodrow Wilson Foundation President Arthur Levine announced the 2016 Georgia Teaching Fellows. The program is designed to help Georgia recruit, prepare, and support exemplary STEM teachers for the state’s high-need schools.

The full story, written by Janel Davis, is in the June 2 Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Finding Value in VAM 2.0

Eduflack accountability, assessment, Teacher Education, teachers, Woodrow Wilson

Sure, we’ve all heard about the shortcomings in teacher evaluation systems, particularly when it comes to using value-added measures in the mix. Some states have pulled back fro using VAM for the time being, while others are exploring excluding the process for the long term.

But there is real value in factoring in VAM scores … if we improve the methods by which we collect and apply those VAM numbers, writes Woodrow Wilson Foundation President Arthur Levine in a new commentary for Education Post. As Levine, the president emeritus of Teachers College Columbia University, notes:

In order to determine teacher effectiveness in the years ahead, we need to supplement VAM scores with other measures of student growth, further develop state data systems on student achievement, and create more advanced and sensitive 2.0 versions of VAM assessment.

We need to apply what has been learned and develop a next-generation VAM that will help strengthen teaching and learning for the nation’s children.

In pointing out some of the specific problems with VAM 1.0 — lessons Levine learned by using it to evaluate the success of his own Teaching Fellowship program at the Woodrow Wilson Foundation — he offers some specific lessons for both why and how VAM can be improved to be useful and fair.

It’s definitely worth the read. While some are quick to get rid of VAM entirely, we know that it will ultimately be replaced by something else. It makes far more sense to take the lessons learned today to improve the existing model for tomorrow, rather than repeating current mistakes.

Give the piece a read. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

Eduflack Students, teachers, turnaround, Woodrow Wilson

I’m not playing around here. Using gaming to enhance classroom instruction can be an incredibly powerful tool.

In my latest for Education World, I explore how gaming — in the hands of a great teacher — can make a huge difference in helping subjects like civics and history come alive for students. And they don’t even have to be electronic, technology-based games to be effective.

As I wrote:

Classroom instruction has evolved a tremendous amount in a relatively short period of time. Educators today clearly recognize that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to educate 21st century kids. As we learn more and more about how the human brain processes information, we knew more and more that kids learn in different ways, and instruction has to be tailored to address the learner.

Game-based instruction can be a strong approach to such tailored instruction. While delivering content in new and interesting ways – ways that today’s learners can relate to – it also teaches those 21st century skills we know our kids need to develop.

Give it a read. And I’m not playing!

 

Celebrating #NJSTEMWeek By Celebrating #STEM Teacher Ed

Eduflack 21CS, Science, STEM, Woodrow Wilson

This week is NJ STEM Week. Across the Garden State, educators, policymakers, and the business community have been celebrating STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) and its importance in building a strong economy, stronger society, and stronger citizenry.

Over at Medium, I reflect on some of my own STEM experiences over the years, while highlighting some of the great work the Woodrow Wilson Foundation is doing to recruit, prepare, and support STEM teachers for high-need schools in New Jersey. As I write:

Whether one wants to become a rocket scientist or a poet, there is no denying that children today benefit from a background in the STEM disciplines. The big question is where and how do we find the teachers, particularly in our high schools, to deliver that benefit?

Programs like the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship are seeking to answer that important question, leading work in five states to help construct a strong pipeline of excellent STEM educators for our nation’s high-need schools. In Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation partners with 28 universities to deliver STEM-focused teacher education. In each state, prospective teachers receive the strong academic preparation, valuable K–12 classroom-based clinical experiences, and meaningful mentoring to become the STEM teachers our states, districts, and communities seek.

I hope you’ll give it a read.