Teacher Quality
Who We Work With
New York State Education Department & Institutions of Higher Education
The Teacher Quality initiative is charged with building the capacity of the New York State Education Department's (NYSED) Office of Higher Education to enhance teacher education programs and strengthen the teacher pipeline. As part of a NYSED initiative to create a series of regional P–16 partnerships throughout the state, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) is initially working with a cohort of teacher preparation deans and/or program heads from the City University of New York (CUNY) and from independent institutions of higher education in and around New York City. NYCC holds ongoing meetings with this partnership to identify common issues of concern and to chart a course of action.
In addition, NYCC has planned and initiated a series of seminars for NYSED, New York Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) and the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) incorporating evidence-based practices and scientifically based research (SBR) in teacher preparation. These seminars are designed to encourage participants to take a critical look at the way they prepare New York's teachers and to help facilitate effective and meaningful communication between NYSED and IHEs. The spring 2008 seminar—Preparing Teachers to Teach in the 21st Century—focused on meeting the challenges posed by 21st century students and building partnerships to move forward a 21st century agenda. The spring 2009 seminar—Teacher Preparation: Easing the Transition from Pre-Service to In-Service—explored strategies to better prepare teacher candidates for the challenges of the classroom, including strengthening partnerships, improving clinical experiences, and enhancing mentoring and support.
The Teacher Quality team has also held symposia for IHE faculty, NYSED staff and local education agencies to learn from experts and each other about scientifically based reading research (SBRR) and ways to expand its use in college syllabi. In 2006, NYCC held the Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness Symposium and in 2007, the Promoting Student Literacy Through Comprehension: Enhancing Teacher Preparation and Professional Development Symposium to bring these groups together.
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality
The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (NCCTQ) provides resources (e.g. relevant publications) to NYCC that help NYSED and IHEs strengthen the quality of teaching—especially in high-poverty, low-performing, and hard-to-staff schools. These resources ensure that highly qualified teachers are provided guidance in addressing students with specific needs.
NCCTQ was directly involved in the planning for the Teacher Quality team's spring 2008 and spring 2009 seminars. They helped to define the nature and scope of the events and to isolate topics for discussion. They also provided direct assistance at the conference as facilitators, recorders and panel moderators. In addition, NYCC and NCCTQ have produced a research brief that describes "clinical practice" in the context of teacher preparation and a research paper detailing the work of the Teacher Quality initiative which was presented at the annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in April 2009.
Regional Education Laboratory Northeast and Islands
NYCC also collaborates with the Regional Education Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) to support the New York State Education Department in their efforts to improve the quality of teachers in New York State. Specifically, REL-NEI has created resource lists and compiled best practices for dissemination to NYSED staff and representatives from CUNY and independent IHEs. REL-NEI also designed a survey and produced a brief describing the current state of clinical preparation in teacher preparation programs in and around New York City.