Southeastern awarded half million Gates grant to enhance teacher preparation
Thursday, December 3, 2015
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University has been named to one of five newly-formed
Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers designed to bring together higher education
institutions, teacher-preparation providers and K-12 school systems to share data,
knowledge and best practices.
Southeastern is the only teacher-preparation program in Louisiana invited to participate.
Funding for the projects amounts to a total of $34.7 million over three years
provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Each center is expected to test different
approaches in various contexts to better understand teacher-preparation practices
that are most effective. The Transformation Centers will be guided by a common set
of indicators and outcomes while testing different approaches.
Each center includes several universities. Southeastern’s College of Education
will be part of the University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation
(U.S.PREP) National Center based at Texas Tech University.
Southeastern will receive approximately $534,000 over the three-year period, explained
Shirley Jacob, interim dean of the College of Education. Other universities participating
in U.S.PREP are Jackson State University, Southern Methodist University, the University
of Houston and the University of Memphis.
“We know through years of experience that one of the main impacts on students’
learning is the presence of a highly-effective, qualified teacher,” Jacob said. “This
project is intended to help all teacher-preparation programs better prepare our teacher-candidates
to be successful in the classroom.”
The overall goal of U.S.Prep is to produce exemplary new teachers for their partner
school districts who outperform new teachers prepared in other teacher-preparation
programs. The school districts partnering with Southeastern are the St. Charles Parish
School District and the Ascension Parish Public School District.
“We have worked closely and very cooperatively with both these districts for years
now. They have served as sites for our teacher candidates to practice their student
teaching under the supervision of one or more of their own highly competent teachers,”
Jacobs said. “They are fully committed to the goal of improving their own instructors,
as well as helping us develop a high quality generation of new teachers.”
“We welcome the opportunity for our district to be engaged in the development
and implementation of a transformative teacher preparation program,” said Patrice
Pujol, superintendent of Ascension Public Schools. “We look forward to our district,
school and teacher leaders collaborating with university faculty to assure that teacher
education candidates are strategically placed with strong mentors in the schools.
Felecia Gomez-Walker, superintendent of St. Charles Parish Public Schools noted
that the district and Southeastern have collaborated over many years to develop an
excellent student teaching experience for future teachers, which has led to development
of a one-year apprenticeship model now in effect.
“District personnel will interact with university faculty to strategically coordinate
teacher education candidate field placements and residencies in our school district,”
she added. “This collaboration has the potential to positively impact the work we
are doing to prepare teachers for the 21st Century classrooms.”
U.S.PREP and its coalition members are expected to achieve several specific quality
objectives, including preparing new teachers who possess exceptional content knowledge
and teaching skills; developing a program culture focused on continuous improvement
using outcome and design-based research data; ensuring teacher educator effectiveness
is elevated through professional develop programs based on solid research; enhancing
the common school and university vision of preparation of teacher candidates through
collaborative implementation; and developing an effective peer-to-peer university
model that helps jumpstarts a revolution of improved teacher-preparation programs.
“We are looking forward to working cooperatively with Ascension Public Schools
and St. Charles Public School System next fall on this project” Jacob added. “Their
leaders are dedicated to continuous quality improvement among their own teachers and
in assisting Southeastern in helping to create a new generation of highly skilled
and competent teachers.”
Southeastern maintains one of the largest teacher preparation programs in Louisiana.
Currently approximately 800 students are enrolled in the teacher preparation project.
