Educator Preparation Program Success

How To

Promising Practices

Student Mentorship Programs

Mentorship programs address minority students' needs for academic and career advising and assist them with making the social, intellectual, and geographic transitions to college (specifically to historically White institutions). Examples include professional counseling, peer-to-peer mentorship, and job placement assistance

Critical Success Factors: Diversity Benefit:
  • Comprehensive retention services including counseling, tutoring, academic support, and career services
  • Dedication to improving the social and racial climate on campus and the cultural competency skills of academic advisors and faculty members
  • Mentor stipends to formalize the mentorship role
  • University community willing to invest human capital
 Strong student-faculty relationships and the presence of minority faculty support have been shown to increase minority student retention. Studies indicate that individualized mentoring and coaching - distinct from academic advising - are effective in increasing minority student retention and graduation and are particularly helpful for first generation students who are less familiar with the institutional structure of higher education

Spotlights

Middletown "Coming Home" project (VT)
Description To support seven GYO teacher candidates, Middletown established mentoring, structured experiential events, and general and minority-focused university services. Students were given access to a holistic support system made up of advisers, mentors, peers, and teachers. Researchers found that four things characterized the work of successful mentors: 1) personalized assignments; 2) independent study; 3) support (mentors advise mentees on using university resources and dealing with the personal issues that college students typically face); and 4) monitoring (mentors monitor their mentees to address their changing needs)
Scope of Reach Seven minority EPP GYO candidates within University of Vermont’s College of Education and Social Services
Timeframe Class of 2001 (enrolled 1997 - 2001)
Budget / Sources of funds Unknown
Actor(s) Implementing Education Preparation Program
Results Six out of seven mentees graduated from EPP


UCONN Neag Diverse Educators Making Outstanding Change "D.E.M.O" (CT)
Description Mentoring program designed for minority students enrolled – or interested in enrolling – in the Neag School’s five-year Integrated Bachelor’s / Master’s (IB / M) Program. Minority faculty (principals, superintendents, teachers, etc.) are brought together with minority students for small group discussions, giving NEAG faculty information about ways to support students based on their experiences. Each student is also paired with a local mentor of color in the K-12 education system
Scope of Reach (Voluntarily) participating underrepresented minority EPP candidates at Neag
Timeframe 2016-Present
Budget / Sources of funds NEAG School of Education
Actor(s) Implementing Education Preparation Program
Results Students confirmed the importance of such programs in their feedback, stating that they had often felt unsupported, dismissed, and / or isolated in the classroom previously

Intervention Technology

Universities have been partnering with technology companies to develop software that can be used to predict which students are at risk of dropout. Minority students in undergraduate teacher preparation programs sometimes require extra support but do not always seek it proactively

Critical Success Factors: Diversity Benefit:
  • Implementation of technology that can analyze student behavior data and predict patterns of attrition
  • Hiring of high-qualified advising staff
  • Low advisor-to-student ratio so advisors are not overloaded with cases and can promptly intervene
 In many cases, universities that implemented predictive technology in addition to increasing student support resources eliminated the graduation gap between low-income, first generation and minority students and their White counterparts
Spotlights
Georgia State University (GA)
Description GSU is home to 24,000 undergrads, 60% of whom are non-White and many of whom are from working-class and first generation backgrounds. Working with the help of an outside consulting firm, EAB, GSU analyzed 2.5 million grades earned by students in courses over 10 years to create a list of factors that hurt chances for graduation and built an early-warning system called Graduation and Progression Success (GPS). GPS is updated daily and includes more than 700 red flags aimed at helping advisers keep students on track to graduation
Scope of Reach Entire GSU student body
Timeframe 2012 - present
Budget / Sources of funds Georgia State University
Actor(s) Implementing University
Results
  • GSU has closed the graduation gap for low-income, first generation and minority students
  • Overall graduation rates are up 6 percentage points since 2013, and 28 percentage points since 2003
  • Graduates are getting their degrees an average half a semester sooner than before, saving themselves ~$12 million in tuition costs


University of South Florida (FL)
Description Using sophisticated software, USF is identifying students who are having trouble and is quickly intervening to help. USF contracts with Civitas Learning, whose software can track when assignments are turned in late, when exam scores decline, and when a student suddenly stops engaging on class discussion boards. Those red flags trigger intervention. A counselor can be dispatched to check in with the student, find out where the trouble lies, and connect him or her with services, such as tutoring, counseling or financial aid
Scope of Reach Entire USF student body
Timeframe 2009 - present
Budget / Sources of funds Unknown
Actor(s) Implementing University
Results
  • 46.6% of LEAP alumni are non-White
  • 43% college graduation rate for part-time students within 8 years (compared with national average of 25%). 55.5% of LEAP teachers taught for 3 - 9 years (as compared to national average of 36.3%)
  • Almost half of all LEAP graduates returned to their original school to teach full-time. Of those who went to different schools, 67% stated it was only because there was "no position available" at their original schools

Inclusive and Culturally-Sensitive EPP Curricula

Many EPPs have taken proactive steps towards making their clinical programs and curricula more inclusive, or have developed separate curricula to prepare transformative future educator-leaders to teach in urban districts

Critical Success Factors: Diversity Benefit:
  • Director-level inclusion coordinators are equipped with mandates to initiate curriculum and pedagogy changes
  • Impact is measured and students' subjective experiences and graduation rates are taken into account
 Minority candidates often perceive themselves to be invisible, silenced, or powerless in traditional EPPs, with many reporting that their personal and cultural experiences are excluded from the curriculum. Students graduating from programs that are intentionally inclusive tend feel more comfortable in the classroom, remain teachers longer than the national average, and move on to assume leadership roles at higher rates
What are "Inclusive EPP Curricula?"

"Teacher education programs need to attend to critical consciousness, knowledge, and practical skills focused on social justice, with curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment oriented toward it. The preparation of social justice educational leaders should provide a holistic, active, emancipatory, and inclusive curriculum and pedagogical approach that encourages depth involving both societal change and political action.

EPP programs that simply add one or two courses in diversity education and / or require teacher candidates to complete assignments that explore surface level differences in culture and language are superficial rather than infused into a coherent diversity curriculum."

- Davide Celoria, San Francisco State University Educational Leadership and Administration Program Coordinator Spotlight: Minority Teacher Identification & Enrichment Program (IL)
Spotlights
CEEDAR grant recipients - Central and Southern Connecticut State Universities (CT)
Description Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) grants provided to Central and Southern Connecticut State Universities have resulted in a call to EPP and District Partners to plan culturally inclusive field experiences as a core component of candidates' EPP program experiences, as well as to infuse culturally responsive pedagogy into the core curriculum. The CCSU MAT Program has begun to take initial steps to revamp its curriculum accordingly, citing culturally responsive teaching as one of the institution's five foundational principles.
Scope of Reach All EPP candidates at CCSU and SCSU
Timeframe 2013 - present
Budget / Sources of funds CEEDAR Grant
Actor(s) Implementing CCSU and SCSU EPP Programs
Results
  • Curriculum revamp in progress
  • Institutional plan includes a holistic approach that will likely have a noticeable and measurable impact on minority students' lives on campus


Project ACCESS "Summer Community Immersion" course (MO)
Description During the summer after the first year of UMKC's EPP program, EPP candidates spend eight weeks immersed in an urban community with opportunities to experience the urban context, its problems and its social institutions. Candidates explore tangible community problems and how they are addressed and problem-solve scenarios that represent the experiences of urban students, families, and teachers
Scope of Reach Select EPP teacher candidates at UMKC
Timeframe 009 - 2011 (funding ceased)
Budget / Sources of funds $356,450; WK Kellogg Foundation
Actor(s) Implementing UMKC EPP Program
Results 33 students participated across 2 summers. They reported: a desire to be involved in the urban community; a new understanding of the role of teachers in urban schools; and a changed perception of urban families including a new understanding of self and others


University of Oregon Institutional Plan (OR)
Description The University of Oregon's College of Education has devised an institutional plan to foster a more inclusive learning environment. To do this, the College is conducting a comprehensive review of pedagogical practices and curricular content, and assigning a school director to implement recommendations based on findings
Scope of Reach EPP Teacher candidates at UO
Timeframe 2015 - 2018
Budget / Sources of funds University of Oregon College of Education
Actor(s) Implementing UO Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Assistant Dean for Equity and inclusion
Results
  • Curriculum revamp in progress
  • Institutional plan includes taking a holistic approach that will likely have a noticeable and measurable impact on minority student's lives on campus


Urban Teacher Education Programs (IL, NJ, AL)
Description The University of Alabama, University of Chicago, Rutgers University, and others have developed Urban Teacher Education Programs. These programs prepare candidates to teach in their local high-need, racially diverse districts and explicitly address issues of race, language, class, and culture that teachers encounter in their work. Teacher candidates undergo a year of residency where they engage in clinical/pre-service training in a local partner district
Scope of Reach EPP teacher candidates at UAB, UChicago, and Rutgers
Timeframe Present
Budget / Sources of funds Participating universities
Actor(s) Implementing Participating university EPPs
Results
  • UChicago's UTEP Program: 90% of graduates are teaching in Chicago Public Schools or other high-need urban districts; 96% five-year teacher retention rate
  • University of Alabama UTEP Program: ~70% African American; 70% three-year teacher retention rates

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