ANN ARBOR—TeachingWorks, an organization within the University of Michigan School of Education, was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to help improve teacher preparation programs.

The grant will be used to implement more rigorous uniform standards for aspiring educators and enable schools of education to support students in meeting these higher benchmarks, ensuring they are better prepared for their first year in the classroom and beyond.

“At TeachingWorks, we are committed to ensuring that all students receive quality instruction and that teachers enter the classroom ‘safe to practice’ on their very first day,” said Deborah Loewenberg Ball, director of TeachingWorks and dean of the U-M School of Education. “To achieve this, we need to shift teaching to be like other fields in which you must demonstrate proficiency before practicing.

“Support from the Helmsley Charitable Trust is key to our effort to foster collaboration among committed partners that share our goal of tackling the problem of inadequate initial training for teachers.”

Due to the large numbers retiring from or exiting the profession, nearly 2 million teachers will be needed in the next decade. This enormous shift in the workforce creates an unprecedented opportunity to change how new teachers are prepared for classroom practice.

Currently, teacher licensure policies in a majority of states do not require aspiring educators to prove they have the skills and knowledge for responsible first-year practice with students. As a result, many beginning teachers are both underprepared for the fundamental responsibilities of their work and less effective at helping students learn.

The $1.1 million grant supports TeachingWorks’ efforts in two ways:

• First, TeachingWorks will collaborate with the Educational Testing Service to develop and implement a new licensure assessment called the National Observational Teaching Examination. The new exam is aimed at ensuring that all teaching candidates demonstrate mastery of key practices and content before entering the classroom. NOTE will establish a more rigorous threshold for entry to the profession based on specific high-leverage instructional practices. Combining performance-based measures with tests of teachers’ content knowledge, the licensure assessment will undergo initial field tests in nine states this academic year.
• Second, TeachingWorks will collaborate with teacher education programs across the country to develop shared approaches to professional training focused on these high-leverage instructional practices. The grant supports small networks of teacher education programs and K-12 school districts that collectively commit to increasing the number of beginning teachers who can carry out the practices assessed in NOTE. Each network will identify common problems in preparing educators for practice and members will work together to build and try out solutions.

“As states across the country adopt higher standards for students—a movement in which teachers are the most important drivers of change—we must ensure that future educators have the preparation they need to succeed in classrooms from day one,” said Rachel Leifer, a program officer of the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Education Program. “TeachingWorks’ well-designed, comprehensive approach offers a rare opportunity to improve teacher preparation at broad scale.”

Related Links:

• U-M TeachingWorks: www.teachingworks.org
• Helmsley Charitable Trust: www.helmsleytrust.org