Strategies to Consider

Assess the effectiveness of educator preparation program partnerships with K–12 districts and schools, and jointly develop strategies to strengthen the partnerships for mutual benefit, including a stronger teacher recruitment and professional development pipeline between the program and partner local education agencies. 

Align educator licensing and certification systems to the latest research on effective teaching and leading. For example, instead of accepting degrees and coursework to satisfy professional development requirements, consider changing to a focus on job-embedded professional development activities and performance evaluation. Research demonstrates that, unlike degrees and coursework, job-embedded professional development and performance evaluation have a measurable impact on teacher learning and student achievement. 

Support local innovation related to recruitment and retention incentives (e.g., housing incentives and local market-based salary bonuses) as well as career advancement opportunities that encourage effective teachers to stay in hard-to-staff schools.

Provide more pathways for job sharing among teachers so that teachers and administrators have greater flexibility to staff schools to meet their students’ needs.

Follow up with recent educator preparation program graduates to obtain their views of the strengths and weaknesses of their preparation in the program, especially for working in high-need schools, and respond to any problems and recommendations generated from the survey analysis.

Improve the validity and rigor of the assessments educator preparation programs currently use to measure the strength of their graduates’ content knowledge, teaching skill, and commitment to teaching underserved students. 

Develop strong educator preparation program and local education agency partnerships to streamline or revise approval processes for educator preparation programs and other teacher preparation providers to implement high-quality teacher residency or grow-your-own programs that directly supply high-need local education agencies with more qualified and effective teachers.

Encourage educator preparation program and local education agency partnerships to provide seamless transitions from preparation through induction to professional teaching. To help balance teacher supply and demand, foster communication between local education agencies and preparation programs regarding local needs for new hires. 

Partner with your regional equity assistance center, your regional educational laboratory, or the GTL Center to address these strategies.

Establish an equity workgroup to develop a coordinated, comprehensive approach to improving access to great teachers and leaders in a way that breaks down departmental silos:

• Ground conversation in actual equity data and resources.
• Regional center staff can connect with the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders and other regional center colleagues to determine successful strategies for consideration.
• Highlight successful equity strategies from within a state and across states.