Day 2: Spring Convening 2021
2:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET
Click upper right-hand corner to view the full playlist
Learning sessions were designed to strengthen educator preparation across the EdPrepLab network. Inquiry group teams presented their work to implement and improve exemplary practices at their home institutions. Cross-institutional teams shared how their collaborations help sustain both their collective and institutional work. Guest presenters with expertise in research, practice, and policy offered their insights into educator preparation practice and policy.
General Sessions
These sessions are topic-specific and built around the expertise and experience of our members, Bank Street College, and the Learning Policy Institute.
Inquiry Sessions
Inquiry Sessions are an opportunity to learn from the work of institutions who formed inquiry groups around a pressing problem of educator practice at our convening in June 2019. Due to the constraints of the pandemic, these groups are in different stages in their work, ranging from some that are seeking generative conversations with colleagues to develop their projects, to others who are ready to present findings.
Indicates a recorded session (video opens in a new window)
Deeper Learning for Equity and Anti-racism (Inquiry Session) 
Montclair State University; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, Los Angeles, presented a critical friends consultancy protocol they adapted to deepen their antiracist work with faculty across teacher and leader preparation. The group shared the consultancy protocol, and participants discussed the impact of this process on their own practice.
Equity and Performance Assessment (Inquiry Session)
Facilitated by Vanderbilt University, this session examined 5 years of candidates’ performance assessment scores at Vanderbilt, which suggest a statistically significant difference in scoring by candidate race. Facilitators sought to learn about other institutions’ experience with performance assessment data and discussed potential supports for students of color.
Teacher education faculty from Trinity University; University of Colorado, Denver; and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, engaged in an inquiry group focused on preparing teacher candidates for deeper learning at the intersection of three foci area: curriculum, pedagogy, and clinical practice. The institutions presented an overview of their individual projects and engaged participants with two of the three individual projects to learn about the innovative practices, tools, and initial findings.
State Policy and Educator Preparation – Licensure and Program Approval (General Session)
This session explored links between state-level teacher licensure and preparation program approval policies on the one hand and the teacher workforce on the other. Participants explored the ways licensure and program approval shape preparation program practices and relate to key issues such as workforce diversity and teacher shortages. The session also described how policy conversations can center around strategies aligned to the goal of a well-prepared, well-supported, diverse, and equitably distributed teacher workforce.
Building the Bridge from Research and Practice to Policymaking (General Session)
Facilitated by Jane West from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, this session explored the gulf between educator preparation and policymaking. Focusing on the federal level, it considered the nature of the challenges, how they can be addressed, strategies for successful engagement, and current opportunities.
Districts Advancing Racial Equity Tool (General Session)
The Districts Advancing Racial Equity (DARE) tool from the Learning Policy Institute captures research-informed, high-leverage aspects of schooling that leaders must address in order to create systems that build on the strengths of and respond to the needs of students of color. Participants had the opportunity to unpack the tool’s domains and think through how it can be used to support greater racial equity outcomes in schools and districts.
Faculty Development for Anti-Racism and Equity (Inquiry Session)
This session illustrated a Review of Practice process that Bank Street Graduate School of Education, Alverno College, Stanford University, and HighTech High Graduate School of Education and Teacher Center used to investigate how each institution is grappling with faculty development for anti-racism and equity. Presenters discussed how they used dilemma consultancies and peer observations in the Review of Practice process.
Mapping Deeper Learning in Leadership Preparation (Inquiry Session)
This generative session included a presentation of practice and artifacts from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, around innovations in leadership preparation for deeper learning and equity, as well as a discussion about these practices with session participants.
Dimensions of Equity in Teacher Preparation (Inquiry Session)
This generative workshop session addressed the hierarchies and tensions inherent in teacher education (e.g., field supervisors and instructors, ladder faculty and clinical faculty, field and university-based learning, university and school district reward structures) and the implications for teacher education practice and the relationships among teacher education participants and partners.
Community Schools and Educator Preparation – Partnership for Innovative Practice (General Session)
In this session, participants learned about the community schools approach and explored how community schools can work in partnership with educator preparation programs. As students return to schools in the wake of the pandemic and educators across the country seek ways to align their practices to the needs of the whole child, partnerships between educator preparation programs and community schools can support teacher candidates in learning how to engage students, parents, and community members and how to adopt deeper learning practices that have real-world connections.
Teacher Residencies: Re-allocating and Re-investing District Resources (General Session)
This session explored two major avenues for providing residents with funding: (1) role reallocation and direct investment of instructional resources and (2) reinvestment of savings from improved instruction and reduced turnover.
Preparing Equity-Centered Principals (General Session)
This session focused on how principal preparation and development programs cultivate principals’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for leading for equity. The findings of several Learning Policy Institute studies were presented, along with examples of equity-focused systems, structures, and practices at the University of California, Berkeley, and University of Illinois, Chicago.
Writing a Practice Brief for Multiple Audiences (General Session)
This session provided an overview of the characteristics and structure of practice briefs that are snapshots of exemplary practice for practitioners and researchers. Participants workshopped potential practice brief topics they can submit for publication through EdPrepLab.
For more information or inquiries, please contact Beatrice Benavides.