Part I	Background and Context for Change in Teacher Education
Part II	Change in Teacher Education at East Carolina University
Part III	A Proposal to Establish University-School Teacher Education Partnerships in North Carolina
Part IV	An Implementation Plan to Establish University-School Teacher Education Partnerships in North Carolina
Part V	Professional Development of Teachers, Administrators, and Other School Personnel
Part VI	Recommendations
Appendix A	References
Appendix B	The University of North Carolina Deans' Council on Teacher Education
Appendix C	"Preparing North Carolina for 21st Century Schools" Homepage

Chairman Jeffords, Senator Kennedy, and honored members of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Relations, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address this important Committee meeting today. Please know that I speak for thousands of people in higher education who appreciate your interest and work to extend the opportunities for post-high school learning to the citizens of this nation. Those of us whose life work is about the preparation of teachers and other school-based professionals are particularly appreciative of your interest in considering ways to advance the preparation of teachers for our nation's schools

Part I: Background and Context for Change in Teacher Education

Prior to assuming my current role, I was privileged to serve as dean of the School of Education at East Carolina University in North Carolina for 13 years. ECU, like many other institutions, is a university committed to preparing effective teachers and to working closely with the public schools.

However, after very little time in my role as dean it became clear to me, as it was to others, that we simply were not doing what was needed to reliably produce teachers who could achieve sustained success with most of their students and do so happily year after year over the span of a long teaching career. My mother was able to do that in the 1930's, 40's, 50's, and early 60's. But what was has been happening in North Carolina and across the nation since the mid-60's has been a growing inability to sustain a stable teaching force. A recent report of why teachers leave teaching released by The Public School Forum of North Carolina, a non-profit organization, was entitled "A Profession In Jeopardy".

There are many factors that are contributing to the declining rates of teacher retention and to the decline in undergraduate students who say they want to become teachers. A comprehensive study of teacher turnover just completed by the Office of School Personnel Support in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction identified student behavior and lack of support as two reasons teachers identified. Low salaries ranked third. The Public School Forum report cited earlier found that lack of adequate preparation contributed to teachers' reasons for leaving the profession. For many, there seems to be a disconnect between their preparation for teaching and what they experienced as "real" teachers.

Most teacher education faculty would readily admit that they are doing their work under heavily compromised conditions, owing not to thoughtful design nor to incompetence, but largely to historical circumstance. However, the significant efforts underway to redesign teacher preparation in North Carolina and in other sites throughout the nation will, when fully implemented, result in programs that are very different from the ones generally in place today. Some of the redesigned programs are described in the Report of the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future entitled "What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future". This Commission was chaired by James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor of North Carolina. (Linda Darling-Hammond at Teachers College, Columbia University is Executive Director of the Commission and would be an excellent resource to this Committee.)

It is worth noting that much of what we describe as poor practice today served the majority population and the agrarian-manufacturing economy of the past quite well. The old economy of North Carolina needed a lot of docile, unquestioning workers for the fields and cotton mills. Until the early 1960's, North CarolinaÕs economy needed only a few college graduates. Our teacher education programs produced teachers and administrators who taught and managed in ways that sorted and selected what our society needed and wanted - or at least tolerated.

But, our state's (and nation's) economy has certainly changed and will do so even more in the near future. North Carolina, under the leadership of our Governors, the General Assembly, and business leaders, is committed to being in the forefront of the new computer technology-based global economy. This new economy requires that our schools produce many more people who are able to think and work well with others as they identify and solve problems. Thus, our teacher preparation institutions must be supported to quickly adapt their programs to produce the teachers and administrators who can create and sustain schools that produce graduates with these competitive skills.

The needs of the changing economy are important, and so are some other major changes in our society. The decline in civic and social behaviors threatens more than our sensibilities, but also our personal safety, and the very foundations of our democracy. Crime, drug use, and a general lack of civility are realities that have to be addressed more directly in our society and in our schools and, thus, in teacher preparation programs as well.

None of us created the general model for teacher education that prevails in higher education today. Thus, none of us has to be defensive about changing the programs, not the university and college faculty and administrators who have been working hard to improve teacher education, nor the elected officials who have mandated many useful program changes in recent years. All of us have a common goal in mind: to create successful schools, with competent and caring teachers and administrators who communicate effectively with parents and the community to produce high-achieving students that will contribute to our communities and nation.

Part II: Change in Teacher Education at East Carolina University

As a result of a five-year reinvention process, the School of Education at East Carolina University now prepares teachers with the strategic involvement of school districts and communities. Operationally, this concept is reflected in (1) an increase in the amount of time preservice teachers spend in their senior year (The program shifted from a ten-week student teaching experience to a full-year internship, comprised of a one day per week placement in the fall connected to coursework and a 15-week all-day internship experience in the spring.); (2) intensive field-based placements for preservice teachers which are connected to methods courses and clinical teachers at school sites; (3) jointly-crafted professional development programs for preservice and inservice teachers as well as faculty in teacher education; (4) increased communication between public schools and high education through an Internet connection called EastNet which promotes interactive contacts on a daily basis; and (5) involvement of school personnel in curriculum planning within the School of Education.

Sustaining the changes has required signed agreements between the university and surrounding school districts, along with continuous financial support from higher-level administrators in both entities. The legislators and policy-makers have been fully aware of the changes in the delivery system and the need for using resources more flexibly and creatively. The long-range goal of combining staff development moneys from the two systems (higher education and public schools) is being realized so that continuous professional enhancement programs can indeed be collaboratively designed. Presently, East Carolina University is creating clinical positions out of previously marked tenure track positions in order to hire teachers with more current experience in the public schools to work along side professors and researchers. The ability to sustain the changes is directly related to the ability to make systemic shifts that cause the two entities to claim joint ownership of teacher preparation.

One of the challenges of the change process at East Carolina University has been the recruitment of diverse, high quality students into teacher preparation. This has necessitated the development of extended outreach efforts to middle schools, high schools and community colleges in the region. Recruitment presentations include scholarship information, written materials detailing the clinical orientation and mentoring system within the teacher education program, and preservice and inservice teacher testimonies concerning the well-sequenced, developmental curriculum. The School of Education has also developed nationally recognized programs to recruit retired military and other non-traditional students into teaching. Another highly successful initiative was the University's leadership in creating the North Carolina Model Teacher Education Consortium. This Consortium and its dynamic director, Jean Murphy, have focused on a partnership between the public schools, several community colleges, and five public universities and private colleges to support teacher assistants to become fully licensed teachers.

We tried to keep in mind that retention and success of teachers in our public schools had to be one of the measures of success of the East Carolina University teacher education program. The retention rate on a smaller model of the program described above showed a 97% retention rate in teaching after five years, much higher than the state or national teacher retention rates. However, without comprehensive induction and mentoring programs for inservice teachers, retention will continue to be a national problem. Supports must be available to beginning teachers beyond having a trained mentor teacher; they must also have reasonable teaching schedules and time to plan and to meet with their mentors.

East Carolina University is not the only university in North Carolina undergoing major restructuring of teacher education. In fact, in January, 1997, the Board of Governors for the sixteen-campus University of North Carolina accepted a recommendation and a plan developed by the Deans' Council on Teacher Education to reform teacher education in all fifteen UNC institutions with teacher preparation programs.

Part III: A Proposal to Establish University-School Teacher Education Partnerships in North Carolina

Part IV: An Implementation Plan to Establish University-School Teacher Education Partnerships in North Carolina

Part V: Professional Development of Teachers, Administrators, and Other School Personnel

The University of North Carolina administers a number of nationally recognized, professional development programs for teachers and administrators. The directors and staff of these programs are beginning a process of better coordinating and aligning their activities under a new Center for School Leadership Development to better align with the needs of the public schools.

• The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching offers educational experiences for teachers that reward, renew, and encourage teachers to remain in the teaching profession;
• The North Carolina Center for the Prevention of School Violence is a source of information, program development, and technical assistance aimed at preventing school violence;
• The North Carolina Mathematics and Science Education Network conducts program aimed at improving the quality of mathematics and science teaching and learning in the public schools;
• The North Carolina Teacher Academy offers quality professional development for the teachers of North Carolina, primarily in week-long summer residential programs;
• The Principals' Executive Program extends quality training and on-going support to principals, assistant principals, and senior administrators.

An Advisory Council with the Center for School Leadership Development will ensure coordination between the Center, initial preparation programs, and other public school outreach initiatives of the University of North Carolina. The Advisory Council will include representatives of the programs named above as well as other initiatives such as the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the UNC Center for Public Television, the Standards Board for Public School Administration, and the Teaching Standards Commission. The Advisory Council will ensure that high quality, collaboratively developed programs are offered in geographically dispersed locations at existing University and program sites.

Part VI: Recommendations

I believe the Federal Government has a limited, but significant role to play in advancing the reform of teacher preparation in public and private institutions of higher education. This belief is premised on the belief that teachers are "nation builders"; the actions of teachers in advancing academic knowledge, technical skills, and social and civic responsibility are fundamental to the nation's economic and democratic viability.

The specific role I envision for the Federal Government is in two related areas:

1. Competitive grant support for the development of "Transformational Models of Teacher Education" - ones that are generally aligned to the Guiding Principles listed in the Implementation Plan on page 18 of this testimony. Recipients of grants awards would be eligible for renewal for up to five years, based upon rigorous annual reviews which include site visits.
2. Dissemination Grants to allow successful teacher education programs (as judged by a set of review criteria) to prepare the media and print materials, employ the minimal additional staff, and support the travel and materials associated with sharing their success with other institutions. Funds would support the award recipients to provide visiting teams of educators the information and limited follow-up support needed to replicate the successful practices. The award recipients would also have funds sufficient to give on-site technical support to selected institutions.

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