Announcement

Teachers for a New Era

• Executive Summary • Announcement • Prospectus • General References

July 1, 2001

A National Initiative

Teachers for a New Era

I. Rationale

New and convincing evidence that teaching is more important for schoolchildren than any other condition has been stunning in its clarity and exciting in its implications. Education leaders have always known that good teaching brings about learning by pupils. Now, recent research based upon thousands of pupil records in many different cities and states establishes beyond doubt that the quality of the teacher is the most important cause of pupil achievement. Excellent teachers can bring about remarkable increases in pupil learning even in the face of severe economic or social disadvantage. Such new knowledge puts teacher education squarely at the focus of efforts to improve the intellectual capacity of schoolchildren in the United States. More than ever, the nation needs assurance that colleges and universities are educating prospective teachers of the highest quality possible.

Although many tools for significant improvement of teacher education are at hand, they have not yet been effectively assembled in widely used productive models. The knowledge base for teacher education is better understood today than in 1983, when an alarm was sounded through release by the Department of Education of its famous report, A Nation at Risk. During the past generation agreement among teacher educators has been growing on essential principles for excellence in the standard route by which students in higher education come to earn credentials enabling them to begin careers as teachers. There is a remarkable convergence of design ideas among reform groups and professional associations.

Many essential elements have been put in place in a number of colleges and universities. These include reliance upon courses and majors in the arts and sciences, close coordination with practicing schools, and a focus on pupil learning accomplished under teacher tutelage. Where new design ideas have been applied they have been knit together with core elements of a good teacher education program in basic areas such as curriculum, assessment, developmental psychology, instructional methods, and classroom management. A well supported, widely adopted, fully integrated approach, however, has been elusive. What is needed is a thoroughgoing reform engaging institutions of higher education in all of the academic programs that contribute to the education of prospective teachers, and achieving priority support and attention by institutional administrative leadership. This kind of reform will reinforce a growing coherent energizing vision of teaching as a vital profession, a vision that induces high academic standards.

II. General Description

Carnegie Corporation of New York and other foundations and funding sources now announce an ambitious reform initiative, Teachers for a New Era, to stimulate construction of excellent teacher education programs at selected colleges and universities. We seek a catalytic revision of teacher education led by colleges and universities committed to a new future for teaching and learning in the nation's schools.

Through this initiative, Teachers for a New Era, we expect outcomes implementing radical change. Among these will be different allocation of resources; academic organization; criteria for evaluating participating faculty; internal accountability measures; and relationships with practicing schools. The purpose of Teachers for a New Era is to assist cooperating institutions in constructing and securing exemplary programs of education for prospective teachers. At the conclusion of the project, each of these institutions should be regarded by the nation as the locus for one of the best programs possible for the standard primary route to employment as a beginning professional teacher. The benchmarks of success for this effort will be evident in the characteristics of the teachers who graduate from these programs. They will be competent, caring, and qualified, will be actively sought by school districts and schools, and will be known for the learning gains made by their pupils. The quality of the teachers prepared is expected to encourage the crafting of supportive public policy in states and school districts, and to emulation of the programs by other institutions.

Teachers for a New Era is organized by three broad design principles, as described in detail in the attached prospectus. First, a teacher education program should be guided by a respect for evidence. A culture of research, inquiry, and data analysis should permeate the program. Among the features of this culture will be attention to pupil learning gains accomplished under the tutelage of teachers who are graduates of the program. Thus, pupil learning will become one measure of the effectiveness of a teacher education program. Second, faculty in the disciplines of the arts and sciences must be fully engaged in the education of prospective teachers, especially in the areas of subject matter understanding and general and liberal education. Finally, education should be understood as an academically taught clinical practice profession. That means that there will be close cooperation between colleges of education and actual practicing schools; master teachers in the schools will hold appropriate appointments as clinical faculty in the college of education; and graduates of a teacher education program will serve a residency under supervision of a mentor during a twoyear period of induction into the teaching profession.

Participation in Teachers for a New Era will be by invitation. A panel of experts will advise funding agencies on institutions to be selected. Colleges and universities are expected to be invitees, but the initiative leaves open the possibility that special groupings, such as a consortium of smaller institutions, or a state system of higher education, or an entire state, might qualify under special conditions. Included in the full array selected during the course of this initiative will be differing kinds of institutions, representing the variety of teacher education programs in the nation. Institutions that agree to the conditions specified in this announcement and prospectus will be awarded up to $5 million for a period of five years, to be matched by equal funds provided by the institution. The Corporation expects to make six awards, staggered over three years, beginning with two awards in Spring, 2002. Other foundations and funding sources will also participate in this historic project and will thus provide awards to other institutions, expanding the number of participating institutions beyond six.

Teachers for a New Era is an initiative prepared in the belief that persuasive construction of high quality teacher education curricula will significantly improve the quality of teachers. In asserting that a welldeveloped program will address the design principles and issues described in the prospectus, it seeks to consolidate a consensus for the professional basis of teaching. It aims to acknowledge the rapidly changing conditions that support the education of prospective teachers and thus to look forward, anticipating trends and building the profession for the future. It will strengthen public confidence that academic institutions are exercising responsibility for quality education of prospective teachers.

III. Support by Foundations and Other Funding Sources

In designing Teachers for a New Era Carnegie Corporation of New York has reviewed research and consulted broadly with grant making colleagues, experts in teacher education, and policy analysts. In the course of these discussions, other foundations have joined this initiative and committed resources. Therefore, Teachers for a New Era will be financed by a coalition of funding agencies. Carnegie Corporation of New York, with its own resources, is committed to making six awards through this initiative. Other foundations or funding sources will provide additional awards and other support.

Because several foundations or funding sources are currently considering participation in this initiative in light of their priorities, commitments, and budgets, a complete listing of funding participants committed to the specific conditions and provisions of Teachers for a New Era is not fixed at this time. Carnegie Corporation of New York is acting as coordinator and informant. Where the term "funding agency" is used in this announcement and prospectus, it will refer either to Carnegie Corporation of New York or another foundation or funding source participating in this initiative.

The basic design principles put forward here are not proprietary. They are directed at the public interest and can be freely borrowed and modified by others, including legislative bodies and governmental agencies.

IV. Scope

There are many ways by which teachers acquire and sustain skills in teaching. Teachers for a New Era is explicitly focused on just one of these: the standard route by which students in higher education come to earn credentials enabling them to begin careers as teachers. This is often called the "preservice" teacher education curriculum. For purposes of this initiative, the conception includes "induction" as part of the standard route. Induction is a system of formal and informal support provided to licensed beginning teachers during their first exposure to full-time professional teaching.

Hardly any "teacher education program" is a single welldefined entity. Multiple programs, such as special education or early childhood education, as well as many different elementary and secondary education programs, may all be housed together in one large administrative home, but be organized in very different ways to produce specific educational outcomes. Because local forms of organization differ it is customary, as in this initiative, to refer to them conveniently with a single term: the teacher education program. The basic design principles put forward in this prospectus, however, are meant to apply fully, as appropriate, to each of the many specialty subprograms serving the education of prospective teachers.

Two wellknown forms of teacher education are not included in this request for proposals. The first is "alternative" certification, which provides specialized curricula for college graduates who enter the profession of teaching directly without having participated in the standard educational curriculum normally required for licensure. The second consists of professional development courses and activities for practicing teachers who need to sustain and render current their skills as teachers, often called the "inservice" teacher education curriculum. Both of these forms of teacher education are important and are subjects of philanthropic support through other venues. Neither, however, is a direct subject of Teachers for a New Era.

V. Funding Strategy

A. Base Awards

A small number of large awards will be made to selected institutions. The awards will be for an initial period of three years, with a contingent renewal for one additional twoyear period. Thus, award funds could extend for program design and implementation over a period of five years. Each award will be for an amount up to one million dollars per year, to be matched on a 1:1 basis by the receiving institution. Matching funds may come from reallocations internal to the higher education institution's base budget or from newly raised private or public funds. "Inkind" resources, such as supplies, space, or temporarily apportioned personnel time are, of course, encouraged, but may not be used to meet the matching requirement.

Renewal awards will be made contingent primarily upon two satisfactory outcomes: (1) attaining 24month milestone goals as described in the awardee's initial proposal; and (2) submission of a satisfactory plan for matching funds, describing commitments obtained and planned. At least thirty percent of all matching funds must be pledged to endowment for support of the new program. Thus, in the case of a maximum award, ten million dollars will be invested in the institution for purposes of design and implementation; at least 1.5 million dollars will consist of permanent endowment.

Invited applicants should presume that they would meet the contingency for renewal. Therefore, an invited proposal will be written as a fiveyear comprehensive effort with full engagement from its initiation. The institution's design will assume progressive and systematic implementation throughout five years.

B. Partner Support Awards

At the beginning of the third year of support up to $250,000 will be added to each institution's award budget to assist in the support of partners. Upon renewal, up to an additional $500,000 will be added for this purpose. These funds are in addition to the base award. The awardee institution will be responsible for disbursing these funds to partner institutions. Partners may be school districts; teacher education programs at other institutions that agree to adopt the basic design principles being implemented by the awardee institution; or other institutions selected by the awardee institution in consultation with the funding agency. Each award by an awardee institution to support a partner may not be less than $75,000, nor more than $200,000, and only one may be awarded to any particular partner institution. Funding strategies for partner support awards will be developed by the awardee institutions and implemented in consultation with the funding agency.

VI. Selection Procedures and Criteria

A panel of advisers will recommend to the funding agencies a set of institutions to be invited to submit proposals for funding under terms of the Teachers for a New Era initiative. The members of the panel will use their best judgment to propose institutions for selection and ultimately to recommend specific institutions to be invited. The panel will be assisted in its work by a research organization under contract to the funding agencies, which will supply descriptive information, relevant data, and analytical reports. No particular extant program is a target for endorsement or exclusion in this initiative. The panel will consider the universe of all institutions that harbor teacher education programs. Programs limited to entry only by graduate students as well as those open to beginning undergraduates are equally eligible. Criteria for selection will include the following:

• The quality of the teacher education program currently in place at the institution

• The capacity of the institution to serve as an exemplar or model for other institutions

• The impact of the institution on the enterprise of teacher education

• The local or regional public policy environment that most directly affects the institution

• The capacity of the institution to engage in leadership activities to persuade other institutions to adopt successful features of the design principles

• The quality of the faculty and administration

Other criteria may emerge during the analysis that leads to selection of an institution invited to apply, but those listed here will be primary and dominant.