1. Exceptional Education Department
Toward Practice-Rich Preparation: Innovation and Re-invention of Clinical Practice
Larry Maheady, PhD
Exceptional Education Department
SUNY Buffalo State
October 25, 2016
Presentation for the Annual Fall Conference of the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Camden on the Lake Resort, Lake Ozark, Missouri

2. Agenda
Discuss importance of improving clinical practice in EPPs & building high quality partnerships with P-12 schools
Offer a continuum of practice-based teaching opportunities
Distributed throughout preparation programs & into induction
Highlight two explicit examples of early clinical experiences
Discuss opportunities and challenges related to enacting Practice-Based Teacher Education (PBTE)
From there, we’ll then begin to discuss how this type of teacher preparation program best works for you and your specific circumstances. There is no one best way to organize and run a PBTE program, so each program is ideally developed based on the particulars of those involved. To work well, and to be sustained over time, a PBTE program needs to be developed collaboratively, and must provide a win-win situation for all involved. Candidates win, and schools win. Marietta College faculty win, principals win.

3. Sources of Influence
All New York State teachers must be prepared to teach effectively, students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and individuals from poverty environments (New York State DOE, 1989).
“The effect of teacher preparation on eventual student outcomes is necessarily mediated by teachers’ actual practice. It is, therefore, impossible to know the effect of teacher preparation on student outcomes without fully understanding teaching practice” (Goe & Coggshall, 2007).

4. Shared Vision for Clinical Experiences
Professional & Societal Needs
Teacher Educator & Pre-service Teacher Needs
P-12 Teacher & School Needs
Students w/wo disabilities needs

5. Making Vision Operational
Contacted local P-12 schools and asked
What are your most pressing instructional needs?
How can we (teacher educators & pre-service teachers) help?
Linked school needs to pre-service teacher & program needs through series of three, highly structured, developmentally sequenced clinical experiences
Implemented program components sequentially (i.e., clinical experiences), taught courses to establish infrastructure, and collected data on P-12 student, pre-service teacher, and program outcomes

6. Criteria for Clinical Placements
Inclusive settings (physical, academic, & social integration) in schools with multiple sources of diversity and high academic and social needs
Honored to find Dunkirk City Schools & School #3
Effective teachers
good instructional models (e.g., created positive learning environments, used EBPs, and monitored pupil progress regularly)
nice enough to work with us
Highly structured experiences
linked to required coursework
developmentally sequenced (novice teachers gradually assumed more instructional responsibilities moving through program)
instruction-focused, clearly defined roles & responsibilities, and conducted in pairs

7. Created a Developmental Continuum
Conceptualized in amount of effort required to affect differing levels of change in novices teaching practice
Types of pedagogical options faculty had to impact novice practice
Moderated by complexity of selected practices, setting and student needs, novice competence, & amount of support required to facilitate use

8. A Continuum of Options for Developing Practice
High Effort
High Impact
Any option may be useful for improving practice
Some are more useful than others
Low Impact
Low Effort
Assign readings, discussion, application papers
In class simulations role-plays, & micro-teaching
Early clinical experience; tutoring programs
Clinical year & coaching
Student teaching
Induction

9. CEEDAR Conceptualization
Beginning practice experiences
Limited (smaller or more focused) & guided (carefully scaffolded)
Case studies, guided observation, micro-teaching, & tutoring
Middle program experiences
Broader and deeper experiences; build on program focus/themes; increase in complexity
Micro-teaching, virtual or early teaching experiences, tutoring, & lesson study
Late program experiences
Provide structure, guidance, and feedback for candidates
Increase complexity by assigning multiple responsibilities (behavior and classroom management, differentiating instruction, & collaborating with other professionals)

10. Instructional Assistants Program
First formal teaching experience
Freshmen & Sophomores
8- to 10-week field experience & partnership with P-12 schools
Pre-service teachers assigned in pairs
Twice per week; 3 hours per day
Teaching/Learning Contracts
3 to 5 routine instructional roles & responsibilities
Taught two formal lessons
Pre- & post-test lessons
Graph results for whole class, small groups, and/or one target student
Use EBP in one lesson as intended

11. Teaching/Learning Contracts
Roles & Responsibilities
Very Important
Somewhat Important
Less Important
1. Listen and read to children X
2. Review and discuss student writing.
3. Catch students being good.
4. Tutor individual students.
5. Assess student “in class” work and/or homework.
6. Teach small groups
7. Develop daily lesson plans.
8. Administer and score academic assessments
9. (Insert other preferred instructional assistance)

12. Descriptive Study (Maheady, Jabot, Rey, & Michelli-Pendl, 2007)
Instructional Assistants Program
422 pre-service general educators over 4 semesters
Almost 17,000 hours of in class assistance (15 years)
78% in high need schools
Taught over 800 formal lessons
Implemented variety of EBP with high degree of accuracy
Students made marginal and noticeable gains in 83% of sampled lessons
Students and teachers provided positive evaluations of program and EBP
Lessons Learned
Pre-service teachers can use “simple” EBP as intended & help students
In-service teachers used IA primarily for instructional purposes
School-university partnership has persisted for almost 20 years

13. Peer Tutoring Program Second clinical experience Sophomores & Juniors
Linked to Introduction to Special Education course
8- to 10-week, after-school tutoring program for students with disabilities and ELLs
2:1 instructional arrangement
Pre-service teachers alternated teaching, observing, and data collecting roles
Collected data on how well they used selected teaching practices
Monitored student performance on brief, end-of-session assessments
Worked in small cooperative learning groups on campus
Shared EBPs using Jigsaw format
Modeled content enhancements & use of varied motivation systems

14. Peer Coaching Study (Mallette, Maheady, & Harper, 1999)
Randomly selected 3 tutor pairs
Taught them to use adapted version of PALS (multi-component training, “peer tutoring” package)
Examined effects of coaching on
How well students coached?
How well pre-service teachers used PALS
Impact on students’ reading fluency and comprehension via multiple baseline design
Lessons Learned
Pre-service teachers learned to peer coach but not well
Coaching improved accuracy in using PALS
Improved accuracy produced better student outcomes
Teachers and students gave positive favorability ratings
Pair Tutoring Program sustained for 24 years

15. Practice-Based Teacher Education
Teacher practice (i.e., what they do instructionally) has NOT been at the center of teacher preparation for quite awhile
preparation often occurs in settings remote from practice
weak connections between coursework and clinical experiences
pre-service teachers learn ABOUT practices, not how to USE them
In PBTE
Novices have more teaching opportunities (with related coursework wrapped around those efforts)
Opportunities to use set(s) of signature practices
High Leverage Practices
Evidence-Based Practices
Receive feedback and support & assess impact on student outcomes

16. High Leverage Practices
“A set of practices that are fundamental to support student learning, and that can be taught, learned, and implemented by those entering the profession” (Windschitl, Thompson, Braaten, & Stroupe, 2012, p. 880).
Used frequently in P-12 classrooms
Broadly applicable across content areas
Research-based & foster improved student outcomes
Limited in number and are teachable
Two sources of HLPs
Teaching Works, University of Michigan (N = 19)
Council for Exceptional Children (N=23)*
Core curriculum that everything is built around, including college classes, is made up of the practices we want candidates to learn to use in the classroom.

17. High Leverage Practices (Teaching Works, 2013)
Lead guided reading lesson(s)
Teach lessons or lesson segments
Implement organizational routines, procedures, and strategies to support a learning environment
Set up and manage small group work
Establish norms and routines for classroom discourse in subject matter
Select and use specific methods to check understanding and monitor pupil progress
Provide oral and written feedback on student work
Communicate about students with parents or guardians
Analyze instruction for the purpose of improving it

18. Examples of High Leverage Practices (CEC, 2016)
Collaboration
Collaborate with other professionals to increase student success
Assessment
Use assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes
Social/Emotional/Behavioral
Establish a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment
Instruction
Use strategies to promote student engagement
Use flexible grouping
THESE ARE FROM CEC HLPs for SPE teachers—but relate strongly to what all teachers should be able to do in inclusive general education classrooms.
Collaboration—think co-teaching
Assessment—think formative assessment
Social/Emotional/Behavioral—basic classroom management

19. Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)
Defined in two complimentary ways in education
1. Set or list of teaching practices validated by rigorous research reviews
What Works Clearinghouse
Best Evidence Encyclopedia
2. Decision-making process informed by
Best available evidence
Professional wisdom
Student needs

20. Challenges Organizational Pedagogical
Reach agreement on set of core practices around which to organize novice teacher learning
Create, reorganize, and/or adapt clinical experiences
Build or extend high quality school-University partnerships
Infrastructure to support & sustain program initiatives
Pedagogical
Provide novices with multiple opportunities to teach and receive feedback, support, and coaching
Opportunities can vary across settings, increase in complexity & decrease in support over time, and linked directly to important student outcomes
Develop practical assessment measures for monitoring novice practice & P-12 student outcomes
Study implementation rigorously & from multiple perspectives

21. Opportunities
To improve important P-12 student outcomes locally and state-wide
Teacher practice as an alterable variable
Strengthen empirical links among preparation, practice, and P-12 student learning using rigorous research designs
Constructive response to critics & improve our professional stature
Build partnerships that not only improve student outcomes but enhance novice and experienced teacher practice
Promote use of signature set of practices (HLP/EBPs) to define some parameters of profession & collect evidence to determine effects on student outcomes
(SEA) promote & implement policies that support use of (HLP/EBPs), evidence-based PD, & accountability policies that focus on teaching improvement over evaluation

22. Takeaways More Unanswered than Answered Questions
Increasing novices opportunities to teach is a good thing for P-12 students, novice & experienced teachers, teacher educators, and the profession
Requires more time, effort, accountability, and “social skills” than non- clinical courses
build for sustainability
High quality School-University partnerships are essential
Teachers and leaders are critical in defining practice (i.e., student) needs
Facilitate implementation
Monitor and support programs
University Leadership Matters
“load” credit for clinical work; recognize “scholarship” for applied work toward promotion and tenure; supporting “risk” in research & practice
More Unanswered than Answered Questions

23. References
Goe, L., & Coggshall, J. (2007, May). The teacher preparation – teacher practices – student outcomes relationship in special education: Missing links and necessary connections. NCCTQ Research and Policy Brief. Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. Available from
Maheady, L., Jabot, M., Rey, J., & Michelli-Pendl, J. (2007). An early field based experience and its effects on pre-service teachers’ practice and student learning. Teacher Education and Special Education 30,
Mallette, B., Maheady, L., & Harper, G. F. (1999).The effects of reciprocal peer coaching on pre-service general educators' instruction of students with special learning needs. Teacher Education and Special Education, 22,
Teaching Works practices
Windschitl, M., Thompson, J., Braaten, M., & Stroupe, D. (2012). Proposing a core set of instructional practices and tools for teachers of science. Science Education, 96(5),