1. 1 Educator Preparation Advisory Council (EPAC) July 31, 2013 A New Framework to Strengthen School Leader Preparation in Connecticut

2. 2 Agenda Welcome & Purpose for Webinar Discussion of Survey Results & Principles Next Steps

3. 3 Welcome & Purpose for WebinarSarah Barzee CSDE Discussion of Survey Results & Principles Berrick Abramson TNTP Next StepsSarah Barzee CSDE Agenda

4. 4 Welcome & Purpose for Webinar Discussion of Survey Results & Principles Next Steps

5. 5 Guiding Beliefs For A New Educator Preparation Framework Do No Harm. The policies governing and requirements for teacher preparation programs must be based on practices that are demonstrated to have a positive impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning. Encourage Innovation. Where there is a reasonable expectation of positive outcomes but limited evidence or data exists, Connecticut should further explore the practice and encourage innovation by preparation programs, districts and other stakeholders. Be Aspirational. The CSDE should lead with high aspirations for the state’s teacher preparation programs, setting rigorous standards and expectations for all educators to ensure every student has an excellent teacher.

6. 6 The Levers For Strengthening Preparation: 6 Principles for Preparation Reform 1. Program Entry Standards 2. Staffing & Support of Clinical Experiences 3. Clinical Experience Requirements for School Leaders 4. District-Program Partnerships; Structures & Shared Responsibility 5. Program Completion & Candidate Assessment Standards 6. Program Effectiveness & Accountability

7. 7 The Levers For Strengthening Preparation Principle 23 Survey Respondents Is example principle sufficiently descriptive and applicable to School Leader preparation? 1. Program Entry Standards Yes: 56%No: 44% 2. Staffing & Support of Clinical ExperiencesYes: 72%No: 28% 3. Clinical Experience Requirements for School Leaders Yes: 72%No: 28% 4. District-Program Partnerships; Structures & Shared Responsibility Yes: 89%No: 11% 5. Program Completion & Candidate Assessment Standards Yes: 67%No: 33% 6. Program Effectiveness & AccountabilityYes: 78%No: 22%

8. 8 Overall Response to Survey Comments/Feedback Wording suggestions were very helpful; next iteration will reflect improved and clarified wording of principles. Questions/suggestions about specific examples of principles will be posted to the “parking lot” for future consideration; the principles are not where the “details” are to be explicated or outlined. Contrasting views posed will be considered but final principle will represent a balance between raising and regulating state standards versus autonomy of preparation; will be worked out via details of accountability and program approval system. Intent of principles is that they apply to all school leader (endorsement #092) programs and candidates. Principles: Feedback Survey

9. 9 Principle 1: Program Entry Standards 1. Program Entry Standards Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle Connecticut teacher preparation programs must actively recruit, admit, develop and retain only those teacher candidates with strong knowledge, skills, dispositions that are indicative of those expected of teachers for the 21 st Century and required to meet the needs of Connecticut students. Connecticut school leader preparation programs must recruit, admit, only exemplary teachers who have demonstrated competency and are committed to serving as school or district leaders. Prospective school leaders must have strong knowledge, skills, dispositions that are indicative of those expected of school leaders for monitoring and continuously improving teaching and learning in order to meet the needs of Connecticut students.

10. 10 Principle 1: Program Entry Standards Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Summary of Feedback and Comments Clarify that knowledge, skills and dispositions (KSD) for school leaders refer to those outlined in the Connecticut School Leader Standards. Scaffold standards (KSD) required for entry versus those developed during the program and at exit allowing for developmentally appropriate expectations across the preparation program. Add expectation for demonstration of the following as precursor to program entry:  Collaboration with stakeholders  Shared leadership  Professionalism, manage, inspire  Mentoring and coaching of others  Monitoring and supporting continuous improvement of teaching and learning Ensure that candidates are committed to being school or district leaders and not completing the degree for other purposes. Pre-requisite education degree and experience must be required to some extent.

11. 11 Principle 2: Staffing & Support of Clinical Experiences 2. Staffing & Support of Clinical Experiences Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle The staffing, structures and program support policies of preparation programs, school districts and CSDE must be coordinated to provide effective clinical experiences that represent the current and future needs of Connecticut’s schools and children. Clinical faculty (supervisors) and school based educators have a significant impact on candidate clinical experiences and must be effective educators who understand and apply national and state teaching and student standards. The staffing, structures and program support policies of preparation programs, school districts and CSDE must be coordinated to provide effective clinical experiences that represent the current and future needs of Connecticut’s schools and children. Clinical faculty (supervisors) and school based leaders who mentor new school leaders have a significant impact on facilitating candidate clinical experiences and must be effective educators who understand and apply national and state instructional, leadership and student standards. School leader candidates must evaluate the quality of clinical faculty or school based mentors who supervise to ensure that candidates are provided with the highest quality training and support. The evaluation data will inform program improvement needs.

12. 12 Principle 2: Staffing & Support of Clinical Experiences Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Summary of Feedback and Comments Principle clarification 3 rd sentence: the intent is that school leader candidates will evaluate and provide feedback on the quality of staffing and support of clinical experiences including supervision from faculty and mentorship from school-based administrators. For example an evaluation instrument (e.g., the School Leadership-Aspirant Self-Assessment) could be developed by stakeholders but administered by the state and used statewide after the program completion to allow candidates to provide feedback about the various elements of the program (e.g., quality of faculty supervision, quality of school-based mentorship, etc.) as they relate to the candidate outcomes represented in the Connecticut School Leader Standards.

13. 13 Principle 3: Clinical Experience Requirements 3. Clinical Experience Requirements Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle All candidates must have a sequence of varied, structured, intensive and purposefully supported clinical school experiences that are appropriately staffed by qualified educators to ensure support for success. Experiences must be across the program, coordinated and support the continuum of content and skill development to become an effective educator. Note: clinical experiences include field experiences, practica and student teaching. All school leader candidates must have a sequence of varied, structured, intensive and purposefully supported clinical school experiences that are appropriately staffed by qualified educators to ensure support for success. Experiences must be across the program, coordinated and support the continuum of skill development to become an effective school leader. School leader candidates must evaluate the quality of the clinical experiences that are an integral part of the preparation program. The evaluation data will inform program improvement needs. Note: clinical experiences include the school leader internship and field experiences.

14. 14 Principle 3: Clinical Experience Requirements Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Should principle specify “variety of clinical experiences” to include experience in urban districts or schools with diverse populations? That can be delineated in the future when examples of the standards are outlined. Term “qualified educators” in first sentence means that the school-based faculty and higher education faculty are selected based on their proven experience as educational leaders. Clarify second paragraph: similar to Principle 2, what is meant here is that the candidates evaluate the quality and coherence of the clinical experiences in order to develop the requisite skills upon which they will be assessed. Summary of Feedback and Comments

15. 15 Principle 4: District-Program Partnerships 4. District-Program Partnerships Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle Teacher preparation programs and schools/districts must have well-defined, high-quality, collaborative partnerships to ensure the quality of clinical experiences for teacher candidates while addressing the needs of and benefits to all involved. Teacher preparation programs and school districts will develop strategic partnerships to support clinical and school-based training for which they share responsibility, authority, and accountability including program development and implementation School leader preparation programs and schools/districts must have well-defined, high- quality, collaborative partnerships to ensure the quality of clinical experiences for school leader candidates while addressing the needs of and benefits to all involved. School leader preparation programs and school districts will develop strategic partnerships to support clinical and school- based training for which they share responsibility, authority, and accountability including program development and implementation.

16. 16 Principle 4: District-Program Partnerships Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Define collaborative partnerships versus strategic partnerships. Are both statements needed? First statement refers to the collaborative partnership necessary to ensure quality of clinical experiences. The second statement is about shared responsibility for program development and implementation (i.e., the district has equal input on clinical experience design and facilitation). The criteria and oversight for determining quality partnerships will be developed in the next phase of the development work. Summary of Feedback and Comments

17. 17 Principle 5: Program Completion & Candidate Assessment Standards 5. Program Completion & Candidate Assessment Standards Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle Candidates will demonstrate competencies aligned with national and state standards by successfully completing rigorous performance-based assessments as part of clinical experiences. All teacher candidates will demonstrate dispositions and skills necessary to support students’ academic and non-academic needs. School leader candidates will demonstrate competencies aligned with national and state standards by successfully completing rigorous performance-based assessments as part of clinical experiences including but not limited to: Facilitating school vision and mission Promoting positive school culture Providing effective instructional leadership Designing school improvement plans Designing professional growth and supervision plans Managing a school operation Collaborating with families and communities All school leader candidates will demonstrate dispositions and skills necessary to support the development of effective teachers and support students’ academic and non-academic needs.

18. 18 Principle 5: Program Completion & Candidate Assessment Standards Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Align assessment and criteria with the 6 School Leader Standards as developmentally appropriate to the school leaders in training (and alignment to some extent with the state administrator evaluation criteria) Assessment of inter-personal skills, problem solving skills—should these be program level assessments or entry requirements? Should there be specific reference to developing the knowledge and skills relative to special and diverse populations (students with disabilities, ELLs, etc.)? Specificity of performance assessments will be delineated in the development phase Summary of Feedback and Comments

19. 19 Principle 6: Program Effectiveness & Accountability 6. Program Effectiveness & Accountability Educator Preparation PrincipleExample Administrator Principle Preparing a teacher to be successful and effective in the field is the shared responsibility of preparation program and partner districts. Preparation programs must ultimately be responsible for ensuring completers enter the profession with the skills, knowledge and dispositions to be effective in the classroom. Preparation programs must have access to data about their completers’ performance in the classroom and should be held accountable for their programs’ effectiveness in preparing teachers to enter and remain in the profession. Preparing a school leader to be successful and effective in the field is the shared responsibility of preparation program and partner districts. Preparation programs must ultimately be responsible for ensuring completers enter school leadership roles with the skills, knowledge and dispositions to be effective at the school or district level. Preparation programs must have access to data about their school leaders’ performance and should be held accountable for their programs’ effectiveness in preparing them to enter and remain in the profession.

20. 20 Principle 6: Program Effectiveness & Accountability Does it support our guiding beliefs? Do No Harm. Encourage Innovation. Be Aspirational. Use external measures of school leader performance, holding preparation institutions accountable for the outcomes and improving efficacy of the programs. Specific accountability measures to be developed (currently have CAT in place that has provided preparation programs feedback on candidate knowledge and skills related to Instructional Analysis and Teacher Support and School Improvement). Accountability data on school leader preparation will be made public like the teacher preparation data (CSDE has already begun to compile CAT, administrator certification and employment, etc.). Summary of Feedback and Comments

21. 21 Delineate specific standards-based requirements in which candidates must be trained and demonstrate competency, not just guidance Address alternate routes for administration and for those from outside the field of education or other special service areas Require demonstration of ability to improve teacher practice/student outcomes Ensure robust clinical experiences Dual tracks for general administration versus special education administration Need more to include training in the following areas  Addressing issues related to diverse student populations  Communicating and building partnerships with families (see SL Standards)  Need rigorous internship experiences and actual leadership experiences with effective feedback to candidates on skills needing development  Need training on systems design and change theories Address use of technology? Summary of Additional Concerns & Recommendations

22. 22 Agenda Welcome & Purpose for Webinar Discussion of Survey Results & Principles Next Steps

23. 23 Next Steps Final Review of School Leader Principles Presentation to State Board of Education (Sept or Oct) Development of Work Plan for 2013-14 Develop performance criteria, assessment and accountability measures, etc. Review and revise program approval regulations and other policy documents Thank you for your contributions on the survey and in the webinar today. Recorded webinar will be posted to CSDE website.