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Inter-local Agreement

U.S.PREP National Center

University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation

The University of North Texas-Dallas (Provider) & Dallas Independent School District

This Memorandum of Understanding sets forth the expectations and commitments of the U.S.PREP

member providers and partner districts.

U.S.PREP Membership & Implementation of the Gates Teacher Preparation Project

The U.S.PREP National Center is housed at Texas Tech University and is one of three national centers of

teacher preparation reform funded by the Gates Foundation. The term of the Gates grant and this MOU

is through June 30, 2018. The U.S.PREP National Center is a coalition of six reform-ready university

colleges of education: Texas Tech University, The University of North Texas–Dallas, The University of

Houston, Southeastern Louisiana State University, Jackson State University and The University of

Memphis. Each U.S.PREP member university has designated a primary urban school district partner.

The University of North Texas-Dallas, a U.S.PREP member institution, has designated Dallas ISD as its

primary partner district. The purpose of the signature by Dallas ISD is to acknowledge the reformed

teacher preparation to be conducted within the district by UNT-Dallas and supported by the U.S.PREP

National Center.

The purpose of the U.S.PREP National Center is to facilitate collaboration among partner districts,

providers and key stakeholders for the purpose of creating classroom-ready teachers and advancing

LEARNING and INNOVATION in teacher preparation through technical support, design-based research

and transparent use of data. U.S.PREP providers and partner districts will support and hold each other

accountable for fully implementing and scaling the specific U.S.PREP outcomes & indicators across all

the teacher preparation programs within each provider member institution.

Key Drivers of Quality

Teacher preparation providers and partner districts who:

1. build teacher candidate competency through practice;

2. engage in authentic continuous improvement;

3. ensure their own teacher educators are effective; and,

4. are driven by deep, authentic school-university partnerships that foster the success of school

systems and the communities that they serve.

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The U.S.PREP National Center will fully actualize the four Key Drivers of Quality, and the related

U.S.PREP outcomes/indicators, by utilizing common outcome measures of effectiveness, sharing data

for purposes of improving practice and student outcomes, conducting research and disseminating

findings across the profession. During the three year Gates Foundation grant period, the lead institution

hosting the U.S.PREP National Center will be Texas Tech University (TTU). The College of Education at

TTU has fully scaled extensive teacher education reforms that have been strongly endorsed by CAEP, the

Inspectorate U.S. and partner school districts across Texas. During the grant period, TTU’s reformed

teacher education programs and each provider’s and partner district’s specific needs will serve as the

framework for supporting member teacher education reform. In addition, shared data and collective

analysis of U.S.PREP member practice will serve to advance the measured effectiveness of all U.S.PREP

Members.

U.S.PREP Goals (Three Years):

Overall Goal: U.S.PREP Members Providers will produce exemplary new teachers for their partner

districts who outperform new teachers prepared in other teacher preparation programs.

U.S.PREP Outcome Goals by Quality Driver – The U.S.PREP National Center and its Coalition Members

will Achieve:

1. New teachers with exceptional content and pedagogical knowledge and skills progressively

mastered through tested and refined curricula, instruction and clinical shaping. (Quality Driver 1)

2. A program culture of habituated and systemic use of outcome and design-based research data to

make decisions about teacher candidate interventions, program revisions and to ensure

implementation fidelity and rigor. (Quality Driver 2)

3. A culture of exceptionally high teacher educator effectiveness elevated through iterative and

results-oriented professional development driven by outcome and design-based research data

(Quality Driver 3)

4. Common ground school-university vision and enactment of teacher preparation programming built

on collaborative implementation and shared governance. (Quality Driver 4)

5. Industry-leading advancement of teacher preparation programming driven by school-university

innovations that proactively address unmet needs and future trends in teaching and learning.

(Quality Driver 4)

6. An effective and well-publicized peer-to-peer university PLC model that produces greater-than-

expected results and jumpstarts a revolution of peer-driven reform and improved teacher

preparation outcomes.

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Terms of U.S.PREP Membership

To participate as a member provider in the U.S.PREP National Center, institutions accept responsibility

for the terms spelled out in this memorandum of understanding and have obtained the signed

endorsement of the member dean of education, university provost/president and the superintendent of

a key partner district.

U.S.PREP membership is characterized by fully-scaled reforms, significantly improved graduate

effectiveness/impact, sharing and transparency of data, and rigorously objective “critical friend”

feedback / accountability. U.S.PREP Member Providers are expected to fully scale and fully sustain the

reforms post-grant funding. To foster the achievement of these outcomes, the U.S.PREP National Center

will support member institutions with an annual Individual Transformation Plan (ITP) to implement

proven strategies for reform, specifically: a) piloting, b) scale-up and c) post-grant or no-grant cost

internalization.

Core Teacher Education Program Reforms

The areas of teacher education program reform described below are expected areas of reform for

U.S.PREP Member Providers within the 3-year timeline of the Gates grant. The reforms are guided by

the Key Drivers of Quality and have been successfully implemented and fully scaled at TTU. TTU will

provide U.S.PREP Member Providers with hands-on and continuous reform implementation support by

highly successful, highly experienced teacher educators and teacher education leaders. A particular

area of strength in the TTU model is school-university partnerships for teacher preparation with strong

clinical experiences and the use of: a) a clear programmatic framework for excellence in teaching, b)

technology to foster teacher candidate reflection on practice, and c) data systems for progress

monitoring and refinements.

Driver One: Teacher preparation providers build teacher candidate competency through practice

U.S.PREP Member Providers will establish and fully scale clear program-level outcome measures to

include the following: (1) Observational: A rubric of instructional effectiveness (e.g., TAP), (2)

Attitudinal: An instrument to measure K-12 student’s’ attitudes about learning (e.g., The Classroom

Engagement Inventory – Wang, Bergin & Bergin, 2014), (3) Post-graduation: Partner district

standardized student achievement test scores used in value-added analysis comparing U.S.PREP

new teachers with new teachers from other programs.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will define, fully articulate, and become masterful at developing and

measuring teacher candidates’ degree of classroom instructional competencies around a common,

programmatic framework of teaching excellence (e.g., TAP rubric, TeachingWorks high leverage

teaching practices).

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U.S.PREP Member Providers will require all teacher preparation faculty who teach and/or evaluate

teacher candidates to be trained and successfully certified on the performance-based rubric (e.g.,

TAP) on an annual basis. This action fosters program rigor and significantly increases the probability

of inter-rater reliability.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will pilot, research and scale program-level benchmark progress

monitoring measures to ensure teacher candidates’ timely growth throughout the teacher

education program. Proficiency areas may include: a) content-area, b) pedagogical content

knowledge, c) pedagogical skills, and d) technology integration.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine a semester-by semester

faculty-team process of teacher candidate progress monitoring on the programmatic, embedded

assessments. Faculty will create interventions as needed for teacher candidates based on progress

reviews.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will review and revise as needed the structure, scope and sequence of

teacher education program courses and embedded assessments to ensure that teacher candidates

are making expected benchmark progress toward the ultimate program-level outcomes. This

curriculum work will ensure program intentional integration among the state’s K-12 academic

standards, the program’s core teaching concepts (e.g., the science of learning) and overall

framework of teaching excellence (e.g., TAP, the high-leverage teaching practices).

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine the role of Site Coordinators,

teacher education faculty members assigned to a cohort of teacher candidates as overall program

coordinators, district liaisons, instructors, clinical coaches and housed in the partner district.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will implement formative classroom walkthroughs to monitor and

support teacher candidates’ ongoing progress. Site Coordinators will conduct a minimum of four (4)

walkthroughs each semester during the residency. Data and feedback form walkthroughs will be

shared with teacher candidates and mentor teachers along with recommended next steps.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine the POP clinical learning cycle

(i.e., pre-conference, observation, post-conference) with at least two cycles per semester during the

student teaching year.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine the use of programmatic video

capture to foster teacher candidates’ self-reflection and strong teaching skills.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will pilot the use of YEAR-LONG student teaching (residency)

experiences. Collective U.S.PREP outcome data will guide the coalition on decisions about final

adoption, scaling and continuously refinement of YEAR-LONG student teaching.

U.S.PREP Member Providers, dominantly through their Site Coordinators, will recruit, select and

train highly effective cooperating (mentor) teachers and specifically implement a co-teaching model

during the residency.

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Driver Two: Teacher preparation providers engage in authentic continuous improvement

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt a common, shared U.S.PREP database to be provided by the

Center. Member Institutions will be expected to contribute a standard set of data to the shared

U.S.PREP database on a timely and ongoing basis.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine an easy-to-use data

dashboard system to be utilized extensively and programmatically by site coordinators, teacher

education program instructors, and program & college leadership to monitor teacher candidate

progress and make program adjustments.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will participate in an annual formative program site-review visit

conducted by the Inspectorate U.S. which will examine the program implementation and outcomes

(e.g., quality of teaching by student teachers and program faculty, quality of clinical coaching by site

coordinators). Results from the site visit will considered as “critical friend” external review results

and will only be reported internally within the U.S.PREP coalition.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will conduct coalition-provided surveys of partner district employer

and graduate satisfaction.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will pilot, research and scale the use of video capture and sharing

technology (e.g., iPads, Teachscape) to enable “second scoring” of at least 50% of teacher

candidates’ performance-based assessments each semester (e.g., TAP rubric) to ensure scoring rigor

and inter-rater reliability in the assessment of observed teaching effectiveness. All faculty members

providing instruction in the teacher education program will be TAP trained, certified and participate

in second scoring.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will adopt, scale and continuously refine a semester-by semester

college-leadership-level teacher education program evaluation reporting process (e.g., “Data Day”).

Such reports will provide cross-program (e.g., elementary, secondary) comparisons on the outcome

variables. Providers will use data and such events to review cohort-level data to inform curriculum

decisions, course instruction, district-level governance meetings, site coordinator and mentor

teacher training topics.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will participate in annual U.S.PREP reports on teacher program

effectiveness based on findings from the shared database system, design-based research projects

and post-graduation effectiveness data. Reports will be made available to stakeholders.

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Driver Three: Teacher preparation providers ensure their own teacher educators are effective

Beginning in Year Two of the Gates Project and with the support of the center, U.S.PREP Member

Providers will conduct an annual (internal) “Program Review Process” assessing the effectiveness of

teacher preparation personnel (e.g., site coordinators, teacher prep instructors) and the quality of

school-university collaboration for teacher preparation.

U.S.PREP Member Providers, and especially deans, chairs and other administrative leaders in the

provider’s college, will hold to high-fidelity implementation of teacher educator roles (e.g., Site

Coordinators) and expectations (e.g., as assessed in the Program Review Process)

U.S.PREP Member Providers, and especially deans, chairs and other administrative leaders in the

provider’s college, will hold to high-fidelity implementation of teacher educator leadership roles

(e.g., Professional Development Facilitators, Anchor Faculty) and expectations (e.g., as assessed in

the Program Review Process)

With the use of Anchor Faculty and other teacher education leadership roles, U.S.PREP Member

Providers will actively engage in Design-based Research PLC Teams that iteratively hone

programming and teacher candidate outcomes across a range of curriculum, instruction and clinical

processes

U.S.PREP Member Providers, and specifically deans, chairs and other administrative leaders in the

provider’s college, will enact annual “Program Improvement Contracts” with teacher preparation

program faculty that lay out contract deliverables such as results-oriented professional development

and specific program improvements emanating from prior Data Day and other program review

processes.

U.S.PREP Member Providers conduct End-of-Year Program Improvement Contract Review events

at the end of the academic year or program cycle that engage the dean/CEO and other key teacher

education leaders in the provider organization.

U.S.PREP Member Providers consider, if applicable, the use of a merit-based system to reward

teacher educator excellence.

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Driver Four: Teacher preparation providers are driven by authentic school-university partnerships

that foster the success of school systems and the communities that they serve

U.S.PREP Member Providers will enact an MOU for school-university teacher education program

partnerships school districts/schools that serve high-need student populations and that include

clear program outcomes measures (e.g., TAP, K-12 Student Attitudinal) and data-sharing

agreements that enable the partnership to evaluate U.S.PREP graduate impact on student

achievement and success.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will pilot, research and scale targeted programs that attract and

prepare highly effective teachers-of-color.

U.S.PREP Member Providers will use the school-university teacher education partnership MOU to

collect data and address teacher education programming to specific areas of educator need in the

partner districts (e.g., STEM, Special Education, Secondary and Bilingual).

As part of the MOU, school-university partnership leaders will actively participate in shared

governance and annual partnership evaluation meetings.

School and university leaders in the U.S.PREP coalition will meaningfully collaborate to strategically

plan and tactically pilot, research, refine and scale forward-thinking, industry-leading innovations

in teacher preparation.

U.S.PREP Staff have direct experience implemented both undergraduate and graduate residency teacher

education programs and can provide implementation support for both programs. It is understood that

U.S.PREP Member Providers may reside in states that require other program components or measures

not implemented by TTU (e.g., the ED-TPA). Such requirements will not conflict with U.S.PREP coalition

initiatives and may even provide different or additional lenses for research on teacher candidate

effectiveness.

Common Outcome Measures

Possibly the most essential element of the reformed teacher education programs at TTU is having clear,

programmatically understood and consistently utilized skill-based outcome measures. Simply stated, all

school and university teacher educators must understand (at a VERY deep level) and work towards

candidates’ mastery of the program outcome measures. TTU has selected and uses the following

outcome measures to chronicle the progress of their candidates.

1) Performance-based Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness:

- The TAP rubric of instructional effectiveness by NIET. The TAP rubric was one of the first

performance-based assessments created before the wave of instructional rubrics now available

(e.g., Charlotte Danielson, CLASS). A number of studies have shown a link between observed

teaching effectiveness on the TAP rubric and students’ growth in achievement.

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- The U.S.PREP Coalition will have direct support by the University of Michigan’s TeachingWorks.

This research-driven effort looks at “high-leverage teaching practices” strongly associated with

student learning. The combination of TAP training/certification by NIET and support strategies

on the high-leverage teaching practices by TeachingWorks will provide U.S.PREP Member

Provider with: a) a common language framework for teaching excellence, b) rich and in-depth

clinical training/support, and c) guidance on curriculum revisions designed to prepare teacher

candidates to teach effectively.

- Use of the TAP rubric as the U.S.PREP foundational training tool and as the “cross walk”

instrument to existing partner district measures: The U.S.PREP Staff know that districts and

states use various performance-based assessments of teacher effectiveness. The state rubrics in

Tennessee and Texas are derivatives of the TAP rubric. Further, large urban districts such as

Dallas and Houston ISD have created their own performance-based rubrics. From experience we

know that it is very easy to make a cross-walk from the TAP rubric (and the TeachingWorks high

leverage teaching practices) to any other rubric IF teacher educators have a DEEP understanding

of and experience with the TAP indicators and the TeachingWorks high leverage practices.

- Given that university teacher preparation has historically not placed concentrated programmatic

emphasis on ALL teacher educators’ deep understanding, experience and mastery of

performance-based assessment as a formative teaching, learning and skill-shaping tool within

teacher preparation programs, the U.S.PREP National Center will:

Train and certify U.S.PREP Member Providers on the TAP rubric (by NIET) and on the high

leverage teaching practices (by TeachingWorks) and then assist member providers in the

cross walk scoring process with rubrics used by the various partner districts. (This assumes

that member providers will use the partner district’s rubric as the performance assessment

for their teacher preparation program. On the other hand, with the blessing of partner

districts, TTU uses the TAP rubric for teacher preparation partnerships across Texas.)

If the U.S.PREP Member Provider uses a performance rubric other than TAP in their teacher

preparation program: Using video capture and sharing technology, U.S.PREP Member

Providers, with the guidance of the center, will double-score some coalition-discussed-and-

approved percentage of teacher candidate performances with the TAP rubric to obtain a

standardized cross-U.S.PREP measure of teaching effectiveness for purposes of the shared

database and cross-institutional analysis of data.

2) K-12 Student Attitudinal Measure

- To assess the impact of U.S.PREP Student Teachers on the learning attitudes of the K-12

students that they teach, the Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI) (Wang, Bergin, & Bergin,

2014) will be used twice during the student teaching experience: 1) once as a diagnostic

measure approximately one month into student teaching, and 2) a second time as an outcome

measure at the end of student teaching.

The CEI is used in a manner that permits linkage of K-12 student responses, student

demographic information and student classroom benchmark achievement results to individual

student teachers. Using the survey twice during the student teaching (residency) year is for the

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purpose of making teacher candidates aware of the attitudes of their students and for creating

and implementing a targeted intervention plan for improving the achievement of the lowest

performing students (i.e., after CEI scores have been correlated with classroom assessment and

district benchmark assessment data). The second administration of the CEI is for the purpose of

providing data to show the impact of efforts to improve students’ attitudes about learning as

well as their actual academic achievement

3) Partner District Student Achievement Data

- For purposes of the U.S.PREP coalition, the focus on K-12 student achievement data will be

related to documenting the relative impact of U.S.PREP graduates on K-12 student achievement

in the key partner districts (only).

- Through the school-university teacher education program MOU, U.S.PREP Member Providers

will obtain for the U.S.PREP Director of Data Services the masked standardized test score data of

students taught by U.S.PREP graduates and that of other new partner district teachers prepared

in other preparation programs.

- The U.S.PREP Director of Data Services will use the data to conduct a preliminary analysis of

U.S.PREP graduates’ relative impact on K-12 student achievement and growth (VAM) vs. that of

other new teachers matched for years of experience and subject area if possible.

Data Sharing

As previously noted, U.S.PREP Provider Members will collect and share data on the common outcome

measures (TAP, CEI). Such data sharing will be imperative to U.S.PREP coalition learning as the

transparency fosters data-driven program refinement. The U.S.PREP National Center will make available

to providers a database system that will enable capture and reporting of outcome trends within each

provider’s programs as well as sharing of such outcome data with the Center. All parties will share data

in accordance with the applicable federal, state and local laws, including, but not limited to, the Family

Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Close Teacher Preparation Collaboration with a Key Partner District and the Superintendent

A foundational principle of the U.S.PREP National Center is authentic school-university partnerships for

teacher preparation. Deep partnerships with school districts, schools, teachers and school leaders who

know their district’s trends and human capital needs will help U.S.PREP Member Providers become

grounded and aligned with needs.

Innovative providers must be nimble, vigilant and proactive; today’s teacher competencies may not be

sufficient for tomorrow’s classrooms. Shared school-university strategic planning, evaluation of

teaching/learning trends and teacher preparation reforms will drive continuous learning and tactical

innovation pilot initiatives moving forward.

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To ensure that each provider and their marketplace is represented in the bi-annual school-university

shared leadership meeting, each provider will enlist the participation of a key partner district

superintendent as a co-leader in the U.S.PREP coalition. Superintendents, and staff if they prefer, will be

asked to participate in two leadership meetings per year funded by the Gates grant and facilitated by

SREB (the Southern Regional Education Board) and Educate Texas. This meetings will be held in easily

accessible population centers.

In addition to this document, key partner districts will also be expected to support and sign a school-

university memorandum of understanding (MOU) that articulates the specific details of collaborative

teacher preparation including: a) district-based clinical immersion of a number of teacher candidates, b)

allowance of video capture of teacher candidate practice, c) placement of a university “site coordinator”

within a pod of partner district schools to oversee and support the development of the teacher

candidates, d) provision of district classroom and/or meeting space for training of teacher candidates

and mentor teachers in the collaborative teacher prep program, e) support for the twice-yearly

administration of a K-12 student attitudinal survey about the effectiveness of the teacher candidate, and

f) provision of masked K-12 student achievement data linked to new teachers within the partner district

to compare the value-added impact of U.S.PREP graduates, hired by the district, on student

achievement growth compared to that of other new teachers hired by the district and prepared in other

teacher education programs.

Nature of U.S.PREP Services/Supports to Foster Teacher Preparation Excellence Across the Coalition

Seasoned teacher educators understand the difference between hearing about vs. attempting to

implement program reforms. Many would agree that university teacher education’s track record for

implementing reform is, at best, checkered. For that reason, the U.S.PREP National Center will provide

members with conceptual as well as site-based and “on-the-ground” support for implementing and

evaluating reforms by highly successful and highly experienced teacher educators. U.S.PREP assistance

includes the following divisions and mechanisms.

With the combined resources of TTU, NIET, the University of Michigan’s TeachingWorks, the

Inspectorate U.S., SREB, Educate Texas and the Gates Foundation, we will establish the U.S.PREP

NATIONAL CENTER. The U.S.PREP National Center will offer the following major PILLARS of

services/supports:

Pillar One: SUPPORT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSFORMED PROGRAMMING

U.S.PREP Staff will provide guidance to member providers on implementing curriculum and clinical

reforms around the four Key Drivers of Quality and the U.S.PREP Outcomes/Indicators from piloting, to

phase-in and scale-up. U.S.PREP will provide conceptual and site-based, hands-on support for reform

operations, oversight and site coordinator quality control by highly successful, practicing teacher

educators. Organizations affiliated with U.S.PREP such as NIET, TeachingWorks, and the Inspectorate

U.S. will help deepen provider understanding and skills for producing highly effective new teachers.

U.S.PREP Staff will provide guidance to member providers on use of video technology to capture, share

and shape teacher candidates’ competencies as well as how to conduct double-scoring processes with

teacher educators for the purpose of inter-rater reliability, rigor and integrity of implementation.

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Pillar Two: SUPPORT FOR AUTHENTIC SCHOOL-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS FOR TEACHER PREP

U.S.PREP Staff will provide experience-based guidance on deep and authentic school-university

partnerships for teacher education. The Center will provide MOU documents with guidance on data

collection and sharing aligned with FERPA and IRB standards. The Center will also provide on-the-

ground support for school-university collaborative processes in teacher preparation such as shared

governance meetings, mentor teacher training, and clinical support processes.

With the facilitation of SREB and Educate Texas, leaders from the key partner districts and provider

institutions will meet bi-annually to jointly plan innovation pilots to be implemented by targeted

member school-university partnerships and results shared with the entire coalition.

Pillar Three: DATA COLLECTION & TRANSPARENT TREND ANALYSIS FOR COLLECTIVE LEARNING

U.S.PREP Staff will provide guidance on how to use common outcome data formatively (and within a

dashboard system) as part of the implementation of the transformed program to make ongoing

decisions about teacher candidates and program direction.

U.S.PREP Staff will provide guidance to member providers and partner districts on data collection

procedures around the common outcomes measures as well as procedures for securely sharing these

data into a common U.S.PREP database.

Pillar Four: DESIGN-BASED RESEARCH TO HONE TEACHER EDUCATOR & PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS

U.S.PREP Staff will provide guidance, invitations and coordination to member providers for the

purpose of engaging them in cross-institution design-based research and PLC teams for the purpose of

honing curriculum, instruction, and clinical processes (i.e., teacher educator and program

effectiveness).

U.S.PREP Staff will collaborate with TeachingWorks Staff and providers to establish reform targets and

iterative research protocols for honing teacher educator effectiveness and teacher candidate

competencies.

Pillar Five: FOSTER GROWTH OF THE UNIVERSITY COALITION MODEL THROUGH DISSEMINATION OF

U.S.PREP PRACTICES, RESULTS, RESEARCH

Working with Educate Texas and SREB, the U.S.PREP National Center will actively disseminate the work

of the coalition as well as the successes of individual providers in their respective states. Educate Texas

and SREB will communicate the work of the U.S.PREP National Center to teacher prep providers

outside of the coalition with the purpose of sharing results and fostering the merits of similar

university coalitions for teacher preparation reform.

Educate Texas and SREB will also share U.S.PREP practices, results and research with legislators in the

coalition’s respective states for the purpose of influencing policy and funding.

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Pillar Six: LEADERSHIP AND RESOURCING OF TRANSFORMATION

The U.S.PREP National Center will support a close-knit support group among the coalition deans and

other key decision-makers. The purpose of this group (led by and for U.S.PREP coalition deans) is to

support individual deans and the group in making sometimes difficult decisions in the reform process.

As needed, the dean-directed support group may elect to engage coalition provosts and/presidents.

The Annual Inspectorate Program Review Site Visit

As part of the Gates Foundation Teacher Preparation Transformation program, the foundation will

sponsor an annual Inspectorate U.S. site visit to each member provider. This external process is an

annual, rigorous yet formative “critical friend” site review process. The Inspectorate visit is conducted

by a team of program examiners from the Inspectorate U.S. and focuses dominantly on program

outcome effectiveness. Specifically, the Inspectorate process will provide fine-grained feedback about

the observed teaching effectiveness of member providers’ student teachers and teacher educators as

well as the clinical shaping capacity of site coordinators. In addition, the Inspectorate visit will provide

feedback about member providers’ curriculum design. The Gates Foundation will also have the

Inspectorate U.S. design and implement an annual review process to examine the operations and

effectiveness of the Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers.

Continuation of Membership and Specialization of Reforms

The U.S.PREP National Center accepts responsibility for helping member providers effectively implement

the teacher education program reforms articulated in this MOU. Further, the U.S.PREP National Center

will work with the Gates Foundation to monitor and report member providers’ implementation progress

during the three-year term of the grant-supported project.

As with all Gates Foundation grantees, failure to make progress toward committed reforms could lead

to the loss of funding. The U.S.PREP National Center will work with each member provider on an annual

Individual Transformation Plan (ITP) basis to support full actualization of the four Key Drivers of Quality.

The Annual U.S.PREP ITP Process for Supporting Member Providers

The early stages of Year One of the Gates Foundation-supported U.S.PREP work will focus on learning

about each member provider’s baseline starting points on the Key Drivers of Quality. Throughout the

application process member providers will be asked to conduct a thorough self-assessment on the

drivers. U.S.PREP Staff and Inspectorate U.S. baseline visits will also provide perspectives on the starting

point.

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With the baseline assessment, U.S.PREP Staff and member providers will jointly create an annual reform

ITP and project management plan with Gates Driver-driven reform goals, resources, time-lines and

personnel responsibilities. The ITP will determine U.S.PREP services/supports and will be the basis for

quarterly and end-of-year progress monitoring.

The U.S.PREP National Center will do everything in its power to support progress and the success of

each member provider. Each U.S.PREP Member Provider’s effort and progress will drive U.S.PREP

decisions about members’ funding and continuation in the coalition.

Factors to drive decisions about continuation include: a) provider extent of use of U.S.PREP services, b)

quality of provider’s school-university relations with their key partner school district, c) degree of

provider provision of data, participation in data reviews and in the design-based program improvement

research teams, d) provider’s demonstrated initiative and leadership in the new, co-created reform

pilots, e) provider’s annual progress on the four drivers, and f) outcome evidence about the quality of

the provider’s new teacher graduates.

It is understood that member providers will want/need to tailor programs to make them their own. This

is not only accepted, it is encouraged, within the limits of our collective data findings on graduate

effectiveness. In the early stages of the coalition work, members are expected to fully enact the specific

reforms specified in the U.S.PREP Outcome & Indicators document.

The Evolution of U.S.PREP Leadership and Ownership

In the first two years of U.S.PREP National Center, designated staff from the U.S.PREP National Center

will provide a number of coordinated services to support the success and impact of reforms across the

U.S.PREP Member Providers. Thereafter, other high-performing members within the U.S.PREP coalition

will be invited to reciprocally provide support services within the coalition and/or to new U.S.PREP

Member Providers.

In the longer-term, the U.S.PREP National Center is conceptualized as becoming a member-owned CO-

OP with U.S.PREP Staff Members coming from multiple member institutions. To support long-term

sustainability of the U.S.PREP National Center, it is likely that the initial members will want to consider it

becoming a 501(c)3 with annual membership dues.

14

THE NEXT SECTION IS FOR U.S.PREP MEMBER and STAFF SIGNATURES

Title: Partner District Title: Dean/Director, College of Education

Printed Name: Printed Name:

Signature: Signature:

Date: Date:

Title: University President Title: Chair/Director, Teacher Education

Printed Name: Printed Name:

Signature: Signature:

Date: Date:

Title: University Provost

Printed Name:

Signature:

Date: