The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators

A State Unit of the Association of Teacher Educators
and The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

 

A MASTER PLAN FOR TEACHER EDUCATION
Developed by the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators

INTRODUCTION
The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE) is the state unit of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). It continues the tradition of the Pennsylvania Association of Liberal Arts Colleges for the Advancement of Teaching (PALACAT), a group that traces its history to almost 80 years ago.

PAC-TE is dedicated to providing strong advocacy for teacher education in the Commonwealth, and it does so with an interest in guaranteeing that every student at all levels and in all settings has the opportunity and right to learn under the guidance and care of the most highly qualified and effective teachers possible.

Virtually all colleges and universities with teacher education programs approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education hold institutional membership in PAC-TE and are joined by several community college programs that begin teacher preparation programs for some students. Over 200 teacher educators in higher and basic education maintain an individual membership in the association.

PAC-TE is the unified voice of teacher educators in the Commonwealth because it is the state unit of AACTE and ATE, the two most important national teacher education groups, and it includes individuals from higher and basic education. PAC-TE was the leader in joining the interests of AACTE and ATE, and it is a prominent force nationally among teacher educators because of this action and the strong participation of the PAC-TE membership in national teacher education activity.

THE PURPOSE OF THE MASTER PLAN FOR TEACHER EDUCATION
This Master Plan for Teacher Education serves as a guide for the activity of the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators as it:

  1. Organizes, develops, and implements its short-term and long-term agenda

  2. Informs and recruits the participation of other interested parties

  3. Works to improve the quality of education experiences for all teachers and learners in the Commonwealth and nation.

THE PAC-TE MISSION, VISION AND GOALS

Mission
PAC-TE's mission is to actively support programs and policies of teacher education that make it possible for every student at all levels and in all settings to have the opportunity and right to learn under the guidance and care of the most highly qualified and effective teachers possible.

Vision
PAC-TE's vision is to facilitate the cooperation and collaboration of all persons involved in quality teacher education processes

Goals

  1. To promote quality programs of career-long teacher education
  2. To work with professional colleagues and others who are dedicated to the concept of quality education for all children and youth
  3. To collaborate with professionals and others who believe that the quality of education depends upon the effectiveness of those who teach
  4. To advocate for the improvement of teacher performance and teacher education programs
  5. To work with representatives of national, state, and local governance agencies and professional and public associations to improve the professional status of teachers
  6. To provide opportunities for the individual professional growth of all persons who are concerned with and involved in teacher education

PAC-TE's POLICY FRAMEWORK
The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators supports and encourages approaches to the preparation and continuing development of teachers which:

  1. Work to meet the need to prepare an adequate supply of truly highly qualified teachers for Pennsylvania and other states in all certification areas, for all types of geographic regions, and for all types of schools.

  2. Offer a variety of types of high school quality programs that allow choice and flexibility in initial teacher preparation and continuous professional development.

  3. Advocate effective standards that certify that teachers are equipped to meet the needs of all students in the Commonwealth.

  4. Advocate reliable, valid and reasonable assessment requirements for preservice and inservice teachers.

  5. Participate in the development and refinement of the program approval process as a flexible and challenging mechanism for determining the quality of institutional and other teacher education programs.

  6. Seek opportunities for teacher educators to be involved in policy discussions and decisions regarding preservice education and the professional development of teachers.

  7. Assume a leadership role in setting and implementing a research agenda designed to uncover important understandings related to teaching and learning.

  8. Work to establish a climate conducive to the growth and development of public education in the Commonwealth.

  9. Provide leadership, vision, and communication to the teacher educators of the Commonwealth.

PAC-TE's Action Plan

The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators will:

  1. Work to meet the need to prepare an adequate supply of truly highly qualified teachers for Pennsylvania and other states in all certification areas, for all types of geographic regions, and for all types of schools. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to:
    1. Recruit and admit certification candidates with interest in being licensed to teach in undersupplied certification areas, in working in undersupplied geographic areas, in working in schools with large numbers of at-risk children, and in working in a variety of types of schools.
    2. Communicate more clearly and efficiently with others regarding demand and supply of teachers.
    3. Use incentive programs to attract diverse candidates to their programs.
    4. Reform requirements for admission to and retention in teacher education programs that allow for success for a variety of types of student.
    5. Develop varied and creative programs that are responsive to societal needs.
    6. Provide program and institutional choices that are affordable for all types of teacher education candidates.
    7. Encourage the development of new strategies and technologies to assist in job placement for beginning teachers.
    8. Encourage the development of plans to provide comparable compensation for comparable work for teachers across the state and country.
    9. Encourage the development of strategies and incentives to retain teachers in challenging job settings.
    10. Research the variables needed to understand the above issues more fully and clearly.
    11. Share the results of this research with those in positions and roles with interest in and the ability to do something about it.

  2. Offer a variety of types of high quality programs that allow choice and flexibility in initial teacher preparation and continuous professional development. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to develop and offer high quality initial preparation, continuing education, and graduate programs:
    1. Based in a variety of different types of higher education settings - undergraduate, graduate, community college, state-owned, state-related, private, sectarian, non-sectarian, large, small, liberal arts, professional, etc.
    2. Of varied design and purpose that meet the needs of a variety of teacher education candidates - four-year, five-year, intern-type programs, "feeder" programs from community colleges, associate degree programs for paraprofessionals and early childhood teachers, etc.
    3. Meeting the needs of students of all ages, experience, and financial position.
    4. Providing responsible and accountable alternative paths of preparation.
    5. In a variety of settings, including the college, university, professional development school, public school, private school, charter school, early childhood center, etc.
    6. In partnership with other colleges and universities, basic schools, intermediate units, corporations, businesses, etc.
    7. Using technology appropriately and meaningfully, including distance learning, internet-based courses, internet resources, shared institutional resources, etc.
    8. Leading to the Instructional I certificate.
    9. Allowing teachers to earn Instructional II certification.
    10. Meeting the mandated continuing professional development requirements of teachers.
    11. Meeting the real and practical needs of the career teacher.
    12. Preparing teachers and others for new roles and positions in the basic school setting.
    13. Assisting teachers in becoming certified as mater teachers by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
    14. That prepare teachers and others to work effectively in the higher education setting as teacher educators, researchers, change agents, etc.

  3. Advocate effective standards that certify that teachers are equipped to meet the needs of all students in the Commonwealth. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to:
    1. Clarify the scope and nature of certification regulations in order to make them responsive e to the needs of the basic school setting while still serving the best interests of the students in such settings.
    2. Explore and research various models for offering high quality instruction in schools of all levels and types and work to match certification requirements to such new needs and structures.
    3. Develop strategies to document the accountability of teacher education programs.
    4. Use endorsements as a tool to allow teachers to demonstrate the acquisition of new teaching competencies in content and skill areas.
    5. Develop new means to quantify and document the acquisition and refinement of professional understandings, skills, and dispositions of teachers in such areas as dealing with exceptional learners, parents and guardians, community service agencies, urban education, rural education, ESL acquisition, immigrant education, etc.
    6. Encourage the use of performance-based strategies to evaluate certification applicants prepared in other states.
    7. Encourage the use of strategies that guarantee that all substitute teachers are highly qualified for their role in the schools.
    8. Encourage the use of strategies to eliminate the need for the use of emergency permits in any public school.

  4. Advocate reliable, valid, and reasonable assessment requirements for preservice and inservice teachers. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to research, determine, and implement realistic and valid:
    1. Grade point average requirements for teacher education candidates of all types in preservice and graduate programs of all designs.
    2. Teacher testing requirements for teacher education candidates of all types in preservice and graduate programs of all designs.
    3. Pedagogical requirements that can be shown through research to be directly related to the quality of one's teaching and to the learning of students under a teacher's guidance.
    4. Measures of performance assessment as the true indicators of a teacher's competence at both the preservice and inservice levels.

  5. Participate in the development and refinement of the program approval process as a flexible and challenging mechanism for determining the quality of institutional and other teacher education programs. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to encourage laws and policies:
    1. Requiring that all teacher preparation programs, whether based in colleges and/or universities or not, must meet the same high approval standards.
    2. Requiring that all educators must be properly prepared prior to being given any teaching responsibility in a Commonwealth classroom and should not be allowed to attempt to develop appropriate skills and dispositions at the expense of students they encounter along the learning curve.
    3. Guaranteeing that the program approval process allows for flexibility, creativity, and variety while still maintaining the highest level of standards.
    4. Reserving a prominent role for teacher educators in designing and determining the mechanisms used as part of the program approval process.
    5. Preserving a prominent role for teacher educators and inservice teachers in the evaluation of programs for approval.

  6. Seek opportunities for teacher educators to be involved in policy discussions and decisions regarding preservice education and the professional development of teachers. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to encourage a climate in which:
    1. Teacher educators and practicing teachers are consulted when appointments to positions important to their field of interest and expertise are made.
    2. Teachers are considered for appointments to positions appropriate to their expertise.
    3. Teacher educators, teachers, and others are kept fully informed in advance on issues with impact on their work.

  7. Assume a leadership role in setting and implementing a research agenda designed to uncover important understandings related to teaching and learning. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to:
    1. Maintain a systematic, varied,and practical research agenda related to issues of consequence for the common schools of Pennsylvania.
    2. Implement a strategy for sharing research evidence clearly with others who need this information to inform their practice or decision-making.
    3. Act as a resource for supplying important information on issues of concern to all those with interest in and responsibility for decision-making at the classroom, building, district, or state level.

  8. Work to establish a climate conducive to the growth and development of public education in the Commonwealth. To do this, teacher educators will work with others to encourage the leaders of state government to:
    1. Provide the majority of funding for public schools of the Commonwealth.
    2. Eliminate dependence on local property taxes as the principal or significant means of funding public education.
    3. Guarantee that all students in all schools are given the same opportunity to be successful in school and beyond.
    4. Ensure that all schools are safe and violence free.
    5. Ensure that all children are equally ready to begin public schooling by providing mandated and state funded prekindergarten and kindergarten education in the Commonwealth.
    6. Increase the opportunity for all at-risk children to be successful by providing funding for every Pennsylvania child who qualifies for the Head Start program.
    7. Work with the national government to bring a balance to the testing of students between what is needed to ensure accountability and what interferes with the overall mission of the common schools of the country.
    8. Empower the citizens of a community to play a more active and significant role in the workings of their schools.

  9. Provide leadership, vision, and communication to the teacher educators of the Commonwealth. To do this, PAC-TE will:
    1. Work to broaden the definition of "teacher educator" to include all those who participate in the education of future teachers, especially in the field setting.
    2. Work to keep issues of meaning to teacher education in the forefront of public debate.
    3. Establish consistent and continuing links with groups responsible for legislation, regulation, and policy regarding teacher education and basic education in the Commonwealth.
    4. Establish collaborative relationships with other associations and groups with interest in providing quality education in Pennsylvania and beyond.
    5. Continue to serve as the state unit of the Association of Teacher Educators and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
    6. Maintain a state office under the leadership and guidance of an Executive Director.
    7. Elect and maintain a leadership structure consisting of officers and a Board of Directors to guide the activities of the association.
    8. Encourage the growth of institutional and individual membership in the association.
    9. Schedule and conduct annual meetings geared to the needs of the membership.
    10. Provide an organ(s) of regular communication with the membership.

 

psl 9/2003