For more than a decade, North Carolina State University has been collaborating with school districts in the north central region of the state to develop among selected educators in each district a capability for preparing school-based teacher educators and clinical teachers (inventors of student teachers, beginning teachers, and experienced colleagues). The effort, called the Model Clinical Teaching Program, links the school-based teacher educators and NC State faculty in a network for continuing interaction and professional development. The collaborative model evolves through four phases:

Phase 1:
College administration, the director of Teacher Education, and the director of the Model Clinical Teaching Program review applications from school districts. Once districts are accepted, the university commits personnel, materials, and financial resources to collaborative staff development programs with districts. Districts commit personnel and resources to staff development programs for educating clinical teachers and mentors, and designate two persons per district to be prepared as school-based teacher educators. As well, university and district personnel together review the design of the plan and clarify the expectations of various parties.

Phase 2:
University professors begin a two-semester program to prepare school-based teacher educators. Pairs of teachers from districts enroll in a spring seminar and fall practicum. The spring seminar is entitled Introduction to Developmental Instructional Supervision (3-5 credits). Participants (a) learn adult development theory; (b) use effective communication skills, instructional supervision, and coaching principles; and (c) develop materials and effective teaching strategies to use when working with diverse students. During the practicum (3-5 credits), participants acquire and practice skills in (a) building and maintaining supportive helping relationships; (b) organizing working relationships with appropriate structure; (c) using coaching cycles (preplanning, peer-observation, and post observation conference); (d) serving as resource; (e) guiding analysis and reflection; (f) maintaining records; and (g) using constructive feedback and confrontation.

Phase 3:
Pairs of school-based teacher educators enroll 12-14 teachers per district in local two-semester program to prepare clinical teachers. Districts demonstrate commitment in various ways - for example, offering release time for the seminar and practicum. University faculty begin year-long internship for school-based teacher educators. The model is fully implemented, and collaboration is achieved, when a district?s teacher educators are ready independently to continue cycles of program implementation.

Phase 4:
School-based teacher educators are invited back to the university to serve as clinical instructors in methods courses for 2-3 years. They are based in academic departments. Clinical instructors also assume responsibility for supervising cohorts of student teachers in their districts. The director of Teacher Education and the director of the Model Clinical Teaching Program coordinate implementation of Phase 4. When clinical instructors return to districts they assume new instructional leadership roles and continue to serve as school-university teacher education liaisons.

The stated mission of the innovation is to create a more effective collaborative process of preparing student teachers and counselors and inducting them into the profession. Related goals are to accelerate the learning of complex new teaching skills associated with student learning, to promote development of dispositions associated with professional integrity (e,g., flexible; principled in times of conflict; compassionate and caring; and responsive to the needs of diverse learners), to reduce the high rate at which beginners leave the profession, and to broaden the base of highly skilled school-based educators and mentors.

Twelve school districts in different phases of collaboration now participate in the network. They boast more than 20 clinical instructors, 50 school-based teacher educators, and more than 1,200 clinical teachers. There are now 12 cadres of 2-10 school-based teacher educators who conduct their own local programs. As well, the model or seamless teacher professional development across the career span has spread to other professions, other states, and other countries.

School-based teacher educators complete an 11 to 15-credit-hour sequence of instruction including a one-semester seminar, a one-semester practicum, and a two-semester internship. The curriculum is based on theory and research about teaching, adult learning, ethical and intellectual development, developmental clinical supervision, and peer coaching. Clinical teachers who are educated locally by colleagues (school-based teacher educators) complete a 6-credit hour sequence resembling the seminar and the practicum taken by their school-based teacher educators. Research indicates that such an approach to teacher professional development is highly effective.

Significant collaboration is achieved as colleges? and school districts? school-based educators initiate local preparation of mentors and clinical teachers, and as some of these educators serve as resource persons and clinical instructors on college campuses. The school-based educators and college faculty are linked formally by newsletters, site visits, and regular twice-yearly network meetings.

Selected notable recognitions include the following:

In 1987, NC State and the seven school districts then participating received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for "collaboration among teacher educators and school personnel to provide quality internships and beginning teacher programs," the highest award presented by that body.

In 1989, the Wake County Public School System and NC State received the Showcase of Excellence Award of the National Council of States for Inservice Education, for their collaborative program.

In 1992, the School-University Mentor Network was featured by the Association of Teacher Educators? Commission on the Role and Preparation of Mentor Teachers.

In 1995, a doctoral dissertation completed at Vanderbilt University identified the NC State mentor network as one of the nation?s top three school-university partnerships for teacher and counselor induction.

In 1997-1998, faculty from North Carolina Central University; the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands; the University of Konstanz, Germany; and the Teacher Academy, Bergen, Norway; made visitations to the NC State University program.

In the words of one teacher, "this model places very high expectations on the educator to analyze his or her own teaching or counseling practices, to learn complex new skills associated with assisting novice educators, and, ultimately, to transform one?s own dispositions toward self and the profession. I?m not the same person I was." However, the conceptual framework that undergirds this program, and which places high expectations on all persons involved, is not a quick solution to the challenges facing school districts and schools of education. A number of studies confirm that collaboration in the service of continuing personal and professional development can be a reality, but it takes significant time, care, and commitment. The alternative is stark: a continuation of brief episodic workshops and atheoretical models.

Mission

The stated mission of the innovation is to create a more effective collaborative process of preparing student teachers and counselors and inducting them into the profession in urban, suburban, and rural contexts. Related goals are to accelerate the learning of complex new teaching skills associated with diverse student learning, to promote development of dispositions associated with professional integrity (e.g., flexibility, principled in times of conflict, compassionate and caring, and responsive to the needs of diverse learners), to reduce the high rate at which beginners leave the profession, and to broaden the base of highly skilled school-based educators and mentors.

KEY PARTNERSHIPS

Professional Development Systems - Network school district partners include Durham Public School System, Edenton-Chowan School System, Elizabeth City Pasquotank School System, Franklin County School System, Granville County School System, Johnston County School System, Lee County School System, Nash-Rocky Mounty School System, Vance County School System, Wake County School System, Warren County School System, and Wilson County School System.

Professional Development School - Triangle East Partners in Education - Franklin County (Bunn and Cedar Creek Middle Schools), Johnston County (Smithfield Selma High School), and Wake County Public School System (Apex and Cary High Schools, and Martin Middle School).

Schools of Education - North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University.

National and International Visitors - Associates at the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands; Trevor Fullerton, University of Newcastle, Australia, Georg Lind, University of Konstanz, Germany; Philip Robinson, Roehampton Institute, England; Joseph Vaughan, United States Department of Education, retired; Massachusetts Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; North Carolina Department of Public Instruction; Rhode Island Department of Public Instruction; Theo Bergen, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Astrid Oien Halsnes, Teacher Academy, Bergen, Norway; Nodie Qja, University of New Hampshire.

For further information on this presentation please contact:

Dr. Alan J. Reiman
North Carolina State University
100 West Green Forest Court
Cary, NC 27511
Phone: (919) 515-1785
Fax: (919) 515-6978
E-mail: alan-reiman@ncsu.edu

JoAnn Duncan
Cary High School
308 Queensferry Road
Cary, NC 27511
Phone: (919) 460-3549

Dr. Doris Terry Williams
North Carolina Central University
School of Education
1801 Fayetteville Street
Durham, NC 27707
E-mail: dwilliams@nccu.edu

Dr. Sandy DeAngelis Peace
North Carolina State University
Box 7801
Raleigh, NC 27695-7801
E-mail: sandra_peace@ncsu.edu

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