Testimony of Dr. Louanne Kennedy
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
California State University
Northridge

Creating a More Effective Model of Teacher Education:
The Teachers for a New Era Initiative

U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Subcommittee on 21^st Century Competitiveness

May 20, 2003

This Congress has expressed serious concerns about K-12 student learning and the nature of teacher preparation programs at our nation’s colleges and universities. I am here today because I too share those concerns. We at California State University, Northridge are working to find answers and would like to share with you some of our current work in addressing teacher preparation.

In Spring, 2002, California State University, Northridge was selected as one of four institutions of higher education to participate in a new initiative, the "Teachers for a New Era." This initiative is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation. The three other institutions selected to participate are Bank Street College of Education, Michigan State University, and the University of Virginia. Each institution will receive a grant of $5 million over a five-year period, plus an additional $750,000 for collaboration with partners. The institutions have agreed to match the grant. It is expected that several additional sites will be selected to participate in this initiative in the next year or two.

CSUN was selected for a variety of reasons, but probably most important in the selection process was that fact that our faculty and administration had already made a commitment to begin strategically aligning our teacher education programs with research on effective practice. This included work supported through a Title II Grant that enabled us to develop an undergraduate integrated (between Arts and Sciences and Education) four-year elementary education program as well as mathematics and English integrated programs at the secondary level. These integrated programs are providing a new and more effective pathway into teaching for our undergraduates.

"Teachers for a New Era" recognizes that raising the level of pupil achievement in the K-12 schools depends upon improving the quality of K-12 teaching. Research indicates that the quality of the teacher is the most important predictor of pupil achievement among all children. This reform initiative creates well-supported, widely-adopted, fully-integrated approaches to teacher education, based upon three design principles and several issues that are essential to preparing effective classroom teachers. Ultimately, this initiative will transform teacher education in the United States.

The Three Design Principles of "Teachers for a New Era"

A successful teacher preparation program must be guided by evidence. Research and "best practice" are important, but the most critical element is evidence that the teacher is impacting student achievement. If not, the teacher must be knowledgeable in self-assessment and know how to adjust his or her teaching style to best meet the learning needs of all students. Evidence must guide the way we frame our teacher education curriculum, and we must use this assessment data to change our curricula. Through the use of evidence, "Teachers for a New Era" will demonstrate the direct link from the teacher education program to the performance in the classroom of the program’s graduates. As it establishes this link, "Teachers for a New Era" will enable the universities to assess and reform their programs toward K-12 student achievement.

The initiative also recognizes that first year teachers, while prepared for their assignments, should expect to improve their skills throughout their professional careers. An induction program, which is an essential component of this effort, takes into account the special importance of the first two years in the professional careers of new teachers, and so CSUN, along with the other sites, will provide ongoing support for their beginning teachers.

Our new generation of teachers needs to be highly knowledgeable in subject matter, but also well-versed in how to teach that subject matter. The successful integration of pedagogy with subject matter requires a new approach to teacher education that involves faculty from the arts and sciences as full partners with education faculty in designing and delivering the curriculum for aspiring teachers.

At California State University, Northridge, teacher preparation is a university-wide responsibility. CSUN produces more teachers each year than any other public institution in the State of California – we produce more teachers than all of the nine University of California campuses combined. Objective data indicates that we are good, but we recognize that we can be better.

We are coming to a new understanding that it is counter-productive to divide teacher education programs into portions taught exclusively by arts and sciences faculty on subject matter, and portions taught exclusively by education faculty on pedagogy (which includes learning theories and classroom management). Teachers must be strong in "pedagogical content knowledge," which is not subject matter plus pedagogy, but rather a deep understanding of subject matter content working together with a deep understanding of how students learn and what methods of teaching assure high learning outcomes. Further, teachers must be able to teach subject matter content to a particular group of students in a particular setting, and they must be able to assess quickly whether the students are learning what they are expected to learn. Hence, teachers must know subject matter thoroughly, as well as how to change their teaching strategy when necessary to enable students to understand and learn.

Arts and Sciences faculty must become familiar with the K-12 classrooms and schools and, as appropriate, pedagogy in K-12 schools. Arts and sciences faculty must be involved in the direct supervision of student teachers, along with their school of education colleagues who have historically carried that responsibility alone. Hence, arts and sciences faculty must be full partners with their education colleagues and work together towards a shared vision of teacher education.

The third principle is that aspiring teachers must be educated in strong clinical settings, with real-world, hands-on experiences being key to the preparation of a high quality teacher. Universities and school districts must work together to ensure that teaching is an academically-taught clinical practice, much as is done now in medical education.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York played a significant role in the re-making of American medical education in the early 20^th Century, and some insights gained from that reform are helpful in thinking about teacher education. Specifically, both medicine and teaching are clinical practice professions. Some hospitals are "teaching" hospitals, so some schools must become "teaching" schools.

CSUN will work with selected schools as clinics and already has begun to have K-12 teachers on faculty appointment at the University. We have created induction programs, and, as part of our teacher education programs, we will prepare our graduates to continue to study and learn after the induction program, just as doctors and other professionals continue learning in their profession.

Several issues are being addressed throughout the initiative, including literacy, mathematics, technology, cultural considerations in teaching and learning, recruitment of under-represented populations into teaching, and developing programs to encourage "late deciders" to enter the profession of teaching.

Our first year at CSUN has been invested in reaching consensus on definitions of the guiding principles and in reviewing research, defining assessment, and collaborating with school districts on the creation of a data system on K-12 student achievement to link to the teacher education program. We have created a strong three-way partnership: arts and sciences faculty, education faculty, and K-12 faculty. We have enabled more arts and sciences faculty to work with education faculty to supervise early field experiences and student teaching. We have approved searches for six new tenure-track faculty positions to be placed in arts and sciences departments to address teacher education programming.

Another important activity at California State University, Northridge this past year has been the continued planning of an academy high school. The school will be under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Unified School District, but built upon the campus of CSUN and co-directed by the school district and the university. CSUN faculty, including newly hired arts and sciences faculty, will teach in the high school. CSUN will participate in the selection of the school principal and the first group of teachers. The high school has its own facility, but also will make use of some CSUN facilities. The school will be a clinical site for the University’s teacher education programs. The new high school will engage the interests of students who are thinking about careers in teaching, the health professions, and the arts and communication fields, all of which are particular strengths of the University. California State University, Northridge serves the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, a highly diverse region of almost 2 million people. Our student population reflects the rich diversity of our region and we are actively working to maintain a diverse student body in our teacher preparation programs.

CSUN was awarded a grant to serve as an early adopter of the State of California’s new Credential Standards and Elementary Subject Matter Standards. Our teacher education programs are fully accredited by NCATE. We have a strong belief in national accreditation because it holds us accountable against a strong set of national standards. We believe that NCATE accreditation makes an important difference in the strength of our teacher education programs. In fact, the preparation of quality teachers is a high priority for the entire California State University system. Of the twenty-three CSU campuses, fourteen have NCATE accredited teacher education programs, while only four other institutions in the state have achieved this accreditation. The California State University system is the only university system in the nation that conducts a systemwide evaluation of our teacher education graduates and the people who supervise them.

At California State University, Northridge, our faculty believe that all teachers must be prepared to support all types of learners – including students with disabilities and students with learning differences. We have collaborated with the Los Angeles Unified School District and a group of parents to establish the CHIME Charter Elementary School, which is a resource on effective full-inclusion methods for teachers to successfully support children with disabilities within the typical classroom. We are pleased that the Annenberg Foundation has provided the initial funding for a center at the CHIME School where we can train our aspiring teachers to use emerging technology to support students learning needs.

We believe that our job as teachers is to help remove the barriers to learning, to help open the door to success to every student, especially our most vulnerable children in our inner-city schools. Therefore, we are thankful for the investment that others, such as Michael Eisner, are making in California State University, Northridge’s development of a successful teacher education model that focuses on all kinds of learners. Mr. Eisner and his family have provided the resources necessary for our faculty to study and then embed new approaches to preparing teachers who are able to fully support the learning needs of children with learning differences.

In summary, we are willing to be held accountable for the quality of our teacher education programs and the quality of our teachers who shape the learning in their respective classrooms.