2020 Annual Conference

Design-Thinking, Alternative Certification Program, research-based best practices, New Teacher Training

What does it look like to design or adapt an existing Alt-Cert Program to meet your region’s needs? TNTP was awarded the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) federal grant to support the implementation of cutting-edge teacher preparation programs aimed at increasing the number of diverse and highly effective teachers for students in high-need schools in multiple cities.

Join this session to explore how to adapt or create an alt-cert program that meets the needs and context of a particular region while holding true to research-based best practices.  You’ll have the chance to innovate around needs for your community, and we’ll share lessons learned from TNTP’s work, including:

• Designing a alternative teacher licensure program to serve a large city, like San Francisco
• Updating an existing alt-cert program in the fifth largest school district in the nation in Nevada
• Strengthening a regional alt-cert program focused on meeting the needs of small, remote and rural districts spread across a vast geographic area, like West Texas

Participants will break out into small groups to workshop (using a modified design thinking protocol) challenges like:

• How do we ensure a strong pre-service practicum experience if our district doesn’t offer summer school?
• How do we support our existing staff to build skill in coaching and new teacher development?
• How can we remove barriers to entering our program so we can build diverse cohorts of teachers-in-training?
• How can we recruit, select, and train teachers to work across an expansive geographic region that would make in-person coaching a challenge?

Presentation/concurrent session

Application and Instruction
Coaching/Mentoring

Non-IHE-based Program Administrators
State Agency Administrators
Site Supervisors/Evaluators/Specialists
Human Resources Administrators