Certificate of Distinction honors exemplary teacher education programs

Teacher quality remains a hot topic in policy circles and beyond. The International Reading Association's Certificate of Distinction program hopes to draw attention to institutions that provide outstanding reading preparation of elementary and secondary teachers. The award is open to any graduate or undergraduate program that prepares individuals for initial licensure/certification as a classroom teacher at either the elementary or secondary level.

"Every program that is preparing teachers for initial certification is preparing reading teachers," said IRA Director of Research and Policy Karen Douglas. "The Certificate of Distinction program provides them with a road map for how to prepare good reading teachers. It is based on many years of research by IRA and reviews of research by others that have identified all the components that need to be in place to ensure that teachers know how to teach reading well. It provides examples that other schools can use for ideas."

On May 5, during IRA's 54th Annual Convention North Central in Minneapolis, the Association honored five programs with Certificates of Distinction:

Emporia State University in Kansas
Florida International University
Texas Christian University
University of Alabama
University of Indianapolis in Indiana

The honored programs first prepared written applications that were reviewed by members of IRA's Quality Undergraduate Elementary & Secondary Teacher Education in Reading (QUESTER) Task Force. Then they underwent a second stage of review—a rigorous site visit from task force members. Both the written application and site visit revolved around a set of rubrics designed to help evaluate the program based on six key standards, as well as specific elements and sub-elements in each area.

Standard 1: Content

Standard 2: Faculty and Teaching

Standard 3: Apprenticeships, Field Experiences, and Practica

Standard 4: Diversity

Standard 5: Candidate and Program Assessment

Standard 6: Governance, Resources, and Vision

Not surprisingly, program reviewers found a number of commonalities among this year's Certificate of Distinction winners. Some of those common elements are outlined in the accompanying article, prepared by QUESTER task force member Mark Conley.

However, the honored programs also had unique elements or areas in which they took particular pride. Below is an overview of those elements, excerpted from comments prepared by program representatives for this article.

Emporia State University (reported by Gerry Coffman): The ESU program is based on a tiered model involving collaboration among faculty, school-university partnerships, and community college partnerships. In this model, three consecutive semesters are devoted to a collection of teacher education courses, field experiences with increasing responsibility, and a sequence of five tightly interwoven literacy courses. During the third and fourth semesters, a year-long internship gives interns practical classroom experiences while maintaining close ties to the university.

In addition, ESU faculty members work hand in hand with K–6 teachers and principals to plan meaningful and practical experiences for student interns. ESU also has created partnerships with local community colleges. In the 2 + 1 + 1 program, students complete two years of a core curriculum at a community college followed by one year of professional coursework and experiences taught by ESU faculty, all on the community college campus. Finally, the student interns spend a year in a school in the local community.

Florida International University (reported by Joyce Fine and Lynne Miller): Our elementary education, TESOL-infused program has four sequenced reading courses that are designed so that with each successive course students build upon their skills in lesson planning, assessment, and instruction. They begin in the first course by building a foundation in literacy and language development and embark on a series of field experiences that continue across the four classes. The second course focuses on primary literacy development, and the third course focuses on literacy at the intermediate levels, including literacy across the content areas. The fourth course represents a particularly exemplary aspect of our program in that candidates integrate their knowledge and skills through a supervised, clinical practicum prior to student teaching.

Texas Christian University (reported by Cathy Collins Block, Jan Lacina, and Mary Patton): There are three unique aspects of our program. First, we have created a process by which we can individualize, personalize, and continuously assess our students' performances in highly effective, varied, faculty-supervised field experiences and in monthly updated course content initiatives. Second, every student graduates with excellent teaching experiences at many grade levels in numerous exemplary diverse, urban school settings, including Starpoint, the only university-sponsored laboratory school for students with learning disabilities in the United States. Third, every student in our program will receive two certifications upon graduation, attaining not only our state certification as an Educator for Early Childhood through Grade 6, but also receiving either an English as a Second Language Supplemental Certificate or a Special Education Supplemental Certificate.

University of Alabama (reported by Carol Donovan): Our Multiple Abilities Program is unique in that curriculum is designed to build on preservice teachers' desire for active learning with children and does so in an integrated and spiraling fashion. This dual-certification program (general and special education) led by a cross-disciplinary group of faculty situates students in school contexts and teaching situations during the first weeks of the first semester. These guided field placements continue throughout the program with a goal of providing scaffolded learning about teaching in real contexts, and end with two semester-long internships where students develop independence in assessment-based decision making.

University of Indianapolis (reported by Nancy Steffel): The aspect of our elementary education program that makes us distinctive in literacy is our total integration of our courses in classroom field experiences along with special education. We use a "guided teaching" approach coupled with reflective practice to help our students develop skills to effectively teach all students. This strategy is similar to "guided reading" where our students develop lessons at their instructional levels, not frustration or independent levels, with responsibilities that are developmentally appropriate and that gradually become more complex as they progress.

Each year, a cohort of elementary education candidates becomes a community of learners working with our team of elementary education faculty and classroom teachers, who model exemplary practice in teaching, assessing, and nurturing them to become successful teachers.

Validation and reflection

Winning the Certificate of Distinction provided the five universities with validation of their excellent teacher preparation practices. The application process also offered an opportunity for deep reflection on ways to improve their already exemplary programs.

"The application process touched every College of Education faculty member and every student presently enrolled in our program," said Block of Texas Christian University. "The process also enabled all faculty members to more clearly discern the crucial and unique contributions that they make to every student's total teacher preparation program." She also noted that the on-site reviewers gave them some specific recommendations to further strengthen their program and that the dean of the College of Education immediately initiated planning for a full-day faculty retreat to discuss these recommendations.

"Putting your 'eyes' on your program is one part, but having outside expert eyes come to observe classes, interview students, and meet with district personnel gives you feedback from a truly multifaceted perspective," added Fine of Florida International University.

"The application process provided the opportunity for the faculty to reflect on our past, current practices, and our vision," said Coffman of Emporia State University in Kansas.

"We learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the program," said University of Alabama's Donovan, "and the process gave us a focused way of discussing weaknesses and planning for how to address them."

Long-term benefits

Some of this year's winners of the Certificate of Distinction have already received increased recognition of their programs on campus and in the community. They see long-term benefits as well.

"This honor helps to recruit potential teacher candidates to come to the University of Indianapolis," Steffel said, "and the certificate information has been added to our new graduates' resumes and cover letters to advertise their effective preparation as reading teachers to potential employers." In addition, Steffel shared information about the Certificate of Distinction at the Indiana Reading Professors research seminar during the Indiana State Reading Association conference.

Other winners believe that winning the Certificate of Distinction will also foster greater support for their programs among university administrators. It could also help with faculty recruitment. In short, winners believe the honor will benefit their programs for years to come.

Applications sought

All five of the honored programs encourage other universities to apply for the Certificate of Distinction. Not only do outstanding programs have the opportunity to gain national recognition, but the process itself can provide valuable insights.

"I would encourage every program that is preparing teachers for initial certification to look at this certificate program," Douglas said. "The process of applying for a Certificate of Distinction is a learning opportunity for programs to examine how well they are preparing teachers for reading instruction and identify ways in which they can improve their programs."

If you would like to have your program considered for a Certificate of Distinction, contact Gail Keating at 302-731-1600, ext. 226, or gkeating@reading.org for application fees and materials. Information and application materials also are available on the IRA website at www.reading.org in the Resources section under Awards and Grants. The application deadline is October 15, 2009.

Certificate winners: Many similarities

The winners of this year's Certificate of Distinction have a number of common characteristics, according to Mark W. Conley of the University of Memphis, who serves on IRA's Quality Undergraduate Elementary & Secondary Teacher Education in Reading (QUESTER) Task Force. Not all of the programs have all of these elements to the same degree, but there is a fairly high degree of correlation.

Course and field experiences, program materials, pedagogy, and learning strategies all stem from a consistent philosophical and theoretical base.
The program consists of a community of learners—teachers, supervisors, professors, and teacher candidates—all learning from each other.
There is a high degree of knowledge and acceptance in the school district among all levels (teachers, parents, and administrators) about the program.
Course, field, and program experiences consist of repeated opportunities to scaffold and model desired practices.
The program requires teacher candidates to reflect upon and justify their instructional and assessment decisions.
Students are treated as colleagues from the start, with recognition of their current knowledge and developing expertise.
For their part, students report that their experiences in their teacher preparation program are "real" and they are learning to "talk" and "perform" like teachers.
Field experiences are organized for continuity in a focused, developmental manner; that is, there are field experiences in every grade level, K–6, with an extensive cycle of ongoing assessment, instructional decision making, teaching, learning and reflection at each grade level.
The program provides a safe environment for teacher candidate learning, including helping teacher candidates learn to value constructive feedback.
The program develops dispositions toward service and professionalism in teacher candidates through conference presentations and involvement in professional associations, and the program provides funding for these experiences.
Teacher candidates learn about content, pedagogy, students, and assessment in ways where their knowledge is connected (as opposed to just learning about pedagogy or assessment techniques in isolation).
Teacher candidate preparation is strong enough that cooperating teachers can confidently transfer control over to student teachers as soon as possible.
Faculty represent a diverse array of expertise that in some contexts might emerge as competitive viewpoints (for example, more holistic approaches to reading versus data-based decision making), but in this context, the multiple perspectives work in complementary ways on behalf of teacher candidate learning.
Teacher candidates learn not only specific assessment practices but also are taught assessment decision making in ways where assessment is embedded within instructional decision making.
The program has a strong special education inclusion component that focuses on literacy instruction for struggling learners.
Faculty members creatively and effectively apply scholarship as it is defined broadly in the university as professors apply research to perform the service mission of the university.
There are ongoing ways to evaluate teacher candidate progress, including benchmarks, rubrics for courses and field experiences, and a final program portfolio, many of which are used for program evaluation and programmatic changes.
There is an exemplary commitment to personal and professional support for teacher candidates that continues well after graduation.
Diversity is addressed with regard to cultural responsiveness, racial and socioeconomic differences, and ways to address the varied literacy needs of diverse individual learners, including the needs of English language learners.

Certificate of Distinction honors exemplary teacher education programs. (June/July 2009). Reading Today, 26(6), 4–5.