Skip to Content

Clinical Practice Action Guide

A strong experience can make a new teacher as effective as one in their second or third year in the classroom—a big gain for those teachers and, more importantly, their students.

About the Action Guide

Why invest in Clinical Practice?

Six Clinical Practice
Focus Areas

Focus Area 1

Strong district-prep program partnerships

Focus Area 2

Student teacher-cooperating teacher matches

Focus Area 3

Cooperating teacher and program supervisor training

Focus Area 4

Student teacher placement sites

Focus Area 5

Student teacher skill development

Focus Area 6

Data and outcomes

Not sure where to begin?

Download NCTQ’s Clinical Practice Self Assessment Tool to identify areas of relative strength and opportunity. Just select your organization type (teacher preparation program, school district, or state) on the “Start Here” tab to begin.

Start here

Meet the case studies

Meet prep programs, districts, and states from across the country who are implementing strong clinical practice experiences for their aspiring teachers.

Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont Independent School District

Building a partnership to create supportive experiences for aspiring and in-service teachers

Charlotte, North Carolina, skyline.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Dedicating staff time to create a more streamlined, supportive, and attractive student teaching experience

Chicago Public Schools

Establishing student teachers as an essential district resource

Sailboats sailing underneath the Boston, Massachusetts, skyline.

Massachusetts

Measuring whether every student teacher will be ready on day one

Impact of the Clinical Practice Framework

“We took specific recommendations from NCTQ’s Clinical Practice Framework and rated our program on each of them. This guidance from NCTQ is really helpful in illuminating areas that we’re proud of and where we need more intentional thinking to make sure our teacher candidates are ready for the classroom.”

Dr. Rebecca Good

Vice Provost, Teacher Preparation, Relay Graduate School of Education

A strong experience can make a new teacher as effective as one in their second or third year in the classroom.

“The work we’ve done and the time we've invested to strengthen our clinical practice offerings has proven well worth it. Our teacher candidates are entering schools much better prepared and more and more districts are reaching out to partner with us.”

Dr. Laura Saylor

Dean of Education, Mount St. Joseph University

When asked about the NCTQ Clinical Practice Framework, three out of four respondents could identify at least one change their organization could make to improve clinical practice for their aspiring teachers.

Contact NCTQ

Want to learn more about the examples shared here or discuss strong practices in your prep program, district, or state?

Contact Us