Historically, teacher preparation has been somewhat siloed from K–12 schools, and teacher candidates have only visited schools sporadically until they did their full-time clinical practice experience. However, some prep programs and school districts have sought to upend that model, creating tightly knit partnerships by embedding teacher preparation within the walls of K–12 schools. These programs often host teacher prep courses in school classrooms, conduct ongoing fieldwork within the schools, and become a part of the school community, much like the Professional Development Schools model, which has now fallen out of favor (read more about that model in Defining Types of Clinical Practice). Under these models, the teacher prep program often informs instruction at the school, while the school faculty provides substantive input on how to strengthen the prep program.
Samford University
A small private university in Homewood, Alabama, Samford University brings cohorts of candidates during their junior year to work in a single school for a semester and a half. Started in 2011, the program teaches a methods course on site, brings in coaches to teach lab lessons (when in-service teachers teach a lesson in their own classrooms that candidates observe in real time, and then the teachers come to the Samford on-site classroom to debrief the lesson with the class), and works with the school to identify people to serve as cooperating teachers. In-service teachers can also lead seminars with the cohort of candidates placed at the school and can more easily address common issues that arise among the candidates working at the same school. Candidates also provide students math tutoring alongside a math instructor during the school day. Candidates are involved in all school-wide events and meetings so that they are a true part of the school community. The school goes on to hire many of the program’s graduates. Amy Hoaglund, professor and assistant dean, describes this “mutually beneficial partnership” with the school as one of friendship: “We plan so closely that they’re an extension of us and we of them—whatever their goals are, we tap into those. Whatever they need at the time is what we do. Our students even do bus duty—we’re part of the school, we’re all-in.”
Mount St. Joseph University
Mount St. Joseph University (MSJ) in Cincinnati, Ohio, partnered with a local school district to embed early field experiences in local schools. Teacher candidates attend their math methods courses in the local schools. Later in the program, candidates take their structured literacy course with an embedded practicum under the direction of MSJ faculty in their local school with students recommended by the school’s teachers and administrators. The first year in which student teachers completed the 15-week course with an embedded practicum in the school, their students changed trajectory in reading. The school psychologist tracked data on this change and shared it with the school leaders. After seeing the growth of elementary students who had long struggled with reading, the curriculum director himself took a training course on the science of reading and led a revamp of the district’s entire approach to reading.