Data and outcomes - Clinical Practice Action Guide

Why this matters

Preparing teachers to be ready for the classroom on day one should be a process of continuous improvement. Gathering feedback from student teachers, cooperating teachers, and placement schools and districts is essential to identify what’s working well and what needs to be done differently. Longer-term outcome data can provide evidence of success, and it can also be used to identify challenges (e.g., a high proportion of candidates who do not ultimately get jobs in teaching) and point toward solutions.

What the field says

Generally, prep programs report that they do track data on clinical practice, but their emphasis is on data collected during clinical practice (e.g., survey data from student teachers) and less so on outcomes after student teachers have finished preparation, such as whether they are hired into teaching positions and how they fare in their new roles.

Key Components and Actions

Student teachers can share what worked well about their experience and offer suggestions for how to improve the experience for future cohorts. Prep programs deserve recognition as almost all (93% of those surveyed) report that they gather data from student teachers, most often via surveys.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Gather feedback from student teachers via surveys, focus groups, and informal means.

Share feedback with program supervisors and use feedback to identify specific changes to improve the quality of coursework and the clinical practice experience.

Actions for school districts

Gather feedback from student teachers via surveys, focus groups, and informal means.

Share feedback with cooperating teachers and use feedback to identify specific changes to improve the quality of the clinical practice experience, including whether to invite teachers to serve as cooperating teachers again.

Actions for states

Collect survey data from prep programs and incorporate into the prep program review process.

Feedback from cooperating teachers and their schools can illuminate where student teachers tend to struggle, which can inform preparation for future cohorts. In a recent survey, many programs reported gathering this data (89% collect observation ratings from cooperating teachers and 70% gather other feedback from cooperating teachers). Notably, among districts that rarely host student teachers, the opportunity to provide feedback to prep programs about student teachers’ strengths and weaknesses was cited as something that would make them more likely to host student teachers.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Gather feedback from cooperating teachers and host sites about specific student teachers and the broader clinical practice experience.

Use feedback to identify specific changes to improve the quality of the clinical practice experience.

Develop an agreement with districts about how cooperating teachers’ feedback on student teachers will be used to inform evaluation of student teachers.

Share feedback with program supervisors for evaluation of student teachers and inform cooperating teachers about how their feedback is used.

Actions for school districts

Facilitate a process with prep programs to collect feedback from cooperating teachers and host sites to inform future preparation provided to student teachers and to improve the quality of the clinical practice experience.

Develop an agreement with prep programs about how cooperating teachers’ feedback on student teachers will be used to inform evaluation of student teachers.

Actions for states

Incorporate survey data or feedback from cooperating teachers, school leaders, and district staff who facilitate clinical practice into the prep program review process.

Having a clear picture of whether student teachers are hired into the districts where they student teach, and whether they were hired into teaching positions at all, can help inform future placement decisions. However, NCTQ surveys show only 54% of prep programs collect data about whether student teachers are hired at all, and only 30% of prep programs collect information about whether student teachers were hired into their placement districts.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Track data on student teaching completion.

Track data or use data from the district or state on:

The proportion of student teachers who get hired into teaching positions
Whether student teachers are hired into the school or district where they student taught
If student teachers are not hired into teaching positions, what they’re doing instead

Adjust program preparation and student teaching placements based on outcomes (e.g., placing more candidates in districts that tend to hire more).

Actions for school districts

Share data with prep programs about which student teachers are hired into the district.

Actions for states

Develop an instrument for program supervisors to assess student teacher readiness.

Develop or use a state longitudinal data system that can facilitate tracking teacher candidates from prep programs into the workforce; share data back with prep programs on the outcomes of their graduates.

The overarching goal of clinical practice is to help aspiring teachers be effective from their first day in charge of a classroom. Understanding how effective teachers are when they reach the classroom can help identify areas in which to strengthen future clinical practice experiences. In an NCTQ survey, 42% of prep programs reported collecting data on teachers’ effectiveness in their first year in the classroom, meaning there is opportunity for many more to do so.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Use data from the state and partner districts about novice teachers (e.g., aggregate feedback from principals, aggregate evaluation ratings, and aggregate performance on measures of student learning growth) to adjust programs (e.g., course content, areas of feedback in observation instruments).

Actions for school districts

Share data with prep programs about how well novice teachers are performing in the classroom in specific areas (e.g., raising student achievement, classroom management).

Actions for states

Develop a state longitudinal data system that can facilitate tracking teacher candidates from prep programs into the workforce, including their performance data once they begin teaching.

While much is known about what makes for an effective clinical practice experience, there’s much still to be learned. How do we measure a teacher’s mentoring ability? What other factors make a mentor teacher effective? What are the optimal activities in which student teachers should engage while in clinical practice, and in what sequence? Collecting more information and sharing it with the field can help answer these questions and further improve the preparation that aspiring teachers receive.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Collect data on specific aspects of preparation (e.g., the specific field experiences required, the number of observations and student teachers’ observation ratings) connected to individual candidates.

Use data to investigate the outcomes associated with specific aspects of teacher prep or make data available to researchers.

Actions for school districts

Collect data on hiring, retention, and outcomes for individual teacher candidates linked back to teacher prep programs.

Use data to investigate the outcomes associated with teacher prep programs or make data available to researchers.

Actions for states

Establish a state longitudinal data system with unique identifiers that can track candidates from teacher prep into the classroom. Include hiring, retention, and student outcomes. Make data available to prep programs and researchers for further study.

But what about...

Using program approval to strengthen clinical practice

Numerous states have begun incorporating a review of programs’ clinical practice approaches into their program approval process.

Learn more

Building data systems to track and improve outcomes

Building out these data systems is ideally done in concert by prep programs, districts, and states, but there are many examples of individual entities developing systems to gather data and use it to drive change.

Learn more

Accreditation

NCTQ completed a crosswalk of the CAEP and AAQEP standards and sources of evidence related to NCTQ’s Framework for Clinical Practice.

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Meet the case studies

All Focus Area 6 Case Studies

Component 1Feedback from student teachers

Component 2Feedback from cooperating teachers and placement schools

Component 3Hiring metrics

Component 4Classroom performance metrics

Component 5Future learning

Results

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Western Governors University

Scaling clinical placement to over 4,800 districts across the country—without sacrificing quality

Utah

Financial support for student teachers

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

An apprenticeship program helps more people complete teacher prep and stay in the classroom

Texas

Establish a clear vision for high-quality preparation, and help less prepared teachers rise to meet it

US PREP

Helping prep programs re-envision clinical practice with a focus on partnerships and quality

Southeastern Louisiana University

Incorporating high-quality instructional materials and data throughout the program

Mount Saint Joseph University sign with flowers.

Mount St. Joseph University

Building close and intentional relationships with schools

Michigan

Replicating a medical model—including paid clinical practice—in teacher preparation

Massachusetts

Measuring whether every student teacher will be ready on day one

Chicago Public Schools

Establishing student teachers as an essential district resource

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

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

Questions to consider

What data do you currently have available, or could gather easily, to measure immediate and longer-term outcomes for clinical practice?
What would you like to know about your clinical practice system?
What data do you need to answer your research questions?
What data is not currently available?
How might you be able to access, collect, or develop systems to organize the data you do not currently have?
How are you currently using data to improve your clinical practice system?
How might you strengthen your use of data for continuous improvement?

Why this matters

What the field says

Key Components and Actions

Feedback from student teachers

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Feedback from cooperating teachers and placement schools

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Hiring metrics

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Classroom performance metrics

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Future learning

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

But what about...

Using program approval to strengthen clinical practice

Building data systems to track and improve outcomes

Accreditation

Western Governors University

Utah

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Texas

US PREP

Southeastern Louisiana University

Mount St. Joseph University

Michigan

Massachusetts

Chicago Public Schools

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Questions to consider

Resources

State oversight

Data tracking

Assessment validity

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