Reimagining Teacher Preparation Programs

Tools and Resources to Build Teacher Candidates’ Competency Through Practice

Practice-based preparation is the core of our vision for transforming teacher preparation. Teacher candidates need frequent opportunities to practice teaching and receive feedback on their performance. Centers developed the resources and tools below to provide teacher candidates with high-quality, practice-based learning opportunities as part of their pre-service experience and to support teacher educators in facilitating those experiences successfully.

Name	Type	Audiences*	Description
Online Calibration Tool Video Library MA DESE		Candidate Supervisors Mentor Teachers Teacher Prep Program Director	These resources allow teacher candidate supervisors to view and assess videos of teacher practices, and discuss their ratings within a group. The online calibration tool helps ensure that observers are normed and provide consistent feedback to teacher candidates.
Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP) Instrument and Guidelines MA DESE		Candidate Supervisors Mentor Teachers Teacher Prep Program Director	This instrument measures teacher candidates’ readiness based on evaluation standards in Massachusetts. Audiences can adapt these resources with local evaluation criteria and use to assess the readiness of teacher candidates in their programs.
Curriculum Reflection Tool TeachingWorks		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisors Teacher Prep Program Director	This tool helps teams of teacher educators reflect on ways to incorporate practice-based approaches into teacher preparation programs and coursework.
Framework for Facilitating Practice-Based Pre-Service Experiences TeacherSquared		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisors Mentor Teachers	This framework supports the creation of safe and meaningful opportunities for teacher candidates to practice and get feedback about teaching during their coursework.
High-Priority Resident Practices NCTR		Teacher Prep Program Director Policymakers Researchers	In this paper, NCTR researched the competencies commonly used throughout its network of residencies and in research-based teacher effectiveness frameworks, and identified the high priority resident practices that will prepare day-one ready teachers. The high priority practices are standards-based and will serve as a foundation for an educator’s entire teaching career.
Match Minis TeacherSquared		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisors Mentor Teachers	Created by Match Education, these 3-5 minute videos focus on a range of classroom teaching and teacher training topics, including lesson planning, challenging all students, building a classroom culture, observing teachers, giving high-quality feedback and promoting a growth mindset.
Pre-Conference, Observation, Post-Conference (“POP”) Cycle Guide US PREP		Candidate Supervisor Mentor Teachers	This resource helps observers facilitate high-quality coaching conversations with teacher candidates and includes specific guidance for pre- and post-observation conferences and providing observation feedback. The observational scoring rubric is based on TAP, which audiences can use or replace with other relevant evaluation frameworks.
Pre-Practicum Guidelines MA DESE		Teacher Prep Program Director Policymakers Researchers	This set of regulatory expectations outlines the experiences candidates need to have prior to the student-teaching placement. They emphasize cycles of feedback, gateway assessments, and the close tracking of candidate readiness.
Teacher Educator Rehearsal Pedagogies TeachingWorks		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisors Mentor Teachers	This resource, accessible through TeachingWorks’ Resource library (see below), describes the features and purpose of rehearsal pedagogies that help teacher candidates practice instruction before entering the classroom.
Resource Library TeachingWorks		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisor	The TeachingWorks Resource Library provides practice-based tools, curricula and assessments for teacher educators to support the development of novice teachers, and orients teacher educators to practice-based pedagogies. TeachingWorks will continue to add resources to the library, so teacher educators should check back regularly. (Requires one-time sign up.)
Standards Integration Program Audit NCTR		Course Instructors Candidate Supervisors Teacher Prep Program Directors	NCTR developed the Standards Integration Project Audit to help teacher preparation programs integrate college- and career-ready standards into their programming for novice teachers. Audiences can adapt this resource by adjusting the readings and resources to another content area.

This icon denotes tools that can be adapted and customized to meet your specific needs and context

This icon denotes resources that cannot be customized but can provide helpful guidance and reference material

*For the purposes of these toolkits, we define audience roles as follows:

• Candidate Supervisor: An individual employed by a teacher preparation program to supervise, observe and give feedback to teacher candidates in the clinical placements.
• Mentor Teacher: A classroom teacher who hosts a teacher candidate in his/her classroom.
• Course Instructor: An individual who teaches courses to teacher candidates in a teacher preparation program.
• Teacher Educator: An umbrella term that applies to all three of the roles above.