The environment in which we work is changing rapidly; to thrive, you need to keep running and not hope the challenges will pass. Just over the four years I was at UNC, we have moved almost all graduate programs off campus, many of us acquired on-line and hybrid teaching skills, we redesigned largest teacher preparation programs, created several new ones, and moved most of operations and assessment into the digital world. This should not be an exception; the School needs to change and adapt. Change is the new normal. You should keep one eye on competition, the other on legislation, and the third on population and economic trends. Among the biggest challenges that I see on the horizon are:
1. Colorado is still a growing state, with a significant need for new teachers. However, it cannot continue indefinitely, and UNC can start overproducing teachers. That would prompt the state regulators to raise requirements, or to limit the size of teacher education programs in some other ways. So, STE needs to figure out a way of expanding its in-service education business. You need to hassle the partner school districts until you can figure out what they want and what you can provide in terms of services. This is the only way to compensate for the shrinking demand for pre-service undergraduate teacher prep. We need to get back to the professional development business.
2. All three Postbaccalaureate programs need to be revised to become smaller and less expensive, a lot more convenient and accommodating for working students, and more focused on field training. Those are areas of growth; UNC has a good name and good experience running those programs – you just need to maintain this position. But is cannot be done by doing the same thing over and over again. The elementary postbac, for example, has not been revised in 15 years – it has to be done soon.
3. And finally, the biggest challenge is the growth of alternative licensure programs (which is really an expression of public’s dissatisfaction with us – only partially deserved, but real nevertheless). Instead of fighting them head-to-head by political means, UNC would do much better by radically redesigning its own model of teacher preparation. Strike the middle road; borrow what’s best in traditional and alternative programs. I imagine cohorts of students, with two mentors: one a university professor, and another a master teacher. They follow closely a real K-12 classroom – both in person and via webcams. The mentor teacher explains what is going on and why, the university professors brings theory and research into the conversation. They do not take courses, but shorter, tailored modules taught by experts on specific topics: methods, assessment, child development, learning theory, classroom management, etc. Each of the experts will have to demonstrate the theory with clips from the classroom everyone is following. It is the “show and tell” model rather than just the “tell and hope they see it” model of instruction. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but one thing I know for sure: teacher preparation should find a way of linking theory to practice in a systematic manner.
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