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Northern Illinois University

P20

P-20 Task Force Goal 2: Improve teacher success on selected aspects of national standards for educators

Preparation of New Educators

Description and Action Steps

NIU will increase the supply of competent educators in critical shortage areas and ensure all teacher and certification graduates have relevant knowledge, skills, and dispositions in their respective disciplines.

  1. Curricular changes needed to address new state mandates such as RtI (Response to Intervention) and 21st Century Skills. Faculty members, teacher preparation graduates, and potential employers identified skill sets needed by teachers to meet the realities of today’s classrooms at a half-day workshop on June 1. The feedback from this workshop as well as other relevant data will guide selected faculty from all colleges in analysis of NIU’s curricular strength and weaknesses in order to identify actions steps that should be taken to ensure NIU graduates are ready for the workforce.

  2. Tools to monitor employer demand, student interest, and institutional capacity. Employer and graduate surveys were combined with state and national research to identify current workforce needs from supply and demand perspectives.

  3. NIU Teacher Graduate Survey. Past research studies conducted at NIU, such as the Educators Alumni Survey, are being summarized to determine graduates’ preparedness and any gaps in their knowledge and skills to be effective educators.

  4. Critical Shortage Areas. A report documenting the critical shortage areas based on the data collected was prepared for the NIU service region. 

Milestones and Outcomes

During the spring semester 2009, the project team compiled existing research on school staffing needs, surveyed regional administrators, and began identifying new skill sets needed by future teachers.

This project seeks to align NIU’s education certification programs with market needs. The Center for P-20 Engagement is providing facilitation and support for initial phases of the project at the request of the P-20 Task Force.

Events

June 1, 2009 - How can we improve the readiness of NIU teacher candidates for the realities of today’s classrooms?

February 8, 2010 - Curriculum mapping workshop for educator preparation program directors - Link to the workshop website.

Contact

Kristin Brynteson (kbrynteson@niu.edu) or (815) 753-0928