Embracing a New Day: State Education Departments as Supportive Partners

• In Event: Within Reach: A State Transformation Toward Universal, Paid, Sustainable Teacher Residencies in New Mexico

Abstract

Objectives: This portion of the symposium will detail how the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) built new relationships with teacher preparation programs to create a statewide collaborative with shared goals for the teacher residency initiative. Using a community of practice approach, PED convened the eight participating preparation programs—which produce 75% of the new teachers in the state—and their district partners to co-construct the state’s framework for quality teacher residencies, which resulted in a shared definition for program requirements and new policy initiatives, such as the development of a teacher residency license and new data gathering systems for clinical placement. The community of practice also determined that embracing a statewide pre-service co-teaching approach would provide consistency across clinical practice experiences, at the same time improving outcomes for PK-12 students in residency preparation classrooms (Heck, 2014).
Framework: Since the passage of No Child Left Behind and its accountability commitments, many state departments of education have focused their teacher preparation efforts on regulation of programs and other similar accountability-focused measures. The PED embraced—and kept front and center—more of a partnership and support relationship with the state’s teacher residency programs, embracing principles of strong organizational change theory at the state level (Bryk et al., 2015; Senge, 2006). The PED also framed preparation programs as the source of the kinds of ideas the state would need in order to design residencies that could work across all the localities and populations in New Mexico (Block & McKnight, 2010).
Modes of inquiry/Evidence: This portion of the symposium also relies on a case study approach informed by key player narratives and historic document analysis. Evidence includes formal interviews, notes from community of practice meetings, and reflective insights from PED leadership and the national intermediary that supported the community of practice planning and facilitation.
Warrants: Three moves from the PED were significant in the transformation of programs in the field from competitors who rarely communicated to collaborators with a shared goal of transforming the preparation ecosystem: 1) a clear signal from the state about its vision for a coherent preparation ecosystem, 2) a genuine openness to those in the field co-constructing how the state should achieve that vision, and 3) prioritizing responsiveness to the field.
Significance: State education departments need to be key players in any effort to transform the teacher preparation ecosystem, since the constitutional authority for educational provision lies at the state level, and the teacher preparation ecosystem itself is loosely coupled, at best. Also, state-level legislative requirements alone have a hard time translating into meaningful improvements on the ground. Simply passing requirements for paid residencies would have slim chances of effecting the full extent of changes needed to realize this dramatically new vision for teacher preparation. Good policies are necessary, but not sufficient, to promote the changes needed in the system; state education departments need to find ways to support changes on the ground.

Author

• Justin Makemson, New Mexico Public Education Department