Abstract:

TEACH-NOW uses a truly unique approach to the preparation of teachers, both in the United States and abroad. Created in 2012 in Washington, DC, it was established and approved by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in Washington as a post-baccalaureate program for teacher preparation, at all grade levels and for all curricular areas, for the United States as well as for the international community. In 2015, OSSE approved a series of Master's degree programs to be offered by TEACH-NOW and thus approved the opening of the Educatore School of Education to house all TEACH-NOW programs. Currently, the Educatore School of Education offers the TEACH-NOW teacher preparation program as well as three Master of Education (MED) degree programs. One of the MED programs leads to teacher certification; the other two are for candidates who are already teaching. The TEACH-NOW teacher preparation program is 9 months in length; the MED programs are 12 months long.

The uniqueness of the TEACH-NOW programs stems from a strict adherence to four central pillars:

1. All programs are cohort-based. That is, candidates remain within the cohort with which they begin the program. Cohorts are 12-15 candidates in size;
2. All programs are both activity- and project-based;
3. Central to all programs is the collaboration of candidates throughout the program. In fact, candidates can only proceed from a module to the next module if they exhibit substantive collaboration throughout the module; and
4. Twenty-first century technology is infused pedagogically throughout all programs, with an emphasis on the technology used in schools.

All TEACH-NOW programs that lead to teacher licensure contain a series of clinical components, the final one of which is demonstration teaching (DT). DT occurs in a school setting, either abroad or within the United States, and TEACH-NOW candidates are continuously engaged with a program mentor as they proceed with the clinical program.

During this presentation, the following will be presented:

1. The proprietary platform that is used throughout the programs. This platform has a patent pending and is a truly extraordinary learning management and portfolio system which allows for true curricular collaboration among candidates within individual cohorts.

2. Critical elements of the curriculum for each program: each program is divided into 9-13 modules, and the topic areas and main concepts for each module will be presented. Each module is one month long.

3. The results of TEACH-NOW candidates collaborating with each other. In particular, the research shows clearly that those TEACH-NOW candidates who collaborate the most are most likely to achieve excellence in the program. That research, designed and completed by a data scientist, will be presented.

4. Student outcomes and student satisfaction data. In particular, student outcomes, such as Principal survey data for each TEACH-NOW program, show that our candidates become teachers who have a positive impact on their own students' learning. Student satisfaction data, drawn from surveys administered at the end of each module and at the end of the program, indicates that our candidates have high satisfaction in areas such as technology in the classroom, classroom management, diversity in the classroom, and analysis of educational research.

Keywords:

Teacher preparation, collaboration.