Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education released a set of proposed regulations for teacher preparation. Among other things, the new rules, if enacted, would require schools of education—and all other entities that prepare teachers, whether based on campuses or not—to provide data on how their teachers do in getting jobs, and, once they have their own classrooms, how well their students do.

As WW’s Patrick Riccards (aka Eduflack, a noted education commentator) explains in a recent blog post for the Dell Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation is already working with partner universities in five states to strengthen teacher education, and to do it in a way that’s measurable and data-driven. These Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship partners are focusing in particular on giving new teachers strong “clinical experience”: sustained, thoughtful, practical experience in the kinds of high-need classrooms where they will teach. This kind of clinical experience is another emphasis of the teacher prep regulations the Department has circulated.

The proposed regulations will, as Riccards explains, continue to evolve. They’re already the subject of considerable debate. What’s clear, meanwhile, is that the 28 universities participating in the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship are committed to changing the way they prepare teachers and are making real progress. Federal and state incentives and support for institutions like these will be a key part of that effort.

Learn more from Patrick Riccards’ post here.

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