While the NYC Coalition for Teacher Preparation builds on the work from previous partnerships, it is unique in three primary ways:

1. This partnership is grounded in a vision for equity. It seeks to prepare NYC teaching candidates to teach in schools and communities of color marginalized by systemic inequalities based on race, ethnicity, and language within the NYCDOE, with a specific focus on increasing the number of teacher candidates of color.
2. This partnership includes technical assistance and seed funding. NYCDOE will provide technical assistance to preparation programs and school site partners as they design, implement, and continuously improve a stronger clinical experience in alignment with the new NYSED clinical preparation regulations. Additionally, the NYCDOE will provide seed funding during the pilot year to support preparation programs with the Site Coordinator role.
3. This partnership is committed to stakeholder feedback, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Over the past year, the NYCDOE reached out to preparation programs, school leaders, and teacher candidates for feedback on the partnership model. NYCDOE used this feedback to ensure the partnership model aligns with revised state regulations and provides the appropriate support for all partners. This partnership model also includes regular meetings where all partners will come together to measure progress and continuously improve their work.

Our goal is for the Coalition to be a financially sustainable partnership for all partners involved. However, we recognize that additional support in the form of foundation funding is often necessary to kickstart partnerships. We have therefore spent the last year learning from national leaders in the field and designing this partnership model through the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This support will extend through 2021.

NYCDOE will seed fund the Site Coordinator role during the 2020-2021 school year. Seed funding for the Site Coordinator role in the pilot will total $75,000 per selected institution. After that year, the NYCDOE will provide technical assistance and support to preparation programs as they consider how to create a sustainable model that funds the Site Coordinator role without external funding. 

Please note that all identified preparation program partners will automatically receive seed funding for the Site Coordinator role for the first year of implementation.

We recognize that partnership requires time and commitment from all partners. Coalition members, including preparation programs, school sites, and NYCDOE will commit to attending regular governance meetings, taking steps necessary (e.g., extend clinical experiences, train cooperating teachers, etc.) to build candidate competency, and gathering data to inform continuous improvement efforts. In addition to committing their time, preparation programs will work with the Coalition to create a sustainably funded model; NYCDOE will provide technical assistance to support preparation programs as they determine how to fund the Site Coordinator position after the first year. Any additional financial commitments from partners will be discussed at the launch of the partnership and on an ongoing basis.

The Site Coordinator plays an important role in this partnership model, serving to support both teacher educators and teacher candidates while also providing a crucial connection between the preparation program and school sites. Because this role is so critical to the model, we have spent the last year working with national field leaders who have experienced tremendous success with partnerships that also include the site coordinator role. We can, therefore, provide you with the tools and resources you need to recruit, hire, and support a Site Coordinator.

The Coalition plans to invest in NYC’s hardest to staff certification and geographic areas and will, therefore, prioritize school sites that meet those criteria. Additionally, partners will work together to ensure existing school site relationships are honored to the extent possible.

Not necessarily. The Coalition will support preparation programs to identify school partners and qualified Cooperating Teachers, but cannot guarantee funding for the Cooperating Teacher (or TDF) role.

While our ultimate goal is to engage in a deeper partnership with all of our preparation program partners around the twelve components, we understand that some preparation programs might feel more prepared to engage in this partnership than others right now. 

We will use the readiness assessment to help us identify three preparation programs that are in a place where they can fully engage in this deeper partnership. We recognize this partnership opportunity is new, and while we are confident about the impact it will have on NYC teachers and students, we also know we will be learning and improving the partnership model alongside our initial partners. We will therefore, be looking for partners whose readiness assessment demonstrates their excitement and willingness to engage in a pilot program.

The readiness assessment is intended to be a group effort across faculty and staff at your preparation program who are important influencers and decision makers, and/or who would be key implementers of this new partnership. We recommend gathering this group of people and developing the readiness assessment together.

We strongly encourage any interested preparation programs to complete the readiness assessment. The readiness assessment will help you reflect more deeply on the model and allow you to detail the commitments you would make and the support you desire within each component. If identified to join the Coalition, the NYCDOE will then work with you to determine how we can best meet the needs of all partners together. This might mean prioritizing some components over others for your preparation program. We therefore expect each partnership to look slightly different in implementation, and would happily discuss that with you should you be selected.

There is no expectation that Coalition members are already fully implementing every model component. Instead, the Coalition seeks preparation programs that are excited and willing to grow alongside school site partners and the NYCDOE. Preparation programs should therefore, be honest about their current level of implementation and thoughtful about their commitments and desired support.

We are looking for preparation programs that are excited to join a deeper partnership with school sites and the NYCDOE around the twelve model components. We are also looking for preparation programs that are committed to transparency and using data for continuous improvement. As preparation programs will be joining our pilot year of this partnership, a willingness to learn together is important. We therefore, seek partners that will work together to build a rigorous and coherent teacher preparation experience that has a strong equity focus and is financially sustainable. 

We ask that preparation programs complete and submit the readiness assessment by March 30th. 

We will review the readiness assessments and invite preparation programs for an interview in late April. Interviews will allow us to better understand the preparation program’s readiness to join this partnership and Coalition. We will then notify preparation programs with our final decisions in early May.

Our hope is to one day engage all of NYC’s preparation programs partners in this deeper partnership model. We feel confident that this partnership model will be long-lasting and will therefore, provide future opportunities for preparation programs who are not initially identified to join in the partnership. We will continue to communicate with you about these future opportunities, and know that many of your teacher preparation programs are also engaged in other NYCDOE initiatives.