Pixel International Conferences

Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) EXCEED program began through a Florida Department of Education (FDOE) initiative to create Centers of Excellence in Elementary Education throughout the state. This paper presents a summary of the steps that supported the collaboration and transformation of the program from a program focused on teacher actions to one that measured success by student impact.  Its focused approach for developing teachers for elementary grades has become a model for implementing systematic change through extensive, iterative collaboration and evaluation. EXCEED’s teacher preparation improves the knowledge and skills of elementary education candidates to meet partner school district expectations and accelerate candidate practices. The EXCEED program implementation included a coordinated effort between FAU’s College of Education, Department of Teaching and Learning, Broward and Palm Beach County Public Schools, FAU Lab Schools, Learning Sciences International and New Teacher Center.  The key outcomes of the EXCEED program are: redesigned elementary education degree that includes both English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and reading endorsements; developed and delivered new content courses in mathematics, science and social science to improve elementary education candidate content knowledge; developed and delivered new classroom management and reading/language arts supervised practicum courses; revised technology, multicultural and methods courses; enhanced clinical experiences through improved placement practices, observation and evaluation tools, feedback and coaching processes, and professional learning for clinical educators and university supervisors; enhanced of collaboration and communication with district partners; improved data collection and utilization to determine student teacher and clinical educator effectiveness; increased infusion of instructional practices aligned to the districts’ evaluation model in elementary education practicum coursework; enhanced selection and preparation of clinical educators and university supervisors; and implemented systemic continuous improvement processes for program improvements.

Keywords: Teacher preparation, Elementary Education, Collaboration, Program Change, Effectiveness;

References
[1] Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J. (2005). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
[2] Fullan M., & Hargreaves, A. (Eds.). (1992). Teacher development and educational change. The Falmer Press, New York