Draft Ed Prep Pre-Practicum Policies

Got thoughts on what is covered in educator preparation programs?

See our post on public comment for DESE guidelines here.

Pre-Practicum Policy Guidelines

The pre-practicum period of an educator preparation program includes the coursework and the activities in school-based settings. Pre-practicum experiences typically required the candidates to observe experienced educators, support students in classroom settings, collaborate with other candidates and provide direct instruction to students. Each of these experiences builds the pedagogical knowledge and skills of a candidate before the candidate begins a full practicum – or student teaching – and takes full responsibility for a classroom or professional role.

The proposed policies may increase the workload or demands on cooperating teachers, supervising practitioners and other professional educators in school based setting. Educator feedback from school-based educators will ensure that the policies will be effective and professionally sound. Misguided policies that are burdensome and ill-advised will make it more difficult for candidates to have high quality experiences and strong pedagogical skills before entering the classroom.

The DESE Office of Educator Preparation has drafted formal guidelines on the pre-practicum component of educator preparation The policy proposals included in the guidelines set a minimum of 200 hours of pre-practicum school-based experiences, integrate the Professional Standards for Teachers (PST), require video-taping of candidates teaching, mandates the use of instructional rounds of classroom teachers and proposed gate-keeping assessment tools for progression through educator preparation programs.

The draft Pre-Practicum Policy guidelines are available online here or you can download a copy here. 

Public comment on the Pre-Practicum Policy Proposals will be open through October 31, 2017.

The Center for Education Policy and Practice (CEPP) will put forward additional information on the proposed changes to the Pre-Practicum Guidelines and the link to the information will be shared here once it is live.