CTAPP provides technical assistance for teacher preparation programs across the state of Texas. Though our three-year Transformation Fellowship, we support alternative certification programs (ACPs) looking to refine their teacher programming and implement enhanced coaching and training for novice teachers and the teacher educators who prepare them. Our fellowship centers on four pillars of equitable teacher preparation: quality, sustainability, scale, and impact.
Over a three-year fellowship, CTAPP assists educator preparation programs (EPPs) with planning, piloting, and scaling improvements to its teacher preparation programming. The Transformation Fellowship consists of regular check-ins with ACP leaders to articulate the strategic vision and necessary tactics to accomplish transformation goals. Additionally, CTAPP offers professional development opportunities for leaders and teacher educators (field supervisors, course instructors, managers, etc.) to refine their craft in the spirit of better preparing novice teachers. In order to assist ACPs with the change management process for improvement, we issue grant funding on an annual basis to support innovative structures that promote high-quality programming.
Current Transformation Fellows are located across the state of Texas—in Dallas, Houston, Waco, and the Rio Grande Valley. CTAPP strives to partner with EPPs who wish to impact the local pipeline of novice teacher candidates to PK-12 districts and to ensure that those candidates mirror the richly diverse students they will teach and communities they will serve. We aim to disrupt inequity in historically marginalized communities, ensuring that all novice teachers receive robust preparation prior to their first day as teacher of record.
In summer 2022, CTAPP will select its next cohort of Transformation Fellows for a three-year partnership. To address current trends and to impact positively teacher retention, the upcoming transformation cohort will emphasize enhanced pre-service clinical experiences for ACP teacher candidates. Traditionally, ACP candidates have few opportunities to engage with PK-12 students in classrooms prior to serving as a teacher of record. Our next cohort of Transformation Fellows will pilot and scale innovative structures to increase clinical practice for ACP candidates. In addition to CTAPP’s traditional technical assistance programming, these Transformation Fellows will also redefine what alternative certification pathways can look like within Texas.
If you’re interested in learning more about CTAPP’s model or our upcoming cohort of Transformation Fellows, then join us for one of our upcoming webinars. On February 23 and February 28, we will discuss our model for transforming teacher preparation and engage with ACPs, PK-12 districts, or funders who wish to partner. If you’re unable to join either webinar, don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with us directly.
CTAPP will release the application for our Transformation Fellowship on March 1 via our website, and we would love the opportunity to learn more about your program and why you’re interested in transformation. Applications are due by close of business on April 19, 2022.
Christopher Reid is the co-founder and Director of CTAPP. He leads organizational efforts for generating new partnerships, measuring change, and assessing impact.