A reorganized NPEAT has scaled back its research and grouped it into three strands.
Teacher Preparation and Recruitment
Studies will attempt to find the characteristics of programs that are exceptionally effective in developing beginning teachers’ capacities to teach in diverse schools. The primary focus in the initial years will be on teaching literacy and mathematics. Researchers will examine the consequences of different forms of teacher education, probing the comparative advantages and disadvantages of various types of preparation. They also will study the policy levers and strategies for initiating and sustaining more effective teacher preparation and what policies impede or facilitate effective practice.
Professional Development and Induction
Researchers will look at what practices of professional development, including induction, result in teacher learning that most effectively helps at-risk students achieve high standards in literacy and mathematics. They will research how policies and organizational characteristics impede or enhance the effectiveness of professional development, including induction, and ask what strategies can be employed to broadly implement principles of effective professional development in diverse settings.
Standards and Assessments
Studies will attempt to show whether the teaching standards and related assessments created by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education are valid indicators of teacher and organizational effectiveness. They will try to find what teacher-learning experiences determine teacher effectiveness, measured by performance on the national board and intasc assessments, and how those standards and assessments can be used to influence positive changes in the practices of teachers and institutions.
SOURCE: National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching.
