In response to Regents standards, the State's higher education community has been strengthening teacher education, aligning it with State Learning Standards for students and increasing the supply of highly qualified teachers for all children. Initiatives in higher education include curriculum reform, institutional accountability, partnerships for alternative teacher certification, partnerships with two-year colleges and other innovations. These initiatives are consistent with the NCLB.

2a. Curriculum Reform. The Regents require all teacher education programs to have curricula that are aligned with the State's Learning Standards and that prepare teachers to teach all students. Among other things, teacher education curricula must address general knowledge, specific subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge for teaching diverse populations of students, and multiple field experiences in diverse settings. Since 2000, SED has approved nearly 3,500 redesigned teacher education programs offered at 110 public and private campuses that meet these Regents standards.

2b. Institutional Accountability. The Regents require teacher education programs to have pass rates on State teacher certification exams of 80 percent or higher to avoid being subject to corrective action and possible closure. As of April 2003, 92 percent of the 110 campuses offering teacher education met or exceeded the target pass rate; 9 were operating with corrective action and SED monitoring. In addition, all teacher education programs must either be accredited or making satisfactory progress towards accreditation. The Regents require programmatic accreditation to ensure that teacher education programs can demonstrate the effectiveness of their graduates as teachers for all students. Twelve of the 110 campuses offering teacher education achieved professional accreditation by April 2003, 70 are scheduled for accreditation visits in 2004 and all will have completed their accreditation self-studies by July 1, 2004.

2c. Partnerships for Alternative Teacher Certification (ATC). Teacher education institutions, in partnership with local school districts, may offer State-approved ATC programs that meet the same Regents standards as all other teacher education programs. New York State's ATC programs enable career-changers and other individuals without teacher preparation to become certified teachers while doing full-time, mentored teaching in hard-to-staff schools and subject areas and while completing graduate education. In June 2003, 20 colleges and universities offered ATC programs that served 3,500 candidates. The successful New York City Teaching Fellows Program – featured in the U.S. Secretary of Education's Second Annual Report on Teacher Quality – is a partnership between several State-approved ATC programs and the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE). SED is working with the NYC DOE and metropolitan area teacher education institutions to convert Intensive Teacher Institutes for teachers of bilingual education and bilingual special education into ATC programs and will continue to promote and support ATC programs that help meet local staffing needs.

2d. Partnerships with Two-year Colleges. SED and the State's higher education community have worked together to strengthen the role of two-year colleges in teacher preparation to increase the supply of highly qualified teachers for hard-to-staff schools and subject areas. Seven community colleges and 5 senior colleges are now offering 75 joint teacher education programs. SED will continue to encourage and support these partnerships.

2e. Other Innovations. In response to specific, local needs, SED will continue to work with institutions of higher education and local school districts to create innovative approaches to teacher education. For example, SED worked with the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) and metropolitan area colleges and universities to establish a Math Immersion Pilot Program to increase the supply of highly qualified math teachers. Similarly, SED encourages colleges and universities to offer teacher education courses and entire teacher education programs at a distance to enable prospective and practicing teachers to complete educational requirements for certification.

http://www.highered.nysed.gov/nclb01-2004b2.htm