TEACH-NOW, an online teacher-preparation program, has received a full seven-year accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation鈥攎aking it the first online institution to meet the council鈥檚 new, more-rigorous standards.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge milestone,鈥� said Emily Feistritzer, the founder and CEO of TEACH-NOW. In 2011, she founded the program, which takes candidates nine months to finish before they become certified.
鈥淭his program is really built on the delivery model of activity-based, collaborative learning,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 ecstatic that it works.鈥�
The first class began in March 2013 and since then TEACH-NOW has accepted and enrolled almost 1,500 people in 80 countries and 44 states.
With the accreditation, TEACH-NOW plans to expand more intentionally into offering professional development to districts, Feistrizer said. The program鈥檚 online modules鈥攔anging from student assessments to learning in the digital age鈥攚ould be helpful to already-certified teachers as well, she said.
鈥淲e intend to make those much more available now,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in constant conversations with [District of Columbia public schools], and we are actually working with schools and countries around the world.鈥�
CAEP unveiled its more-ambitious standards for program accreditation in 2013. Teacher-preparation programs are judged on five standards, which contain multiple benchmarks鈥攅quipping candidates with content knowledge and appropriate pedagogical tools; working in partnership with districts to provide strong student-teaching practice and feedback; recruiting a diverse and academically strong group of candidates; demonstrating that graduates are successfully boosting P-12 students鈥� academic achievement; and maintaining a quality-assurance system.
If the program fails to meet just one benchmark, it cannot be accredited for two years, until it provides proof that it has remedied the problem. In December, 17 of the 21 programs that applied received accreditation, Brenda Iasevoli reported.
Men comprise 42 percent of TEACH-NOW enrollees, according to the program鈥檚 data, and 45 percent of enrollees are people of color. (Nationwide, 82 percent of teachers are white women.)
鈥淲e don鈥檛 actively recruit for any of those markets,鈥� Feistrizer said. 鈥淚 think [it鈥檚 because] the program is so candidate-driven. We really, really do focus on the people who enroll in TEACH-NOW. I do the orientation session [and say to the candidates], 鈥楾here鈥檚 nobody more important in TEACH-NOW than you.鈥� ... It鈥檚 a very intimate, collaborative learning environment.鈥�
While TEACH-NOW鈥檚 highest concentration of enrollees is people in their 30s who are switching careers, Feistrizer said more and more recent college graduates are enrolling in the program.
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