Transforming Educator Preparation:
Innovation, Partnership, and Support in Uncertain Times

 

Educator preparation stands at a crossroads. Staffing shortages, political polarization, and widening opportunity gaps for future educators and P-12 students are daily realities faced by schools and EPPs. National teacher shortages and declining interest in the profession underscore the urgent need for stronger pipelines into teaching. Rapid changes in federal oversight of educational policies have disrupted education, impacting EPPs’ abilities to recruit and retain a diverse and sustainable educator workforce. At the same time, ongoing policy changes and funding uncertainties demand greater adaptability from institutional partnerships. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, educators have been thrust into online environments with little preparation, and technological advances, including artificial intelligence, have created new challenges for educator preparation to prepare teacher educators and candidates to learn how to teach through and with rapidly evolving technology.

 

At this crossroads, we can embrace transformation by leveraging innovation, partnerships, and new approaches to better prepare educators for the future. The question is no longer whether educator preparation must change but how it will evolve and innovate to meet this moment.

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The 2025 NYSATE-NYACTE Annual Conference offers an opportunity to come together as a community of practice to navigate the issues facing educator preparation programs. Times of uncertainty create the opportunity for innovations in educator preparation in a variety of domains. These opportunities include:
 

1. Reimaging educator preparation programs to address legislative and fiscal financial demands challenges

2. Building innovative and alternative preparation program models

3. Strengthening community partnerships among higher education institutions (IHEs), school districts, community organizations, and professional networks, as well as with families, administrators, and community members

4. Navigating technology's role in educator preparation

5. Demands for changes to curriculum

6. On-going professional development for educators