In January 2010, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) formed an expert panel on clinical preparation and partnerships, signaling the beginning of a sea of change in the preparation of our nation’s teachers. The work of the panel - called the NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation, Partnerships and Improved Student Learning - culminated in recommendations for restructuring the preparation of teachers and leaders. This was an historic coming together of major stakeholders to make excellent programs the norm in teacher education. Immediately following the panel’s findings, eight states, including New York, began implementing its recommendations. The redesign of teacher preparation, as outlined in the Blue Ribbon Panel Report, is the cornerstone of S-TEN’s work. Read more about it here.
S-TEN is an initiative “created by faculty for faculty”. Using a community engagement model of faculty-designed professional development, a Design Team I, comprised of eight members of the SUNY Deans and Directors of Education, initiated work in May 2012 to develop the operational structure of the S-TEN project. This structure included an overall change process followed at the campus, regional, and statewide levels and the design for statewide faculty and partner professional development workshops, focused on the four topics of the Regents Reform Agenda. The specific agenda and content for each workshop was then planned and developed by a Design Team II, made up of faculty and partner topic experts in each of the four areas.
As a centerpoint to achieving the goal of S-TEN, Campus Teacher and Leader Education Network (C-TEN) teams have been established to serve as change agents on each of SUNY’s 17 campuses with teacher and/or leader preparation programs. Teams consist of approximately 15 to 60 members, including representatives from Teacher Education and Educational Leadership faculty, Arts and Sciences faculty, community college faculty, BOCES and school district superintendents, PreK-12 principals and teachers, and representatives from related agencies in the community. Each C-TEN is also part of one of four larger Regional Network Teams (R-TEN) which together comprise the SUNY Teacher and Leader Education Network.
Click here for a breakdown of the R-TENs and C-TENs.
Learn more about the structure, focus, and objectives of the S-TEN initiative through this video message from Chancellor Zimpher.