Dr. Paul Sindelar just returned from a very successful state leadership meeting in California. He and Dr. Marty Hougen met with CEEDAR intensive technical assistance (TA) recipients from all over the state. Their primary goal was to create blueprints, which are collaborative documents that outline a roadmap for success within a teacher preparation program. Representatives from special education, leadership, general education, and the dean’s office from many colleges of education sat together to craft roadmaps with actionable goals, objectives, and tasks.

Aside from developing blueprints, professionals from teacher preparation programs dialogued with local education agencies (LEAs) concerning the quality of the teachers leaving their programs. Dr. Sindelar reported participants were enthusiastic about coming together and having discussions with different stakeholders. He also highlighted upcoming opportunities for cross-departmental dialogue on campuses.

Ultimately, CEEDAR partners will move their blueprints online in CEEDAR’s Networked Improvement Community (NIC). The NIC is a real-time online collaborative tool. The online blueprint assists in tracking progress on goals, objectives and tasks while also providing infrastructure for facilitating cross-state collaboration between state departments of education and teacher preparation programs.