La. DOE Taps UL, LSU For Educator Resarch Consortium

The Louisiana Department of Education today announced UL Lafayette and LSU have been selected to chair the Louisiana Educator Research Consortium, a network of teacher preparation providers from across the state interested in conducting research relative to educator preparation.

"Louisiana leads the nation in its efforts to strengthen teacher preparation," said State Superintendent John White. "This innovative and pioneering consortium will serve as a hub for research on teacher preparation methods and policies, including efforts under way in Louisiana."

LSU and ULL will serve as co-chairs of the Louisiana Educator Research Consortium for five years. LSU and ULL will initially be tasked with:

• Establishing the process whereby an advisory board and member institutions are chosen, and choosing the board and member institutions;
• Setting the research agenda for 2018-2019, in consultation with the steering committee and the advisory board;
• Organizing at least two meetings by April 2018 during which the advisory board will provide feedback on proposals relative to the Louisiana Teacher Preparation Quality Rating System, a system established by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in June 2017 to provide preparation providers with meaningful information for improvement, as required by federal regulations.

The two schools will work with other consortium members to conduct research relative to teacher preparation in Louisiana, such as the impact of the state's year long, classroom-based residencies and competency-based program design, which will take effect July 2018. Each institution will receive $25,000 in grant funding to launch this work.

The schools were selected following a review process led by a steering committee comprising representatives from the Department, BESE, the Louisiana Board of Regents and the Louisiana Association for Career and Technical Education.