Gates Foundation “Transformation Centers” For Teachers
The Gates Foundation has donated 34.7 million dollars to “Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers.” Here is the synopsis of where the centers will be and what they will do.
The five Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers are:
- Elevate Preparation, Impact Children (EPIC), led by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education;
- National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR);
- Teacher2, led by the Relay Graduate School of Education;
- TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan; and
- University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation (U.S.PREP) National Center, based at Texas Tech University.
The announcement represents the foundation’s first investment as part of its teacher preparation strategy, which launched in April 2015 and is focused on supporting programs that:
- Give candidates authentic opportunities to build and refine their skills;
- Commit to continuous improvement and accountability;
- Ensure that those who prepare new teachers are effective; and
- Are shaped by K-12 systems and the communities they serve.
Notice it’s the FIRST investment in better preparing teachers. There will obviously be “best practices” outlining what the young teachers fresh out of college will be learning in order to better serve the students they teach in the future.
However, this appears to be the first step in spreading the indoctrination further beyond the collegiate indoctrination centers that young people graduate from in this day and age. The techniques they will pound into the moldable minds of their students will directly impact what they then turn around and indoctrinate into their own students when they become teachers at the local K-12. It will also help teachers to better use and analyze the data they collect on kids.
Of course the Transformation Centers will keep track of how the techniques are working. And is it just me, or does “Transformation Center” sound really creepy?
