Faculty and administrators at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN) spent 2010 overhauling their entire teacher preparation curriculum. “We didn’t just tweak syllabi,” said Lisa Jones, executive director of the Educator Development and Research Center in the College of Education and Human Development. “We rethought all of it.”

Key to the new curriculum is continuity, and the timeline of learning starts even before students arrive on campus. Over the summer of 2012, the first cohort of students who will be trained using the new curriculum will complete a teacher identity study—essentially an educational autobiography—that leads them through a series of reflections about their cultural experiences, values and attitudes about school, as well as their family life. “Students really get this idea—a grounding of where they come from and who they are,” said Jones. “They recognize that their background will impact how they teach.”

Also crucial in creating new curriculum is breaking down the barriers that challenge most teacher-preparation programs. UMN’s new curriculum is based on concepts that are broader than those historically used in the teaching profession—acknowledging the impact of racial and cultural diversity on learning, and embracing family and community assets, for instance. Faculty, teaching staff and P-12 partners developed these concepts, what the college calls the “Eight Great Lessons,” during a year-long process. “We wanted to identify what our students need to learn, as well as how they will use that learning in the field,” said Jones. “We used to present courses in silos and thought students would make these types of connections automatically. This integrated approach makes the lessons more intentional and obvious for them.” Students will be introduced to the concepts that comprise the lessons as they enter UMN, and continue to revisit them throughout their program. Jones believes the lessons will extend beyond UMN’s teacher-preparation program and into graduates’ teaching classrooms.

Faculty members at St. Cloud State University (SCSU) are also working to break down silos. “All of the teacher-education programs are housed within the college of education, but all secondary education programs also have additional content courses,” said Becky Krystyniak, Ph.D., co-director of the Teacher Preparation Initiative at SCSU and chemistry professor. She acknowledges this can lead to “a struggle for ownership.”

Krystyniak said, “We needed to get to every level to talk about what we were trying to do. This meant going to every department meeting, all college meetings, going to the school districts and scheduling meetings with superintendents.” As the conversations started to happen, so did the changes. Now SCSU has five separate working groups with representation across SCSU colleges and from its P-12 partners. Besides improved communication and collaboration across silos, SCSU is now finding ways to implement two key recommendations from the working groups—a pronounced increase in clinical experiences at SCSU and more time for student teaching in the classroom.

“We’re exploring where we’re missing the boat in preparing our students,” said Krystyniak. “If our P-12 partners tell us that something we taught didn’t stick, we’re now finding ways to teach it differently.”