Educator preparation has evolved significantly over the past decade. Today's teacher candidates need more than strong academic knowledge. They also need professional judgment, communication skills, the ability to collaborate, adaptability, and the ability to navigate technology-rich learning environments.

At the same time, educator preparation programs are balancing growing expectations around candidate support, high-quality learning experiences, continuous improvement, and accreditation. Current accreditation standards increasingly emphasize candidate development as a continuous process, encouraging programs to monitor growth across multiple transition points rather than relying on a single assessment or end-of-program measures.¹

These shifts raise an important question:

How can educator preparation programs build a more complete understanding of candidate readiness throughout the preparation journey?

While every program approaches this differently, many are exploring ways to gather meaningful evidence earlier, connect learning experiences across the program, and provide more targeted support as candidates progress toward the classroom. 

Begin with a Broader Understanding of Readiness

Every teacher candidate enters a preparation program with unique strengths, experiences, and opportunities for growth. Academic preparation remains foundational, but many educator preparation leaders recognize that readiness extends beyond content knowledge alone.

Accreditation standards increasingly emphasize the importance of understanding candidate development across multiple dimensions, including knowledge, professional responsibility, dispositions, and competencies that support success in today's classrooms.²

Rather than viewing these areas as separate initiatives, programs may find value in considering how they work together to support candidate growth over time.

Connect Coursework to Authentic Practice

One of the greatest opportunities in educator preparation is helping candidates bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Educator preparation leaders increasingly recognize the value of providing opportunities for candidates to apply their learning, reflect on professional decisions, collaborate with others, and receive meaningful feedback in authentic contexts. These experiences help candidates strengthen the knowledge, skills, professional responsibility, and dispositions associated with effective teaching while allowing programs to gather evidence of growth throughout preparation.

Use Evidence to Strengthen Programs

Continuous improvement has become a defining characteristic of high-quality educator preparation.

Both CAEP and AAQEP emphasize the importance of using evidence to support candidate development, inform program decisions, and drive ongoing improvement.¹ ³

These perspectives reinforce an important idea: meaningful evidence should not simply document candidate performance. It should also help programs refine curriculum, strengthen candidate support, and enhance the overall preparation experience.

From Insight to Action: Advancing Educator Readiness Through Connected Solutions

There is no single blueprint for preparing future educators, but there is growing momentum toward more connected, evidence-informed approaches to understanding readiness.

Every educator preparation program has its own mission, curriculum, partnerships, and approach to supporting candidates. Yet across the profession, there is growing recognition that educator readiness is multidimensional and develops over time.

At ETS, we believe the most meaningful readiness conversations happen when programs can see candidate growth across multiple dimensions rather than through isolated measures. That philosophy guided the development of Praxis Foundations.

Rather than replacing existing preparation models, Praxis Foundations was designed to complement them. Its flexible components can support programs at different transition points, helping faculty gather meaningful insights, facilitate coaching conversations, and better understand candidate development throughout the preparation journey.

As educator preparation continues to evolve, ETS remains committed to partnering with educator preparation programs to explore new approaches that support candidate success, strengthen continuous improvement efforts, and prepare future educators for the realities of today's classrooms.

References

1. Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). 2022 Initial-Level Standards, particularly Standard R5: Quality Assurance System and Continuous Improvement, which emphasizes the use of valid data from multiple measures to support sustained, evidence-based program improvement.

2. Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). 2022 Initial-Level Standards, Standard R3.2: Monitoring and Supporting Candidate Progression, which calls for educator preparation providers to monitor candidate development across content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, professional responsibilities, critical dispositions, and technology integration through established transition points.

3. Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). Accreditation, which describes accreditation as advancing both quality assurance and continuous improvement through evidence, self-study, reflection, and peer review