ESU Teacher Education Conceptual Framework: 
Beginning Educators (Initial)  
(click here for Advanced Educators)

The professional education faculty developed the Conceptual Framework of The Beginning Educators: Reflective and Deliberate Decision-Makers for the teacher education programs. The initial Conceptual Framework consists of:  

a mission and commitments;

beginning educator outcomes;

a learning cycle framework;

a comprehensive assessment model;

teacher education initiatives.  

Click here for the web-based Interactive and Reflective Decision Maker Program

Click here to download the Interactive and Reflective Decision Maker Program in MS PowerPoint

 Mission and Commitments

Mission

Our mission is to develop beginning educators who make reflective and deliberate decisions that support and extend the learning of all students.

This mission guides all ESU educators and is supported by our ten commitments.  The Beginning Educator Outcomes, the Learning Cycle, and the Comprehensive Assessment Model provide vitality and cohesiveness to teaching and learning on a daily basis.  The six broad-based Educational Initiatives offer evidence of faculty and student innovation, scholarship, and ongoing engagement as reflective decision-makers.

Commitments Based On Beliefs

These beliefs are modeled by ESU faculty as students learn, practice, and reflect creatively and critically on the knowledge and skills inherent in the learning process.  Students will continue to develop competence and confidence through their sequential clinical and field experiences, which facilitate the connection among belief, theory, and practice.

ESU educators believe the process of making reflective and deliberate decisions supports and extends the learning of all students and must include an active commitment to:

Acquire, articulate and integrate the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes within and across various disciplines.

Engage learners in order to develop and apply creative and critical thinking skills.

Effectively communicate with learners, other professionals, families and community members, using a variety of appropriate methods.

Build upon the learners' experiences, developmental levels, intelligences, learning styles, cultural backgrounds, abilities, and interests to ensure student success.

Create respectful, responsible, prosocial learning environments that nurture, challenge, and engage learners.

Plan, implement, and assess instruction that is congruent with identified outcomes and differentiated according to the needs of learners.

Select from a repertoire of effective strategies to stimulate, refine, and promote individual student growth and achievement.

Integrate a variety of effective teaching tools, to support and maximize the learning experience.

Collaborate actively with colleagues, families, P-12 schools and educational advocates to improve teaching for the benefit of the learner.

Exhibit professionalism through a coherent set of ethical behaviors, lifelong learning, and involvement in local communities and professional organizations  

Beginning Educator Outcomes (click here for the BEOs) 

Candidates who complete the teacher education program at ESU will exhibit a broad and deep knowledge, as well as the ability to apply that knowledge, within and across many disciplines.

There are four major components of the beginning educator outcomes.

The first component of the Beginning Educator Outcomes includes content, which encompasses humanities, the sciences, and the social sciences. Candidates learn a broad spectrum of content within each of these three areas. In addition, Beginning Educator Outcomes include the ability to know and apply content related to the student’s chosen field of study.

The beginning educator must also know and apply information related to teaching and learning. This is the second component. These competencies include the ability to design lessons and units, including using clear learning statements, purposeful assessments, effective strategies, and varied instructional materials. Candidates are expected to be able to create learning experiences and environments that ensure optimal learning for all students. These outcomes are addressed through a variety of classroom and field experiences.

The third element relates directly to learning. Graduates of ESU’s Teacher Education Program are also expected to meet outcomes related to the learner and the learning environment. These outcomes ensure that the beginning educator has many opportunities to learn about and apply information about theories of learning styles, intelligences, diversity, communication styles, inclusionary practices, and developmentally appropriate practices. These classroom and field based experiences will guarantee that the graduates will have the knowledge and experience to be able to design and implement classroom opportunities to enhance the learning of all students.

Finally, all ESU beginning educators will exhibit high levels of professionalism. This includes the ability to manage all aspects of the classroom environment, communicate effectively with colleagues and parents, and participate in many types of professional development. ESU graduates will model the highest degree of professional ethics in every aspect of their career.

The Learning Cycle

The Learning Cycle is the process that learners use as they acquire new knowledge. This process is used for development of the skills and knowledge that ESU beginning educators will experience as they proceed through the teacher education program. In addition, the process is the model for their own understanding of how to design learning experiences for the students with whom they will work.

The awareness stage is the initial experience with the new information. Candidates will learn about the content and begin to make connections with prior knowledge. After the connections are made, candidates will begin to practice the new content and skills during the exploration stage. This implies the active manipulation of the new information. During the elaboration stage, candidates demonstrate understanding of the new content. Finally, candidates utilize understanding of the skills and content in a variety of contexts.

The Learning Cycle

Comprehensive Assessment

The research-based ESU Comprehensive Classroom Assessment Model provides a framework for faculty to make informed decisions about assessing student progress throughout the learning cycle. Comprehensive assessment is defined as the gathering and synthesizing of information about student learning over an extended period of time using a variety of data gathering methods and tools. Its purpose is to improve student learning and instructional decision- making throughout the Learning Cycle.

Comprehensive assessment is a continual process occurring in the following ways:

Diagnostically - prior to instruction to assess students' learning characteristics, existing knowledge, and past experiences related to course content

Formatively - during instruction, to provide checkpoints for student and teacher

Summatively - after instruction, to determine student mastery of course outcomes

Comprehensive assessment increases student motivation and achievement, provides a valid and reliable basis for student and faculty decision-making about quality performance, and provides a comprehensive picture of student learning for the evaluation and grading process.

Teacher Education Initiatives

Six Teacher Education Initiatives provide the impetus for professional development opportunities and communication for students, inservice educators, and community members. The Conceptual Framework is reflected in each of six Teacher Education Initiatives. The Initiatives and resulting activities occur at the university level with teaching colleagues and administration, in basic education with our partners in the field, and with our ESU students. Activities engage small and large groups of adults and/or students in a range of experiences such as workshops, conferences, courses, grants and projects, inquiry, reorganization, and research. The Initiatives include both short-term and long-term activities and projects. They are guided by current research in education, the wisdom of practice, and sensitivity to and respect for the collaborative needs, interest, and expertise of the participants. Each Initiative contributes to the well-being of the participants and advances respect and understanding for teaching and learning at every level of involvement. The aims of the Teacher Education Initiatives are:

Technology Initiative: To generate effective models of technology use and integration

Best Practice Initiative: To establish ways and means to support and validate best practice in teaching, learning, and assessment

Diversity Initiative: To institute reciprocal pathways for understanding and unity

Student Success Initiative: To design and model strategies that analyze, guide, and assess individual student success

Collaborative Partnership Initiative: To initiate collaborative relationships to share resources, facilitate change, and improve student achievement

Continuous Professional Growth Initiative: To structure, encourage, and validate ongoing professional development within traditional and alternative educational communities

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Last revised: 03/21/07