Improving Educator Effectiveness Through Partnerships and Collaboration

The U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant program funds evidence-based programs to develop effective teachers and principals. SEED grantees' experiences designing and implementing their programs provide valuable insights for districts, states, and organizations working to improve educator effectiveness.

Mathematica supports SEED grantees in disseminating the lessons learned from their grants to the broader education field. We partner with grantees to communicate their insights through webinars, briefs, communities of practice, virtual forums, and one-on-one partnerships. The briefs and webinar recordings produced by the project are available here. The partnerships provide an opportunity for a SEED grantee to serve as a thought partner to an education organization (state education department, school district, educator preparation program, or other education entity) that is actively designing or implementing an educator development initiative. The SEED grantee and partner hold an in-person kickoff meeting followed by monthly virtual sessions to support the partner’s work. Examples of partnerships include:

• The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (SEED grantee) is supporting the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s (AACTE) efforts to establish a networked improvement community focused on recruiting and retaining special education teachers.
• The National Institute for School Leadership (SEED grantee) is partnering with the University of Oklahoma as the university refines the design of its professional development program for assistant principals.
• The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (SEED grantee) is serving as a thought partner for Central Michigan University as the university redesigns its principal preparation program.

Our partners on this project are AEM and Knowledge Design Partners.