What is the Educator Preparation Program (EPP) Collaborative?
The Michigan EPP Collaborative is a two-year, statewide initiative to strengthen educator preparation through embedded technical assistance, rigorous deep dive diagnostic reviews, and sustained implementation support for five Educator Preparation Programs. This initiative is designed to improve the recruitment, development, and retention of effective educators through sustainable, systemic improvements in how teachers are prepared.
The EPP Collaborative is facilitated through a partnership between MEWI and two partner organizations – EdPrep Partners and 2Revolutions – national organizations that have supported educator preparation transformation in other parts of the country. The EPP Collaborative will introduce scalable, high-quality models for educator preparation by establishing stronger, data-informed partnerships between preparation programs and P-12 districts to strengthen Michigan’s educator talent pipeline.
The EPP Collaborative includes the following program components:
Vision Setting: During vision setting sessions, participating EPPs – and P12 district partners - will imagine the desired future state of learning for Michigan’s students.
Deep Dive Diagnostic Reviews: During week-long, in-person deep dive diagnostic reviews, participating EPPs will share data, artifacts, and context related to coursework, clinical experiences, and partnerships with P12 districts to identify strengths, surface areas for improvement, and inform prioritized areas for programmatic improvement.
Strategic Action Planning: During action planning, findings and recommendations from deep dive diagnostic reviews and visioning sessions are translated into high-leverage, prioritized shifts to strengthen teacher candidate readiness, emphasizing change at scale that can be sustained over time.
Technical assistance: Technical assistance is focused on building each EPP’s capacity to execute the strategic action plan and customized to each EPP’s needs.
Expansion Planning: This will include detailed planning sessions within and across EPPs to ensure expansion of high-quality pathways into teaching residencies and apprenticeships – to support increases in enrollment and quality preparation.
Convenings: During the two-year EPP Collaborative, participating EPPs – including leadership, faculty, and staff – will engage in four convenings to support and elevate shared celebrations, learning, and problem solving across institutions to promote quality preparation, at scale, for Michigan’s P12 schools and students.
Pathway Expansion: The EPP Collaborative will also include detailed planning for the expansion of pathways into teaching that incorporate programmatic shifts– including residencies and apprenticeship programs – to support scale, increase in enrollment in educator preparation programs, and higher quality preparation.
Who is Participating in the EPP Collaborative
Through a rigorous application process, five Educator Preparation Programs were selected into the first EPP Collaborative Cohort: Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University. Together, these universities provide at least 40% of the state’s new teachers each year.
