Educator Preparation Program Community of Practice

Background

In February of 2023, our Center launched a new task force, comprising educator preparation staff and faculty, to examine what programs were already doing to embed trauma-informed practices into ongoing coursework. Our task force comprised 19 faculty and staff members from 11 community colleges and universities across the state. As part of our initial work together, we conducted a landscape analysis to better understand which programs were integrating and leading with trauma-informed practices in educator preparation. The results of the landscape analysis study are available here.

Our Toolkit

Based on the findings from our landscape analysis, the group decided to create a toolkit to support educator preparation programs in embedding this content for the first time or deepening their already embedded content. Three versions of a detailed toolkit were created (one for teacher prep, one for school counselor prep, and one for administrator prep), and all can be found here.

Community of Practice (CoP)

The current phase of this work focuses on leading a Community of Practice (CoP). This CoP will bring together educator preparation faculty and staff from programs across North Carolina, along with select school and district personnel who are invested in ongoing professional development and supporting the preparation of current educators in the field.

Purpose

The purpose of this Community of Practice (CoP) is to collaboratively develop a practical, evidence-based set of lesson plans (Plug and Play Practices) that enables teacher preparation faculty to effectively teach trauma-informed practices using the content from the provided Trauma-Informed Practices toolkit.

This CoP aims to build:

• faculty capacity,
• foster collective expertise, and
• ensure future educators are equipped to create trauma-sensitive classrooms

Desired Outcomes

• Develop a curated, adaptable set of lesson plans and teaching resources aligned with trauma-informed practices.
• Increase faculty knowledge and confidence in trauma-informed pedagogy.
• Foster a sustainable, supportive professional network among teacher preparation faculty.
• Promote consistent, culturally responsive trauma-informed approaches in teacher education programs.