Training and Recruitment

Clinical Practice

Clinical practice (also known as student teaching) is foundational to a teacher’s preparation, but the type and quality of the experience can vary greatly. From traditional student teaching to registered apprenticeships, NCTQ explores the research, policy, and practices to identify how to build a clinical practice experience that prepares new teachers to be effective on day one.

Clinical Practice Action Guide

Aspiring teachers need a strong clinical practice experience to teach their students effectively on Day 1.

The Clinical Practice Action Guide shows how a handful of teacher prep programs, school districts, and state leaders across the country have taken steps to deliver strong clinical experiences to new teachers.


Explore the Action Guide

Most teacher prep programs aren’t providing aspiring teachers with meaningful “hands on” practice opportunities.

Yet most traditional teacher preparation programs—along with their partner schools—are still not doing enough to ensure clinical practice quality. For example, almost no traditional programs take an active role in screening mentor teachers.

Explore the data

Strong preparation requires meaningful practice.

A growing body of research points toward six key components of clinical practice that can ensure aspiring teachers are ready for the classroom on Day One.

Explore the Framework

Explore Clinical Practice

Explore Clinical Practice by clicking on the blog posts and publications. Filter the content by selecting subtopics below.

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