Massachusetts School and District Profiles

Brandeis University
EPPP selectedEPPP
Select an Org
Previous year
2025
print page

Annual Goals

This report lists the annual improvement goals reported to ESE in the educator preparation program provider’s state annual report. Providers may report up to three goals for the upcoming year and are asked to report on progress made toward the prior year’s goals. Annual goals are reported in May of the academic year listed.

Data last updated May 14, 2026.

Annual Goals - 2025
Educator preparation program improvement goals for the upcoming program year
Goal #1 This year we will partner with Waltham elementary schools to support instruction in literacy and particularly in the content areas. With educators in these schools, we will analyze and curate high quality curriculum and supplement with supporting tools for advances in early literacy.
Goal #2 We will be codifying a new Applied Learning Requirement and Seminar for all Education Studies majors, including licensure candidates. We will bring together students who are engaged in different internships in different aspects of education. (e.g., policy, psychology, administration) so that the licensure candidates can locate their work alongside the broader issues in education. Our goal is to have mutually informed conversations; whereas in the past, these other areas of education were separate from the licensure process. This will broaden licensure candidates' understanding of the origins and contexts of classroom teaching practices as culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy.
Goal #3 In the past, the credit for fieldwork was separate from the teaching seminar and 'CAP' training. We will integrate all of these elements in a new structure credited as the Classroom Practicum course. For example, in this course, students will use their SMARTIE goal as launching pad for practitioner inquiry that could be presented publicly as part of the research consortium at Brandeis. The seminar will be integrated with the Applied Learning Requirement so that students can bring in what they learned from that course.

Annual Goals - 2024
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 This has been a major transition year for the program as we move from a post-baccalaureate program to a solely baccalaureate program. The new baccalaureate program, the requirements for which apply to the class of 2027 and beyond allow students to earn a major or minor in Education studies as they complete their licensure requirements. In the past, teacher education was only a minor and separate from Education studies. Over the next year, we plan to recruit more students to this new option and also use teacher education as a launching pad for students to pursue other aspects of Education studies such as policy or psychology.
Goal #2 As noted in goal #1: As part of the shift in structure in the baccalaureate program, we will be continuing to revise old courses and design new courses that will serve the needs of Education Studies majors as well as aspiring teachers. Some of these, for example the new Introduction to Teaching and Learning Course, are also designed to recruit first year students to explore education. This course was oversubscribed by 50% and attracted many students who plan to pursue teacher licensure. Additional courses that will be offered include courses on Literacy for Social Justice; Student Voice & Classroom Discourse; Equitable Assessment; and Applied Learning. We will be tracking the outcomes of these courses in terms of enrollment, engagement, and learning.
Goal #3 Within the new Education Studies structure mentioned above, we are opening up more opportunities for pre-practicum fieldwork so that multiple courses can connect to the same fieldwork experience and so that more and different courses can offer concurrent fieldwork. This is going to require different kinds of oversight and monitoring of student experiences. It will also mean revising course assignments to meet the needs of those who are or are not completing fieldwork and structures to accommodate students who are in different stages of exploring the teacher licensure pathway as well as those who have not begun the pathway. It will also require additional connections and follow-up with host teachers and schools. We plan to concentrate our pre-practica at fewer schools in order to build stronger relationships with those schools and connections among students.

Annual Goals - 2023
Educator preparation program improvement goals from the prior year
Goal #1 As we revise our courses to serve both education studies students and those seeking licensure, we will be revising assignments as it pertains to both pre- and full-practicum student teaching. We intend to survey school partners to identify key curricular, pedagogical, and professional skills and knowledge to ensure that these items remain a high priority within our courses. This will also include a more thorough review of PCKs and how they are met within a combination of course and fieldwork over the duration of a candidate's learning in our new baccalaureate program.
Goal #2 As mentioned above, we are deepening our work with the Brandeis Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT) and therefore broadening the options for fieldwork that prepares students to be educators. This will include some spring meetings with partners from Waltham to explore improved methods for meeting the needs of English learners. We also recognize that youth in schools are returning to school since the pandemic with greater socioemotional needs. We will work with schools to co-educate candidates on Universal Design for Learning as well as CASEL 5.
Goal #3 Given the major reorganization of our baccalaureate educator preparation program and the closure of our MAT, our staff and faculty numbers are greatly reduced. This will mean that 22-23 we will be reallocating roles and responsibilities ranging from director to fieldwork coordinator to field supervisor and course instructors. We are also exploring partnerships with other educator preparation programs in the area which will need to be fleshed out in the coming months. All of these organizational shifts will naturally include revisions of systems of oversight for CAP and other key elements pertaining to management of the program as a whole.