MLFTC supports teacher preparation in the nation of Georgia

The challenge

The country of Georgia is committed to strengthening the quality and equity of its K–12 education system. The government is committed to enhancing the quality of pre-service teacher education programs; building the capacity of school administrators as instructional leaders; and strengthening school autonomy with a specific focus on refining the roles and responsibilities of Educational Resource Centers (ERCs) and improving their capacity to support schools.

The approach

“USAID Educating the Future Activity in Georgia,” funded by USAID from the American people, aims to strengthen teachers’ and school administrators’ abilities to implement inclusive, student-centered instruction that will improve children’s learning outcomes and experiences, leading them to become happy, healthy and successful members of society.

The grant, awarded to Chemonics International, is being advanced in partnership with Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, through a $2.5 million sub-award. As a sub-award recipient, MLFTC/ASU will be advancing key elements of the project under the guidance of Principal Investigator Iveta Silova, professor and associate dean of global engagement; Ketevan Chachkhiani, integration manager; and Elizabeth Frias, clinical associate professor. The project, which supports the country of Georgia’s efforts to strengthen its pre-service teacher education programs and K–12 education systems, includes the following approaches: 

• MLFTC/ASU is supporting selected Georgian universities to achieve excellence in teaching theory, pedagogy and practicum by updating program standards, designing new courses or revising existing ones, training faculty and partnering with local schools. The project will incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles across the programs and courses. MLFTC/ASU will lead and facilitate the implementation of all the changes and innovations through the empowerment, peer learning, collaboration and active engagement of the Georgian faculty. 
• MLFTC/ASU will support Georgian universities in transforming student practicum experiences by introducing a team-teaching model inspired by MLFTC’s Next Education Workforce initiative. The initiative is a collaborative effort with schools and other partners to provide students with deeper and more personalized learning by building teams of educators with distributed expertise. Educators will be empowered by developing more effective and meaningful ways to enter the profession, specialize and advance.
• MLFTC/ASU will help strengthen the quality of preservice teacher education and educational administration programs by supporting Georgian universities to leverage the technologies that are already in place, and create or adapt and implement comprehensive digital tools.  
• During the later years of the project, MLFTC/ASU will assist Georgian universities to evolve as centers of excellence by helping define their areas of focus and serve as learning hubs for faculty within the university as well as the university community at large. These centers of excellence will become part of MLFTC’s Learning Futures Collaboratives platform, strengthening collaboration between faculty, students, and staff from ASU and partner universities in Georgia. MLFTC/ASU will also support these centers of excellence to establish an editorial board to run a peer-reviewed journal on teacher education and policy to publish methodological and theoretical articles, commentaries and systematic literature reviews. 
• MLFTC/ASU will facilitate changes at the national level by engaging in the examination of sectoral benchmarks and accreditation standards. In this effort, together with the Chemonics team, MLFTC/ASU will closely collaborate with the National Center of Educational Quality Enhancement and other relevant agencies and departments of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.