by Margaret Mohr-Schroeder, Kentucky MTEP team leader
This article is the second in a series of articles on advocating for your program. Read this month's list of approaches:
- Virtually attend a legislative education committee meeting. See the State Legislature Websites on Congress.gov to find legislative information for your state or territory.
- Talk with college recruiter/enrollment management to understand how students are admitted. What is the number admitted to secondary mathematics compared to other growing majors across the university? What can you do to help support enrollment management in increasing the yield (number who confirm at your institution vs. the number who were originally admitted) for secondary mathematics students?
- Visit two principals in your area with whom you have not met before. Ask them what their greatest needs are and truly listen. Take the information back to your local committee and challenge yourself to a PDSA cycle around at least one of the needs.
- Interview two alumni from your program with whom you have not interacted much before. Ask them where they felt most prepared and where they felt least prepared: (a) at the start of the teaching career/first job or (b) at the start of their third year. What professional desires do they have moving forward?
- Research the current Grow your Own initiatives in your state. Are you part of a Grow Your Own program or center? Do you want to partner on a Grow Your Own initiative? Are apprenticeships for teaching supported in your state? Learn more about Grow Your Own efforts and teacher apprenticeships at the links below.
Want to share what you are doing to advocate for your program, get feedback on your ideas, and learn from others? Participate in this discussion board! (Note that you must join the MTEP OpenCanvas course to participate.)
Read the first article in this series on tools to advocate for your program.
Advocacy Corner: Each article will feature up to five ways you and your programs can advocate for your programs and the profession. With the ever-changing political landscape, it’s important our voices, the voices of the teachers we prepare and the students they impact, are elevated and heard. The ideas presented each month are only suggestions and do not represent an endorsement of one organization, app, or tool over another. Have a favorite way you advocate? Please send additional suggestions for this list to mleadabrand2@unl.edu.