The importance student teaching can play in setting up a teacher for career success is widely acknowledged. There has been much research and many recommendations generated around best practices and how to improve outcomes and bring more equity and consistency to the experience. Nevertheless, many of the recommendations failed to take into account the true complexity of the structural relationships between institutions, the need to build stronger partnerships, and the challenges of the logistics of cultivating pools of strong mentors and making matches that serve the needs of student teachers and district pipelines.

Torace was born out of the desire to provide leaders with a tool that would facilitate the strategies to bring consistency, quality, and equity to clinical experiences. Originally intended to support student teaching placements and later expanded to support matching more broadly, we learned a lot during the process of gathering data, soliciting stakeholder perspectives, and testing approaches. The following resources are intended to share those learnings with the field and provide some concrete tools tailored to specific roles and contexts that can support innovations in program design and implementation.

• For Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs), receive all your downloadable documents below in one simple email HERE.

  • ATE Presentation: Transparency & Voice - Meeting the Needs of Diverse Stakeholders in Clinical Placements

• For Districts, receive all your downloadable documents below in one simple email HERE.

  • AASPA Webinar: Transparency & Voice - Meeting the Needs of Diverse Stakeholders in Student Teacher Placements

Understanding Your Context

Get orientated to the work by learning more about the context of your program. Know where you are so that you know where you want to go.

• PDF: The Importance of Institutional Partnerships

• PDF: Identify Your Placement Process

• PDF: Articulate Your Philosophy of Matching

Learn About What is Possible

Shift your perspective on the work to understand how you can do more with your matching.

• Infographic: Make the Shift From Making Placements to Facilitating Matches

• Blog Article: Drivers of a Good Matching Process

• Blog Article: 5 Recommendations for Strengthening Student Teaching

Take Action

Provide a better match experience for everyone involved by engaging in continuous improvement. Take action to improve your match process by using the templates and resources below.

• PDF: Identify Drivers for Improvement

• For Educator Preparation Programs

  • PDF: Steps for Developing a Mentor Pool

  • PDF: Reflection Questions for Educator Preparation Programs

• For Districts

  • PDF: Tips for Casting a Wider Net for Mentors

  • PDF: How to Determine Mentor Eligibility

  • PDF: Reflection Questions for Districts

Need a Custom Solution?

Request a demo to receive a one-on-one consultation with Team Torace to learn more about how your organization can strengthen the student teaching experience for both mentor teachers and student teachers to recruit and retain talent. After completing the demo request, Team Torace will reach out to help your team identify and customize the right approach to achieve your organization's goals.