WKU News

Left: Dr. Marguerita DeSander, Department Head, Education Administration, Leadership and Research; right: Dr. Susan Keesey, Interim Director, School of Teacher Education

WKU today announced it will join the elite educator preparation program, EdPrepLab. The multiyear initiative builds collaborative capacity between teacher preparation programs, their school districts and state policymakers. WKU will join the network alongside other institutions such as University of California, Berkeley; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Vanderbilt University.

“EdPrepLab’s invitation will allow WKU to share and acquire best practices with some of the most esteemed education programs in the nation,” said Corinne Murphy, Dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. “Our programs should reflect our districts’ strengths and needs, and together we will collectively determine the best way to prepare our teachers to serve. Collaborating with EdPrepLab helps us further ready our WKU alumni teachers for their ‘day one’ with our district partners.”

EdPrepLab has a three-pronged strategy that aligns practice, policy and research toward the transformation of educator preparation around the country. The initiative supports programs that are equity-focused, student-centered and grounded in the science of learning and development.

“The networking offerings will be different than other initiatives because EdPrepLab is designed to support us collaboratively on a national level,” said Dr. Marguerita DeSander, Department Head for Education Administration, Leadership and Research. “We will also have opportunities to directly link districts together for further collaboration between regional partners – this will strengthen our districts and help them adopt these learned best practices widely and efficiently.”

EdPrepLab offers member institutions participation in learning communities, a base for program development, and opportunities for original design-based research. This work, led by the WKU School of Teacher Education and the WKU Education Administration, Leadership and Research department, launched Oct. 26. For more information on EdPrepLab, visit https://edpreplab.org/.

Contact: Lauren Weitlauf, (270) 745-4030