Roth, Jennifer Jamison, authorCooner, Donna, advisorFrederiksen, Heidi, committee memberMakela, Carole, committee memberO'Donnell-Allen, Cindy, committee member2017-06-092018-06-062017http://hdl.handle.net/10217/181426With the advent of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) as the sole national accrediting organization for educator preparation programs (EPP) and the subsequent release of the five CAEP standards, an EPP desiring collegiate program accreditation must demonstrate the existence of a clinical partnership that serves the dual purpose of preparing quality teacher candidates and positively impacting the education of PK-12 students. To date, little has been written on the impact of these standards on clinical practice in educator preparation or on how EPPs are operationalizing the CAEP standards. This multi-manuscript, co-written dissertation studied the critical role of partnerships as defined by CAEP in the renewal and innovation of educator preparation and educational research. In two separate qualitative studies, the researchers used focus group methodology to collect clinical partnership stakeholders' descriptions of their understanding of rich clinical practice and the benefits of clinical partnerships as defined by CAEP Standard 2. These descriptions provided the data that were analyzed through a deductive and inductive coding process. It was found that stakeholders described clinical experiences as crucial to teacher candidates' development of knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, and identified clinical experiences as the space where theory and practice intersect. Findings also showed that stakeholders identified collaboration, mutually beneficial, sustaining and generative, shared accountability, and positive impact as the key components in a clinical partnership. Additionally, the role of partnerships in collaborative research and co-writing was examined and the researchers provided a rationale for the option of a co-authored dissertation.born digitaldoctoral dissertationsengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.clinical experiencesco-writingfocus group methodologyclinical partnershipsaccreditationeducator preparationText