Decker, Derek J., authorCooner, Donna, advisorFrederiksen, Heidi, committee memberMakela, Carole, committee memberO'Donnell-Allen, Cindy, committee member2017-06-092018-06-062017http://hdl.handle.net/10217/181403The accrediting body, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), has set forth a set of new standards in 2013 that demand excellence and produce educators who raise PK-12 student achievement. Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice requires that educator preparation programs (EPP) seeking accreditation should have strong collaborative partnerships with school districts and their individual schools. These collaborative partnerships are a shared endeavor meant to focus dually on the improvement of student learning and development and on the preparation of teachers. The partners shall work together to determine the division of responsibilities among the various partnership stakeholders and the values and expectations of program development, implementation, assessment, and continuous improvement. The purpose of this multi-manuscript co-written dissertation included two separate studies utilizing focus group methodology to highlight how key stakeholders in EPPs describe the benefits and barriers of CAEP Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice within the context of those stakeholders' institutions. A priori codes were used in both qualitative studies to see how stakeholders' descriptions aligned with Standard 2 guiding principles. Inductive codes were identified, which focused on barriers described in clinical partnerships. Results were presented in two different manuscripts from the two studies and indicate strong correlation between stakeholders descriptions with both a priori and inductive codes. Based on the findings, suggestions for further research will be presented.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-writingaccreditationeducator preparationclinical partnershipsText