Mission Statement The mission of the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy is to increase student achievement by affecting quality staff development and substitute teacher performance through the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy. The Goals of the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy 1. Increase the pool of quality substitutes in Northeast Nebraska. 2. Build a consortium that will self-sustain after the grant’s depleted. 3. Insure that quality instruction continues when substitutes are present via a formalized, consistent planning framework for substitutes. 4. Raise the level of student expectation regarding learning when a substitute teacher is present.	Impact on Student Learning and Staff Development  The target audience for this proposal is the 12,800 K-12 students who attend school in one of the 14 northeast Nebraska districts that have come together to create the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy (NENTA). This project will positively impact their academic achievement by 1) facilitating excellent staff development opportunities linked to district strategic school improvement plans, and 2) by significantly improving the quality of instruction provided on days when substitute teachers are used. The fourteen districts have entered into a partnership with ESU # 1 and Wayne State College to create NENTA. This academy will oversee the selection and training of 40-65 teacher education majors who will then be available to substitute teach in any of the 45 school buildings operated by the 14 collaborating school districts. The teacher education students selected to participate in the project will possess qualifications that far exceed the current criteria for a local substitute certificate. For example, NENTA students will have accumulated over 60 credit hours, but at a 3.3 grade point average or better. And they will have completed sophomore field experiences as well as four professional education courses. The selected college students will benefit from targeted APL training, Mentor Teachers identified in each of the 45 school buildings, and a regular one-hour per week NENTA Seminar facilitated by Wayne State College Faculty and Mentor Teachers from participating districts.
Origin of the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy Fourteen school districts in northeast Nebraska have teamed with ESU # 1  and Wayne State College to create the Northeast Nebraska Teacher  Academy (NENTA), an entity that will insert 40-65 qualified teachers into the northeast Nebraska substitute teacher market for a total of  3200-5200 substitute days per school year. This, in turn. will enable  the fourteen districts to take full advantage of staff development  opportunities since capable, qualified substitutes will then be readily  available. Additionally, the quality of substitute instruction in each of the  participating districts will be significantly improved by consistent useof  lesson plan formats from one district to another, by staff development  activities directed at substitute teaching performance, and by the substitute  mentoring efforts that are built into the project. Further, the NENTA  substitutes will enhance their own professional progression toward full  certification through the project's concerted training and support activities.	Goal:  Improve Student Learning  The creation and operation of NENTA will result in thousands of northeast Nebraska students receiving improved instruction from their regular teachers who can more readily avail themselves of staff development opportunities, and also from a new pool of highly-trained, qualified substitute teachers who can facilitate on-going instruction in the absence of the regular teacher . Funding for the Project This three-year project is funded by an Excellence in Education Grant: Education Innovation Fund for $299,900 from the Nebraska Department of Education.  After the third year, the NENTA will become self-funded. School District Partners The following school districts are partners in the NENTA Consortium: Laurel-Concord, Randolph, Pierce, Norfolk, Winside, Wayne, Coleridge, Hartington Public, Allen, Ponca, Wakefield, Pender, South Sioux City.
Student Participant Profile Every student participating in the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy was selected to participate based on the following criteria:      1.  The student met ALL the criteria for the State of Nebraska Local Substitute Teacher            certificate.      2   In addition, the student has completed all the criteria for Gateway Two in the Wayne            State College Professional Progress Benchmarks.  That criteria includes:             a.  Successful Field Experience from Introduction to Professional          Education;            b.  Positive recommendations from all field experience cooperating teachers;            c.  Successfully completing the PPST requirements for Standard Teacher Certification.            d. Positive recommendations from the School of Education Foundations faculty;             e. Positive recommendation from the faculty in Endorsement Area.             f.  Maintaining a 3.3 Education; Endorsement and Overall GPAs;     3.  NENTA Substitute Teachers hold a Nebraska Local Substitute Certificate connected           to the 13 school district consortium and Wayne State College School of Education            and Counseling.    4.  The student has distinguished themself as an emergent professional in Teacher          Education through:                     a.  Outstanding class attendance;                     b.  Outstanding class participation;                     c.  Attentive to professional grooming habits;                     d. Commitment to punctuality;                     e.  Assuming and seeking responsibility;                     f.  Completion of assignments in a competent and timely manner;                     g. Compliant with ALL OTHER REQUIREMENTS for a State of Nebraska Local                         Substitute Teaching Certificate;    5.  NENTA Subs have received 5 full days of training by APL Associates of New York.    6.  NENTA Subs received 2 full days of training by the NENTA Project Coordinators.    7.  NENTA Subs attend a one-hour weekly Seminar for continuing education/enrichment          using school practitioners and administrators, seminar leaders and project          coordinators.	Prologue for Education Students participating in the Teacher Education Program in the Wayne State College School of Education and Counseling must comply with the guidelines described in the Prologue for Education.   Code of Ethics for Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy The following Code of Ethics for the Northeast Nebraska Teacher Academy was adapted from the State of Nebraska Department of Education Code of Ethics for Teachers. Code of Ethics for NENTA   Email to NENTA Coordinators: Dr. Joe Kreizinger:  jkreizinger@wscgate.wsc.edu Dr. Tim Sharer:  tsharer@wscgate.wsc.edu