Rodrick S. Lucero, Ph.D.

Dr. Lucero is currently serving as the President/CEO at the National Center for Clinical Practice in Educator Preparation (NCCPEP). He is in his 38th year as an educator serving in a variety of roles. His career began as a high school social studies teacher and coach. These foundational experiences informed his move to high school administration, working at Fort Collins High School while finishing a doctoral program. Upon completion of a Ph.D. he took a position at Colorado State University as a professor, and university administrator responsible for the teacher/principal preparation programs. This work led him to serve as Vice President of AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) in Washington DC. He was the lead author of the Clinical Practice Commission Report entitled, “A Pivot Toward Clinical Practice, its Lexicon, and the Renewal of Educator Preparation” (Jan, 2018). He returned to Colorado in 2018 and now serves as an Educational Consultant for the American Institutes of Research, and the CEEDAR Center along with being the founding President/CEO of the NCCPEP (The National Center for Clinical Practice in Educator Preparation). The NCCPEP focuses on mutually beneficial partnerships between PK-12 and Educator Preparation programs and encourages collaborations that provide high quality preparation for teacher candidates, who are committed to positive outcomes for PK-12 students. This work is representative of his passion for bringing PK-12 contexts and higher education together as one profession, a profession that “owns” the educational space in the United States, asserts its expertise, and works to ensure that high quality pedagogy, strong content knowledge, and student engagement form the cornerstone of teacher preparation