Archive for May, 2019

Tour the Washington Week Venue

Last week, Deborah Koolbeck, Brandon Frost, and I went to the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel to get familiar with the venue and surrounding area where Washington Week will take place June 2-5.  Although it was raining that day, we decided to walk from the Crystal City Metro stop to the hotel—about a 10 minute walk. There is an underground walkway with numerous shops and restaurants, but we enjoyed the outdoor walk and getting acclimated to the area.   

AACTE Selects 10 Institutions for Networked Improvement Community Around Special Education Teacher Shortage


AACTE received nearly 50 applications from preparation programs across the country to participate in the Reducing the Shortage of Special Education Teachers Networked Improvement Community supported by the CEEDAR Center! The AACTE Reducing the Shortage of Special Education Teachers Networked Improvement Community (NIC) aims to address the problem of the shortage and lack of diversity of fully prepared and credentialed special education teachers in public schools across the nation.

AACTE is proud to be partnering with the following member institutions in reducing the special education teacher shortage:

Cleveland State University
Eastern Michigan University
Texas State University
University of Central Florida
University of Nebraska at Omaha
University of Northern Colorado
University of Oregon
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Virginia State University
Western Kentucky University

AACTE Statement on Florida Bill HB 7093

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone issued the following statement today responding to the passage of HB 7093 through the Florida legislature:

“While it is in the purview of states to determine paths forward on school safety that protect students and teachers, the passage of this particular bill in Florida is disconcerting at best.

In particular, after Parkland, Florida enacted a law that created an optional program to have armed ‘guardians’ on school campuses, but explicitly prohibited teachers engaged in classroom instruction from being a guardian, with limited, focused exceptions. HB 7093 eliminates this prohibition, opening the door for classroom teachers to be armed. Expanding what was already a controversial policy is the wrong path toward ensuring the safety of all students and staff on school campuses.

Call for Entries: 2018 AACTE Outstanding Book Award


AACTE is now accepting nominations for the 2020 Outstanding Book Award. Nominations must be made through the AACTE online submission system by May 16.

The Outstanding Book Award, overseen by the AACTE Committee on Research and Dissemination, recognizes exemplary books that make a significant contribution to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. 

Here are our most recent winners:

2019  Mary Dilworth, Millennial Teachers of Color (Harvard Education Press)    

2018  Marcelle Haddix, Cultivating Racial and Linguistic Diversity in Literacy Teacher Education: Teachers Like Me (Routledge & NCTE)

2017    Eva Zygmunt and Patricia Clark, Transforming Teacher Education for Social Justice (Teachers College Press)

Findings on Black Women Educator Professional Experiences


Read the latest 
JTE Insider blog interview by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles in the JTE online archives—just log in with your AACTE profile.

This interview features insights from Melanie M. Acosta, author of the JTE article “The Paradox of Pedagogical Excellence Among Exemplary Black Women Educators.” The article is published in the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education.

Q1. What motivated you to pursue this particular research topic?

I was compelled to study the professional experiences of exceptional Black women educators for many reasons. One of the most important reasons was related to my own positionality as a Black woman educator with a record of success in teaching. Another crucial reason I wanted to pursue research on Black women educator professional experiences was related to expanding and complicating the dialogue on diversifying the teaching force to focus on issues affecting Black teacher retention, which includes teachers’ positionalities and the treatment of Black women educators in schools.

What to Expect at AACTE Leadership Academy

Looking to begin, or even expand upon, your career as an educational leader? AACTE’s Leadership Academy is your opportunity to discover who you are as an academic administrator.   We asked a member of AACTE’s Academy Faculty, John Henning, to elaborate upon his experiences as a three-time attendee. Henning had this insight to offer, as well as advice for future Academy participants:

What year(s) did you attend the Academy, and what position were you in at the time?

I first attended the Academy as a newly-hired, outside department chair in 2009. I attended again in 2013, when I was promoted to Associate Dean. Finally, I attended a third time in 2015 when I began my dean’s position.

AACTE Commends Increase of Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Funds in Draft Funding Bill

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is pleased by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies’ (Labor-H Subcommittee) draft bill released for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) yesterday. Among the programs seeing an increase in funding is the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant program, the only federal initiative dedicated to strengthening and transforming educator preparation at institutions of higher education.

AACTE members have worked tirelessly to inform Congress about the effectiveness of this program, and the result is now tangible. The AACTE community can take heart, as their voices have clearly been heard on Capitol Hill. The bill in its current form increases TQP by $10 million for a total of $53 million; TQP has been flat-funded at $43.1 million since FY15.