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AACTE Institute Spotlights Educator Diversity

DTW Institute speaker

At the 2019 AACTE Annual Meeting, the third annual Diversified Teaching Workforce (DTW) Institute convened teacher educators, aspiring teachers, school leaders, and deans from across the nation to address one of the most pressing teacher education issues—diversifying the teacher workforce. Leaders of the DTW Topical Action Group (TAG), with the support of AACTE’s Member Engagement and Support team, organized the Institute. The event began with a welcome by AACTE President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone and a presentation by AACTE consultant Jane West on the state of teacher diversity in educator preparation. Marvin Lynn, College of Education dean at Portland State University, followed with opening remarks that contextualized the critical challenges facing the educator workforce as it relates toteacher diversity.

The morning plenary featured a panel facilitated by Delisa Saunders and Dyan Smiley of the American Federation of Teachers that examined 

the teacher diversity policy context across the nation. Panelists discussed critical teacher policy efforts spearheaded by national teacher agencies and state education policy leaders, and engaged in a lively discussion on the impact of teacher diversity pathways on educator preparation. Following this panel, teacher diversity leaders from Grow Your Own Programs, and Call Me MISTER ®” at Clemson University and Indigenous Roots Career Ladder Programs at University of Nebraska Lincoln led breakout groups to discuss their successes and challenges in program development.

After lunch, the DTW Institute spotlighted teacher diversity effortstaking place in the AACTE Annual Meeting host city, Louisville, KY. Bianca Nightengale-Lee, assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University, led a plenary highlighting efforts in Louisville local schools and colleges of education as well as at the state level. The plenary was followed by two concurrent sessions. Project TEAM: Examining Over a Decade of Retention Impact on Teachers of Color, was led by John Kuykendall, School of Education dean at the University of Indianapolis. Changing the Narrative Around Quality Educator Preparation: Quality IS Diversity, was led by  Alice Ginsberg and Amber Lynn Diaz of Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity. The afternoon concluded with a panel on the Journal of Teacher Education Theme Issue on Teacher Diversity, facilitated by Gail Richmond, co-editor of the Journal of Education.

At the end of the day, Hilda Roselli, policy director, Oregon College and Career Readiness and Educator Advancement, was honored as the 2019 DTW Teacher Diversity Award recipient for her commendable leadership to advance educator diversity in her state. The Institute closed with reflective commentary offered by Michele Foster, author of Black Teachers on Teaching and the AACTE 2019 Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award co-recipient, in which she urged leaders to take courageous and concrete steps to advance teacher diversity advocacy work as faculty and teacher education leaders.

The DTW Institute was the first of its kind organized by a TAG at the AACTE Annual Meeting focused on educator diversity, and given its success, will be featured again at the 2020 AACTE conference in Atlanta.  If you have an interest in learning more about the AACTE DTW TAG contact me at cdgist@uh.edu.


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