10 Oct2023
By Kathy McDonough, Sonia Nieto, Valerie Hill-Jackson and Cheryl Craig
On the occasion of AACTE’s 75 years of transforming teacher education, and in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent challenges to race-conscious policies for college admissions, co-editors Valerie Hill-Jackson and Cheryl Craig of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) seize the opportunity to offer an issue dedicated to equity.
With the expertise of Kathy McDonough and Sonia Nieto as guest editors, this groundbreaking publication attempts to “Place Equity Front and Center” in Teacher Education in a Time of Crisis. The issue begins with an editorial that (a) reviews the long history of injustice in the United States over four centuries, (b) reconsiders major cultural shifts since the start of the 21st century that impact teacher education specifically and education more broadly, and (c) highlights the promising pedagogies for responsibly bringing equity to the fore in teacher preparation classrooms.
Inside the issue, a powerhouse compilation of eight peer-reviewed articles is representative of novel research — on topics ranging from equity and teacher dispositions to equity and technology — by thoughtful and committed scholars. Issue four, of volume 74 of JTE, affirms that equity is the bedrock of teacher education, so it leans into a timely conversation on the topic. It’s a must-read collection for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers for the field of teacher education. Access the issue.
10 Oct2023
By Maria Alayza
Leaving my home country of Peru was a courageous decision that changed my life eight years ago. I expanded my worldview in ways I had never imagined. What started as an idea of completing my bachelor’s degree, resulted in a master’s degree, and now a doctoral degree is in progress. As a Hispanic immigrant, I encountered unique experiences that I will share in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. My intention is to normalize, validate, and celebrate the experiences of students like me and to inform the broader community of the unique endeavors minority groups encounter in their journeys.
10 Oct2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
As teacher shortages continue to impact schools across the nation, some schools in Montana are turning to virtual teachers due to the increasing number of vacancies.
For the first time, some Florence-Carlton High School math classes are being taught by virtual teachers provided by the state-funded Montana Digital Academy. Classes like pre-calculus and geometry had always been taught by in-person teachers at the school.
09 Oct2023
The School of Education and Human Development will lead research to support future educators.
By Ruben Hidalgo
This article was originally published by Texas A&M Today.
Texas A&M University will address the demand for teachers in Texas with the help of a $3 million Hispanic Serving Institution capacity-building grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Through the five-year grant, the School of Education and Human Development (SEHD) will lead the development and assessment of a pilot program to recruit, mentor, and retain students who want to major in education or human resource development.
During the pilot, SEHD will provide its expertise in academic coaching, advising and essential services as well as partner with academic units and divisions across the campus, including the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of Admissions and Undergraduate Recruitment and Outreach.
09 Oct2023
8 Utah school districts are paying licensed, first-year teachers $60,000 annually to start, a salary one principal calls a ‘game changer.’
By Marjorie Cortez
First-year teacher Margaret “Maggie” Johnston holds up a workbook as she works with her students at Crescent Elementary School in Sandy on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
This article was originally published by Deseret News.
Margaret “Maggie” Johnston carefully weighed her career options before graduating from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in education.
When it came time for her student teaching, the lifelong Iowan made bold choices: teaching eight weeks each in New Zealand and Utah’s Canyons School District.
Johnston said she chose to student teach out of state and out of the country because she wanted to experience places she had never been while she was young.
When she completed her training, she returned to Utah to start her career teaching fifth grade at Crescent Elementary School in Sandy.
It wasn’t a coincidence that Johnston landed in Canyons District. For the past five years, the district has developed a working relationship with Iowa State’s School of Education to help cultivate new talent and introduce teacher candidates to Canyons’ schools and Utah’s quality of life.
09 Oct2023
By Brooke Evans
AACTE is pleased to offer Lunch and Learns, new professional development opportunities for members. These 30-minute sessions are designed to provide you with an immediate tool or strategy that you can immediately apply to your work. Can’t make it virtually? All Lunch and Learns will be available on-demand just for AACTE members. Watch them during your lunch break or whenever it is convenient for you.
AACTE will continue its new Lunch and Learn Series on Wednesday, October 18, from 1:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET with Lesson Planning: Generative AI Tools for Teachers and Teacher Educators. Guy Trainin (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) will teach participants about various AI tools, their functionalities, and best practices so that these tools can enhance teaching and not just serve as a novel addition. Furthermore, he will discuss ethical considerations, such as data privacy and avoiding algorithmic biases, ensuring that the implementation of AI is not only effective but also responsible.
09 Oct2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Because Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker of the House, the House is effectively paralyzed until a new Speaker is chosen. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the number two House Republican, announced his candidacy, along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. The election process begins today with a closed-door Republican meeting and voting on a new Speaker by the full House is scheduled for Wednesday.
03 Oct2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
On Saturday evening, with just hours to spare and with bipartisan action, Congress extended current government funding for 45 days – to November 17, preventing a government shutdown that otherwise would have occurred at the start of the new fiscal year on Sunday, October 1.
The bill is described as a relatively “clean” continuing resolution (CR), without the deep funding cuts to most domestic programs that some hardline conservatives sought or the emergency funding for Ukraine that many Democrats and some Republicans wanted. It remains to be seen what the decision to move forward with bipartisan action could mean for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
03 Oct2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
The “In the States” feature by Kaitlyn Brennan is a weekly update to keep members informed on state-level activities impacting the education and educator preparation community.
Students across the Lee County School District in Florida are not receiving services they are entitled to through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
On September 20, Principal Cherry Gibson of Gateway Elementary informed a group of parents that, “Our district is experiencing a speech-language pathologist shortage. This will impact speech and or language services for the students at our school.”
03 Oct2023
By Brooke Evans
As part of AACTE’s Longview Foundation-supported Global Education Faculty PLC Professional Learning Series, on Thursday, October 12, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET, you are invited to attend the public webinar, Leveraging Technology and Digital Advances to Develop Global Competencies in Teacher Educators and Candidates. Learn about the ways technology can be used to develop global competencies for both teacher educators and their students.
Join us as we explore different perspectives on how recent world events have led to an even greater need for global citizenship through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. Panelists also will make the case for learning to learn with technology rather than trying to control its evolution. The session will showcase examples of pedagogy, practice, and actions teachers can employ with students in developing global competencies.
03 Oct2023
By California Lutheran University
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Cal Lutheran a $1,241,679 grant to support the Graduate School of Education’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Credential Program.
The five-year grant will fund Access Teach: Closing the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Educator Gap, a project to support 60 graduate-level students who will leave the program as credentialed teachers of high-need deaf and hard-of-hearing students in public schools. In addition to tuition, financial aid, textbooks, and instructional materials, the project will provide mentoring and other support to recruit and retain students.
The grant also allows the program to be restructured to a hybrid format by summer 2024. Classes will be synchronous with some in-person classes on Saturdays. This change will enable the university to accommodate the needs of working professionals across Southern California.
03 Oct2023
By Tyler Pointer
AACTE invites members to attend the 2023 American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Brown Lecture, “Otherwise Qualified: The Untold Story of Brown and Black Educators” presented by AACTE Dean in Residence Leslie T. Fenwick, Ph.D., on Thursday, October 19 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. ET at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C.
Fenwick will deliver the lecture to an in-person audience and offer a newly excavated history of the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education. The lecture will also broadcast live.
03 Oct2023
By Regina Ayala Chavez
My name is Regina Ayala Chavez; I have two last names because that is the tradition in Mexico. My first last name is from my father, and the second is from my mother. Having two last names is hard in this country because people are not used to it, so they think “Ayala” is my middle name, but I wear my two last names with pride even when it makes bureaucracy harder.
I moved to the United States with my husband when I was 27 years old. Two years after I started my doctoral program in science education at North Carolina State University, I faced significant challenges regarding my background. I had studied English in school since I was a kid, but learning in a classroom and needing to use it to express my ideas was totally different.
I remember two main challenges when I started the classes: reading fast enough and learning about the U.S. educational system. I had difficulties keeping up with my peers; I couldn’t read as quickly as they did, so I didn’t finish the paper every time the discussion started. This was very discouraging until one Mexican professor told me that it doesn’t matter if I can’t keep up, that I speak two languages, and that was also valuable. He helped me with some techniques to read faster and focus only on the crucial things in the articles. Thanks to him, I improved my reading and felt more capable of keeping up with my peers.
03 Oct2023
By Nicole Dunn
The Wallace Knowledge Center on School Leadership released a new report over the summer that can help principal prep programs prepare candidates to be equitable leaders in their school districts. A Culturally Responsive School Leadership Approach to Developing Equity-Centered Principals: Considerations for Principal Pipelines posits whether pipelines can be designed to advance a district’s vision of equity, and if so, what the pipeline would look like.
University preparation programs are an integral part of the pipeline, especially in developing equity-minded leaders, as covered in Episode 4, ‘Districts and Programs Collaborate in Commitment to Equity’ of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)’s University Principal Preparation Initiative Podcast. This report focuses on the four key characteristics of equity-centered school leaders: critical consciousness, inclusive schools, culturally relevant and responsive classrooms, and community engagement.
26 Sep2023
By AACTE
Join AACTE at the 2024 Annual Meeting at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, February 16 – 18, where you will experience a lineup of quality programming and a host hotel that showcases Colorado’s alpine charm.
With topics for every member of the educator preparation community — students, faculty, leaders, K-12 administrators and staff, and education partners — the AACTE Annual Meeting will advances your skills and knowledge to propel the profession into the future. AACTE encourages you to register early, by November 1, to get the best rate.
