12 Sep2023
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.
The Senate returned on Tuesday from August recess and all eyes quickly turned to appropriations. Members in the House return this coming Tuesday and there will already be a full agenda of action to both enact a necessary extension of government funding to start on October 1 and avoid a government shutdown (otherwise known as a continuing resolution) and passing FY 2024 government funding bills. With only three weeks remaining until the end of the fiscal year this will certainly be a busy and stressful time in Washington. Although Congress has been on recess for the past month, the work in DC doesn’t stop — a lot has happened since our last update. Let’s dive in.
Ranking Member Cassidy Releases Report on the Legislative Role of Congress as it relates to Artificial Intelligence
On Wednesday, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a white paper, Exploring Congress’ Framework for the Future of AI: The Oversight and Legislative Role of Congress Over the Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Health, Education, and Labor. The paper examines the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and how Congress should regulate the technology. The report ends with a call for stakeholder input on “ways to improve the framework in which these technologies are developed, reviewed, and used” by submitting comments to HELPGOP_AIComments@help.senate.gov by September 22. Read the white paper in its entirety.
12 Sep2023
By Nicole Dunn
The Wallace Foundation’s Knowledge Center for School Leadership has released a new Principal Sustainability Guide. The guide, developed by Policy Studies Associates (PSA), explains what it takes to sustain an effective principal pipeline and provides districts with tools to assess the strength of their pipelines and sustain their efforts for long-term benefits. Partnerships are one of the six key elements for sustainability outlined in the guide.
Last year, AACTE covered the partnership dynamics between principal preparation programs and districts throughout its University Principal Preparation Initiative Podcast. The podcast sheds light on how programs can work with districts to ensure high-quality principal preparation responsive to the district’s needs. The Principal Sustainability Guide dives into high-quality preservice principal preparation and the six other domains comprising a comprehensive, aligned principal pipeline strategy. AACTE encourages members to explore and share the guide with your district and community partners. AACTE and the Wallace Knowledge Center for School Leadership have a wealth of resources for preparation programs that cover various topics beyond district partnerships.
If you are interested in working with AACTE’s Topical Action Group for Principal Preparation and Support, please contact me at ndunn@aacte.org.
12 Sep2023
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. You 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 kick off its new Lunch and Learn Series on Tuesday, September 26 from 3:00 -3:30 p.m. ET with Building Partnerships to Address the Educator Shortage in California. Karen Escalante (California State University San Bernadino) will teach us about the partnership developed between the Riverside County Office of Education and California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), a Hispanic and minority-serving institution. The mission of this partnership is to support teacher candidates into, through, and beyond teacher induction.
05 Sep2023
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.
Last week, local news media outlets reported that more than 600 students at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, Virginia are taking math and English courses using the online platform, Edgenuity, as the district grapples with vacant teaching positions.
In an email sent to parents just before the end of the first week of classes for students, Principal Abe Jeffers outlined the problem: “At Chancellor, we have over 600 of our students taking math and English courses using the program due to three math vacancies and English vacancies.” Jeffers explained the school has filled one vacant English position and has an interview scheduled with another candidate. “… However, we have had no applicants to fill our three math positions, thus we’re forced to have our students use the teaching program Edgenuity, supervised by a substitute teacher, to learn math.”
05 Sep2023
By AACTE
The AACTE 2024 Annual Meeting, taking place February 16 – 18, will showcase content from faculty, scholars, leaders, practitioners, and other educator preparation colleagues from around the world. The submitted proposals undergo a selective review process, which AACTE could not carry out without the volunteer reviewers from member institutions. Reviewers are integral to the creation of the educational content offered and their advice and guidance are invaluable assets to our conference speakers and authors.
AACTE appreciates the time and effort of the 131 individual reviewers and the 83 member institutions that support them. The proposal review process offers selected faculty and graduate students the opportunity to engage with research from faculty and institutions from across the country. Thank you to the following Annual Meeting 2024 Reviewers.
05 Sep2023
By AACTE
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced the next step in its work to open a new pathway to student debt relief by soliciting nominations for negotiators who will participate in public rulemaking negotiation sessions this Fall. The Department is seeking nominations from 14 different constituency groups for the Student Loan Relief committee, which will meet for three virtual sessions beginning October 10. These nominations are the second step in a process known as “negotiated rulemaking,” which is required under the Higher Education Act for any regulations related to the Federal student financial aid programs.
05 Sep2023
By Brooke Evans
As part of the Longview Foundation-supported Global Education Faculty Professional Learning Series, AACTE is proud to partner with member institutions Marist College, the University of Florida, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis as they discuss their international collaborations with teacher educators from Brazil, Ecuador, and South Africa. The webinar, “Cross-Cultural Collaboration: How EPPs Can Foster Relationships with International Partners,” will take place on Wednesday, September 20 from 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. ET via Zoom.
31 Aug2023
By Alliant International University
Alliant International University and San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) have partnered through SDUSD’s TEACH-LEAD program in order to support aspiring teachers on their educational journey. With both institutions dedicated to equity in education, representation in the classroom, and providing the support that teachers need both in education and practice, the partnership was a natural step toward shared impact.
TEACH-LEAD San Diego (TLSD) is San Diego Unified’s latest endeavor focused on eliminating barriers that hold future educators back from pursuing their goals. The new program offers both financial and personalized pathway resources to individuals beginning or continuing their journey towards a career as a teacher. TEACH-LEAD San Diego is the district’s new “grow your own” teacher pipeline program, dedicated to supporting individuals in becoming teachers in their local communities.
31 Aug2023
By Amelia Q. Rivera
Congratulations to Charles A. Barnes, II Holmes Scholar of the Month for July 2023!
Barnes holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Rowan University-Glassboro (RU) and a Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University School of Law-Camden. He returned to Rowan to pursue a Ph.D. in Urban and Diverse Learning Environments. His area of research focuses on the intersectionality of social identities and related systems of oppression, discrimination, or domination as it relates to LGBTQIA+ communities.
29 Aug2023
By AACTE
It’s time you are recognized for your exceptional achievements in educational preparation. AACTE invites you to showcase your outstanding contributions and best practices (or nominate a deserving colleague!) for the 2024 AACTE Awards.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Applications are due by September 1.
Start preparing your submission today and get ready to be celebrated at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Denver/Aurora, Colorado during this highly coveted awards ceremony.
29 Aug2023
By Amy Kline
Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (NJACTE), in partnership with the State of New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), the 6th Annual New Jersey Convening for Diversifying the Teacher Workforce is a conversation among educational stakeholders aimed at creating and sustaining an educator workforce reflective of the cultural and linguistic diversity of New Jersey students.
This year’s theme is Retaining a Diverse Workforce: Teachers are Talking. Are You Listening?
Week 1 – Virtual Session on October 17 from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. (EST)
Week 2 – Virtual Session on October 24 from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. (EST)
Week 3 – In-Person Session at Georgian Court University on November 2 from 8:30 am to 2:00 p.m.
29 Aug2023
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.
As I have long been reporting, school districts across America are in the midst of a staffing crisis as students across the country return to classrooms for the start of the school year. Several states and districts have turned to long-term or day-to-day substitutes often with little or no teacher training at all to fill vacancies. This week, the Milwaukee Public School District (MSD) announced that in order to address staffing shortages, the district has turned to hiring upwards of 200 teachers from 17 different counties for the new school year.
A representative from the district spoke about the need for a different approach on recruitment saying in part, “As the shortage became national, everybody was short on teachers; we started to look where we could bring teachers from.”
29 Aug2023
By Penn GSE News
A member of a classroom team works with a group of students in the summer program at Henry C. Lea Elementary in West Philadelphia. The format of the Netter Center and Penn GSE collaboration was transformed this year to better individualize it for students. (Photos by Joe McFetridge)
This article was originally published by Penn GSE News.
For the last six weeks, Henry C. Lea Elementary in West Philadelphia has been humming with excitement and energy as students joyfully engage with interesting, colorful educational content. The activity is part of a joint pilot led by the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships and Penn GSE, which has kids from kindergarten to third grade engrossed, immersed, and learning.
“The last two years [gave] us a lot of information about what works and what doesn’t. Really listening to the teachers and being creative about how instructional teams could be built for closer support of kids were really at the heart of this new model,” said Caroline Watts, a senior lecturer, and director of Penn GSE’s Office of School and Community Engagement (OSCE).
Although this is the third summer of the Netter Center and Penn GSE collaboration, the program is being considered a pilot. That’s because this year, the learning model was radically altered. Instead of 45-minute blocks modeled to be like regular classes, students now cycle through stations within the classroom and work through smaller, more gamified tasks.
28 Aug2023
By Debbie K. Mercer
In March 2023, AACTE awarded the 2024 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology to Kansas State University. In this article, Debbie Mercer, dean, provides a summary of the university’s award-winning body of work.
AACTE is currently accepting nominations for the 2024 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology The deadline is September 1. Learn more and submit an entry.
Kansas State University’s College of Education (COE) has developed a significant body of work leveraging technologies for innovative remote learning opportunities. Through the use of telepresence robots in conjunction with more conventional remote communications platforms, the COE has developed an integrated body of teaching, research, and service activities that engage teacher education candidates, teachers, faculty, and students in bold new initiatives that build a vision for 21st-century learning and engagement on the traditional strengths of the institution. From remote field experiences that bring teacher education candidates to high-need rural schools, to international service-learning opportunities, to fully remote teaching internships, these initiatives are both sustainable and scalable.
28 Aug2023
By Nicole Dunn
As faculty return to campus to prepare for the year, we know a major part of that is planning robust classroom observation experiences for candidates. ATLAS (Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools®) is a video library that provides video cases and analysis tools of accomplished teaching practices indexed to common teaching and learning frameworks across various classroom settings. Observations with ATLAS are made even more valuable because they include insights into behind-the-scenes instructional decision-making.
Having worked with NBTPS to elevate ATLAS as a tool during the pandemic and seeing how member institutions like Eastern Michigan University and Kansas State University continue to integrate the platform to enhance their programs, AACTE is excited to offer a discount for this tool through the end of the year. AACTE has partnered with the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, Inc. (‘NBPTS’ or ‘The National Board’) to offer individual and institutional access to ATLAS at a reduced cost for AACTE members who are new subscribers.
