Daniel Named TACTE President-Elect

Larry Daniel, dean of the College of Education at University of Texas Permian Basin, is the new president-elect of the Texas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (TACTE).

TACTE is a membership organization for education deans in the state of Texas and is affiliated with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).

Daniel joins the TACTE Executive Committee, assists the association’s president as needed, serves in the absence of the president, and plans the program for the association’s summer retreat.

Daniel says he feels honored and grateful for this opportunity.

“I am humbled by the confidence that my TACTE colleagues have placed in me. For many years, I have had a passion for monitoring and influencing educational policy and legislative activities related to teacher education. Service to TACTE will give me an opportunity to work with others to influence state policy for the good of future teachers in the Lone Star State,” Daniel said in a UTPB Facebook post.

AERA Announces New Editor Team for Educational Researcher

AERA has announced the appointment of Nicholas Bowman (University of Iowa) as the new editor-in-chief of Educational Researcher for 2024–2026. Joining Bowman are three co-editors: Olusola O. Adesope (Washington State University), Brian P. An (University of Iowa), and Anjalé (AJ) Welton (University of Wisconsin, Madison).

This team will succeed the co-editor team of Thurston Domina (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Andrew McEachin (NWEA), Dana Thompson Dorsey (University of South Florida), and Sarah Woulfin (University of Texas at Austin).

Join the Webinar: Best Practices in Globalizing Teacher Education

As part of AACTE’s Longview Foundation-supported Global Education Faculty PLC Professional Learning Series, on Friday, August 25, from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET, you are invited to learn more about AACTE’s globally minded awards. The webinar, Award-Winning Best Practices in Globalizing Teacher Education, will take a closer look at the 2023 award-winning best practices from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.  

The webinar will also review the criteria and application for the Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives and the Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity.

Call for Proposals Deadline Extended to August 11

AACTE has extended the Call for 2024 Annual Meeting proposals, and will accept submissions through Friday, August 11, 11:59 p.m. PT. AACTE is inviting proposals that align with this year’s theme “Ascending New Heights: Propelling the Profession into the Future,” and address one of five strands:

  • Strand I: Advancing Innovation and Impact
  • Strand II: Resilient Leadership During Unprecedented Times
  • Strand III: Education Policy and Advocacy in an Era of Inequity
  • Strand IV: Deepening the Impact of Education Research and Research to Practice
  • Strand V: Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

To have your bold, innovative idea considered for inclusion at next year’s Annual Meeting, view the Proposal Guidelines and submit your entry before the August 11 deadline

A Winning Entry: AACTE Profiles 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Awardee

Lightning Jay was awarded the 2023 James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award for his work, “Imagining classrooms: A comparative case study of pedagogy and learning in teacher education” during this year’s AACTE Annual Meeting in Indiana. In this article, Jay provides a summary of his award-winning dissertation and how the research contributes to teacher education and supports policies that invest in the profession.

 AACTE is currently accepting nominations for the 2024 James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award. The deadline has been extended to Friday, August 11. Learn more and submit an entry.

Bio: Lightning Jay is an assistant professor in Binghamton University’s Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership. Before coming to Binghamton, Lightning taught middle and high school history in Brooklyn, NY and Minneapolis, MN and earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. His research works at the intersection of social studies and teacher education. His interests include making teacher education more authentic, responsive, and effective, preparing teachers to lead ambitious discussions of history that promote thinking about the difficult past, and supporting students in thinking historically and historiographically.

A Critical Dialogue on Educators’ Return to School: Prospects for Strengthening Professional Practice

Education has undergone significant transformations. This is evident when we consider the revisionist account of American history regarding slavery and the adjustments to the curriculum in Florida as an illustration. These changes motivated by ideological incoherence threaten to test educators’ professional fortitude regarding reactions to curricular challenges, book bans, and the discursive molding of parent engagement in education. For this reason, we focus our discussion on conceptualizations of remaining professionally vigilant. That is to say, although the field of education has been subjected to some of the most devastating assaults, we consider these dynamics for review: Asserting our unwavering determination to preeminence in the domain of education, questioning the harmful ideas about curriculum, and building the next generation of educational leaders.

Oklahoma Residents File Lawsuit to Block State-Funded Religious School

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.

On Monday, a group of Oklahoma residents filed a lawsuit in an effort to block the state from funding America’s first public religious charter school. The group of residents are comprised of parent and faith-based leaders who are backed by several organizations, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group is asking a state judge to block St. Isidore from operating as a charter school, stop a state charter school board from entering into or implementing any contracts with the school, and also halt the state from funding the school. The lawsuit names the school, members of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter Board, the Oklahoma State Education Department, and Superintendent Ryan Walters as defendants.

AACTE Joins Education, Labor Departments in Release of National Guideline Standards for Teaching Apprenticeships

AACTE President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone, Ed.D., CAE, represented the association alongside state and national leaders to unveil the National Guideline Standards (NGS) for K-12 Teaching Apprenticeships released today at a briefing hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor.

Federal, state, and local workforce and education leaders gathered to set a benchmark for high-quality teaching apprenticeship programs in August 2022. This initiative, launched by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, tasked leaders to develop comprehensive guidelines for high-quality educator apprenticeships. One year later, at today’s event, the Department of Labor announced the approval of the NGS, the culmination of an effort led by the Pathways Alliance through a working group co-chaired by Jacqueline King, Ph.D., of AACTE and representatives from Deans for Impact and National Center for Grow Your Own. These guidelines are a framework for states creating a registered apprenticeship program for K-12 teachers, outlining the requirements and responsibilities apprenticeship programs must fulfill.

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Labor-HHS-Education Spending Bill

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.

By the time this update makes it to your inbox, Members of Congress will be on their way out of Washington, DC for August recess. The Senate leaves town having approved all 12 of their FY2024 appropriations bills on a bipartisan basis. The House Committee has approved 10 bills with only Republican support and has not yet considered its Labor-HHS-Education or Commerce-Justice-Science bills. When Congress returns in September, the House will only be in session for three weeks, while the Senate will be in session for four weeks before the end of the fiscal year. This will be a critical time for advocacy efforts as many suspect we may be heading towards either an October 1 government shut down or a full year continuing resolution.

College of Education to Use Grant Award to Offer Free Tuition for Career Changers Pursuing Teaching Degrees

This article was originally published by Clemson News.

The College of Education will use a grant award from the South Carolina Department of Education to cover all tuition and associated costs for 36 career changers pursuing a master’s degree in teaching from Clemson University. The College’s “Grow Your Own” program works with partner school districts to secure paid employment for students as educational assistants while they complete their degree entirely online.

The Department of Education’s South Carolina Grow Your Own (SC GYO) program addresses the need to increase the teacher workforce in communities throughout the state. The Department of Education created the program to partner colleges and universities with school districts to help aspiring teachers pursue degrees in education.

According to Michelle Cook, associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Education, the program will prioritize placing Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students in programs that address the highest needs across the state, such as middle-level and secondary math and science teaching positions. She said hiring professionals already working as assistants in schools – or those from other industries with a strong desire to become teachers in home districts – naturally creates a motivated group of graduate students.

New Summer Academy Will Nurture the “Genius, Joy, and Love” of Future Black Educators

This article was originally published by the University of Pittsburgh College of Education.

Students from Pittsburgh Public Schools will benefit from the new initiative

The University of Pittsburgh School of Education is launching a paid summer academy for high school seniors as part of a new initiative to bring more Black teachers to Pittsburgh Public Schools. The academy will complement The Pittsburgh Promise’s Advancing Educators of Color (AEC) Scholarship, which seeks to add 35 Black educators to the district over seven years. 

“The importance of Black educators cannot be overstated,” says Valerie Kinloch, Professor and Renée and Richard Goldman Endowed Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. “However, statewide, Black educators comprise less than 4% of the teacher population in K-12 public and charter schools. Our new summer academy program will ensure that our students not only get to college but are supported along the way.”

Florida Organizations Oppose State’s Efforts to Rewrite History of the Black Experience

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, education officials in Florida approved new standards for teaching African American history. The standards are being considered by many as an effort to “purposefully omit or rewrite key historical facts about the Black experience.” Embedded within the standards is instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” and lessons that touch on acts of violence perpetrated “against and by” African Americans. Additionally, Black history lessons for younger students require students to only recognize Black investors and artists. A Florida teacher who expressed concerns surrounding students only having to recognize such individuals saying, “As a teacher, we focus on the verb in the standards, and these are the lowest level of cognitive rigor.”

The Florida Education Association submitted a letter in opposition of the standards to the Florida Board of Education, saying in part:

“Today — in the year 2023, we stand as a diverse coalition demanding you adhere to the law and adopt standards that require the instruction of history, culture, experiences, and contributions of African Americans in the state’s K-12 curriculum as directed in FS 1003.42. We owe the next generation of scholars the opportunity to know the full unvarnished history of this state and country and all who contributed to it — good and bad.”

The new standards are backed unanimously by the state Board of Education and encompass the “anti-woke” policies touted by Republican Governor and Presidential Candidate Ron Desantis.

Submit an Annual Meeting Proposal by August 4

As the deadline for 2024 Annual Meeting proposals approaches, AACTE invites diverse voices from both the higher education and PK-12 communities to submit a proposal for consideration in the 2024 Annual Meeting program. AACTE strongly encourages doctoral students pursuing an Ed.D. or Ph.D. to share their perspective on addressing current issues and providing innovative ways to approach that which has yet to be considered in educator preparation.

Individuals from all educational fields are invited to bring their research and practice to the Annual Meeting that aligns with this year’s theme: Ascending New Height: Propelling the Profession into the Future. 

Holmes Program Receives Funding to Support Future Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education Faculty and Leaders

AACTE is excited to announce a new partnership with the Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center on Equity (ECIPCE), a national center federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs to assist states in building comprehensive systems of personnel development to improve outcomes for infants and young children with disabilities and their families. ECIPCE has awarded AACTE a 5-year sub-award to support a cohort of 12 Holmes Scholars pursuing doctorates in early childhood and early childhood special education.

More early childhood leaders and practitioners with the requisite skills and knowledge are required to meet the needs of children aged birth – 5 years old.  This partnership will directly address this issue, in part, by providing targeted mentorship, professional development, and financial support to doctoral students of color pursuing a Ph.D. or an Ed.D. in early childhood and early childhood special education.

Democrats Oppose the FY2024 Labor HHS-Education Bill

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.

There is a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill as Members race towards the August recess. This week, Democrats in the House pushed back on the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee’s proposed draconian cuts to education funding. Your voices and advocacy efforts are needed more now perhaps than ever before.

Democrats Hold a Virtual Press Conference Opposing the FY2024 Labor HHS- Education Bill

On Friday, Democrats issued a press release and held a virtual press conference opposing the FY2024 Labor HHS- Education Bill. As you will recall, the bill puts forth an overall cut to the Department of Education of $22.1 billion or a 28% decrease compared to the current FY2023 enacted levels. The bill also seeks to use policy riders as a means to block a number of Biden Administration proposals surrounding education and student debt relief.