AACTE Board Chair Ann Larson Discusses Leading in Difficult Times

AACTE Responds to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Ann Larson

AACTE is spotlighting interviews with its member leaders on effective ways for educator preparation programs to navigate through COVID-19. AACTE Board Chair Ann Larson took time to share important tips in this video on leading in difficult times. She also discusses the leadership role all educators have during the coronavirus crisis.

New Title IX Regulations Released

U.S. Department of Education logo

On May 6, 2020, the U.S Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Betsy DeVos, released the final rule for the Title IX regulations—also known as the final regulation. Built from the law that prohibits sexual discrimination at federally funded institutions, this update to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) has been contentious since the process started in November 2018. AACTE joined nearly 60 organizations on a letter led by the American Council on Education pointing out challenges and questions with the proposal during the public comment period in January 2019. Overall, the Department received over 124,000 public comments that were reviewed prior to the determination of the final rule.

The review and update of the regulations were initiated due to a response to guidance issued by the Obama Administration in 2011 leading to an increase in civil lawsuits, mostly from men who were accused of sexual misconduct alleging their rights were violated under the Title IX procedures. The updated regulations are purported to be fair to both the accuser and the accused.

Get Discounts on Washington Week Events

2020 Washington Week

Registration is open for AACTE’s 2020 Washington Week, to be held September 8-11 at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA. Please note the discounted registration rates based on the following:

  • Register for the State Leaders Institute and you will receive a 12% discount on the Day on the Hill rate.
  • Register for the Holmes Institute and you will receive a complimentary registration for Day on the Hill.
  • Register to attend Day on the Hill and receive a 12% discount on State Leaders Institute.

The Top 5 Tips to Writing a Successful AACTE Annual Meeting Proposal

Top TipsThe reviews are in, and AACTE’s 2020 Annual Meeting was its most successful and engaging learning opportunity yet! Under the theme “Disrupting Inequities: Educating for Change,” attendees explored and developed methods and strategies to infuse equity and inclusivity into preparation and practice. And looking to the 2021 Annual Meeting, attendees will continue to revolutionize the profession by “Resisting Hate, Restoring Hope: Engaging in Courageous Actions.”

Want to feature your work during AACTE’s 2021 Annual Meeting in Seattle? Each year, AACTE receives many more proposals for consideration than can be accommodated, and only the “best of the best” content makes its way into the programming for the conference. So take note, because you will want to follow these tips to submit a competitive proposal:

Introducing AACTE’s COVID-19 Educator Preparation Policy Tracker Map

Due to the effects of COVID-19, many states have issued guidance or directives to assist educator preparation programs (EPPs) and teacher candidates in their response to the associated academic challenges and interruptions. In an effort to track relevant changes in state policies and practices, AACTE has developed a new interactive map designed to highlight and present such changes, with a focus on four key categories: 

  1. initial licensure and certification
  2. clinical experiences
  3. hiring and induction
  4. state standards and other program requirements

Congress Begins to Reconvene: What’s Next for COVID-19 Relief Funding?

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

Financial aid concept, Life buoy lifebelt with money bagThis blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Senate Reconvenes in Person; House Next Week?

The Senate reconvened in person this week despite warnings from medical experts and despite the fact that the DC area remains a COVID-19 hot spot.  In order to enable this convening without it violating emergency limitations on large gatherings, the Mayor of DC—Muriel Bowser—anointed members of Congress as “essential workers,” bringing them into the ranks of grocery store workers and front line health care personnel.  

New to the Capitol were plexiglass shields, boxes of masks and hand sanitizer. COVID-19 testing for all Members was made available by President Trump, but in a rare bipartisan move declined by both House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY). They recommended that the tests be prioritized for front line workers.

New Webinar on Member Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

Last week, I reported on results of a survey that AACTE conducted in April to better understand and assist members as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic.  The survey yielded valuable insights about how the pandemic is affecting educator preparation now and the concerns that leaders anticipate as they look ahead to the 2020-21 academic year.

On May 27 from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET, AACTE is hosting a webinar on the survey results. During this session, you will be able to

  • review the survey results
  • benchmark your experience against that of your colleagues
  • discuss the challenges you are facing—and how you are overcoming them—with your colleagues

Joining me to discuss the survey results will be Cynthia F. Grutzik, dean of the Graduate College of Education at San Francisco State University; John A. Kuykendall III, dean of the School of Education at University of Indianapolis; and Timothy J. Wall, professor and dean of the School of Education at Northwest Missouri State University.

Register today to join this important conversation about the impact of the coronavirus and how AACTE can help you and your students during these challenging times.  For those unable to attend on May 27, a recording of the session will be posted to the AACTE website.

AACTE and Mursion Present Virtual Reality Classrooms

AACTE & Mursion Virtual Reality Classrooms

You, like many AACTE members, are likely facing pauses and interruptions to the clinical practice partnerships in your educator preparation program due to COVID-19. AACTE wants to provide you with solutions, and as such, I am excited to announce our collaboration with Mursion to provide our members access to virtual reality classrooms. This technology enables teacher candidates to receive experiential learning to continue their career development in virtual settings. View the complete details at aacte.org/vrclassrooms.

Please take a few minutes to watch the video and learn more about this special member-only benefit and other ways to engage with your Association this month. Stay positive and rest assured that AACTE is here to support you through this difficult time.

Protecting the National Pipeline of Teachers

How Virtual Classrooms Can Help Train Preservice Candidates

Teachers using virtual teaching program

“Currently, under normal times, this would not count in Texas. This may change with pandemic issues,” chimed a participant at a recent Mursion Roundtable webinar. This was not an ordinary Zoom event though. It was a group of educators who gathered to test drive a classroom simulation for “Introducing Content for Middle School.” Messages in the chat were flying. In true teacher form, they were engaged, curious, forthright and funny. Several chat messages started with “I’m here to learn …”

What does it actually mean to train a teacher candidate in a simulated clas sroom? What does that look like? How does it feel? One brave volunteer blurted, “I’m terrified …and excited, but mostly terrified.” For those who have observed a first-time participant jump into a simulation, what follows is quite predictable. The learner starts out very tentative. Within minutes of the student avatars appearing on screen, they’re conversing and chuckling at the students’ responses. Then at their command “pause simulation,” they pop out of the scenario with a sigh and a wow. “That was very realistic,” is the usual description of this new experience.

Join Graduate Together Celebration to Honor Class of 2020

Graduate Together

While the coronavirus is prompting cancelation of graduation ceremonies across the nation, AACTE joins the GraduateTogether2020 celebration to honor the more than three million high school seniors in America with the recognition they deserve. AACTE invites members to tune into the one-hour primetime special, GRADUATE TOGETHER: AMERICA HONORS THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020 , on Saturday, May 16—via television, social media, and streaming platforms—to pay tribute to high school seniors, their extraordinary teachers, and their families.

The primetime special, developed by XQ Institute in partnership with The LeBron James Family Foundation and The Entertainment Industry Foundation, is a rally of all Americans around a message of hope and unity.

The partnering organizations are inviting you to get involved and spread the word about about how students, teachers, and families can get involved;

Drs. Xu and Cormier Awarded COVID-19 Rapid Research Grants

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

Yaoying Xu, Ph.D. & Dwayne Ray Cormier, Ph.D.

This article originally appeared on the Virginia Commonwealth School of Education website and is reprinted with permission.

Two VCU School of Education faculty members have been awarded COVID-19 rapid research grants by the university to help better understand this new pandemic and to combat it.

Dwayne Ray Cormier, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Foundations of Education and visiting iCubed scholar, and Yaoying Xu, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Education, received news of their awards in April.

Cormier’s study will explore pandemic preparedness and response within PreK-12 public school systems located within the Greater Richmond area during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“The study is exploratory and will use sociological and cultural theoretical frameworks together with a concept mapping methodology to analyze data yielded from focus groups across the PreK-12 school systems,” said Cormier.

AACTE Extends Due Dates for Annual Meeting Reviewer and Proposal Submissions

Annual Meeting Call for Reviewers

Have you thought about getting more involved with AACTE?  Have you considered submitting a proposal or being a reviewer for the 2021 Annual Meeting?  Well now is the time. AACTE has extended the deadlines for reviewers and proposals:

Call for Reviewers deadline has been extended until May 27. Peer Reviewers serve an important role in the Annual Meeting by ensuring that exemplary learning opportunities are selected from the proposals submitted. Applicants will be notified by June 19 and asked to review up to 10 proposals between June 19 – July 29. And don’t forget, you can still submit an Annual Meeting proposal, even while serving as a reviewer. Read the full call for proposals, then apply to review proposals.

AACTE and Mursion Collaborate to Support Teacher Preparation Through Coronavirus

New Partnership Offers Virtual Reality Classrooms to Advance Learning for Future Teachers

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the leading voice on educator preparation, and Mursion, the global leader in virtual reality (VR) training, are partnering to offer educators and students world-class experiential learning through simulations. The collaboration provides teacher candidates an opportunity to complete clinical field experiences remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The special offering is available to educator preparation programs (EPPs) across the nation.

During the coronavirus outbreak, EPPs can launch the VR classrooms in just a few days. Through virtual simulations, candidates can practice instructional techniques and access a platform of over 100 videos of classroom instruction. AACTE and Mursion will offer the VR classroom with simulated students at a special discount to support teacher candidates in these unprecedented times.

AACTE and Mursion Offer Technology Solution for Virtual Clinical Practice

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

AACTE- Mursion Virtual Reality Classrooms

AACTE and Mursion have partnered to offer educator preparation programs a solution to an acute need caused by the global pandemic. Teacher candidates’ opportunity for face-to-face classroom training has been suspended, which has resulted in a risk for future teachers to not complete their course work. The AACTE and Mursion collaboration provides virtual reality classrooms for teacher candidates to receive experiential learning through simulations. Mursion is rooted in teacher training and has conducted 50,000 simulations. Through the new offer, AACTE members receive a 10% discount to access innovative technology, thanks, in part, to an anonymous donor underwriting a portion of the cost.

Mursion has worked with over 70 educator preparation programs at colleges and universities. Here’s what a few participants had to say about the benefits of virtual reality classrooms:

AACTE Survey Captures Members’ Coronavirus Experience and Response

AACTE Responds to COVID-19

To better understand and assist members as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic, AACTE invited all chief institutional representatives to complete a short online survey in early April. Nearly 200 members responded, yielding valuable insights about how the pandemic is affecting educator preparation now and the concerns that leaders anticipate as they look ahead to the 2020-21 academic year. The complete set of findings is available online; highlights include the following:

Instruction 

  • Virtually all programs have transitioned to fully online instruction, using synchronous and asynchronous methods.
  • Faculty have received training in online instruction, and IT support has increased.
  • Many institutions are providing devices for students as needed.