‘Grow-Your-Own’ Efforts Continue at University of Central Florida

University of Central Florida (UCF) Consortium for Future Educators

Now in its third year, the University of Central Florida (UCF) Consortium for Future Educators is growing by leaps and bounds! On November 1, 2019, UCF hosted the third convening of the Consortium for Future Educators, including 16 Districts of Education in Florida, and over 80 participants. District leaders, lead teachers, high school students, and university faculty who partner with them came together to share knowledge and best practices as it relates to the creation, growth, and results of High School Teaching Academies and “grow-your-own” pathways.

Thrive! Rural America Initiative Addresses Challenges Facing Rural Communities

Teacher working with student in a rural schoolThis post is an excerpt from an article that originally appeared in Texas Tech Today and is reprinted with permission.

Situated within rural America, Texas Tech University is responding to rural challenges, with researchers in many specialties coming together to partner with rural communities, civic organizations and industries to develop models for change.

Texas Tech and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) researchers are working to address the challenges facing rural Americans, including water supply, energy costs, national teacher shortage, obesity rates, suicide rates, and fewer mental health workers.

Congress Postpones Funding Showdown, Heads to Thanksgiving Recess

Colorful waving national flag of united states of america on a american dollar money background. finance conceptThis 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.

Last Thursday, Congress postponed the showdown over government funding until Dec. 20 and hit the road for Thanksgiving. They are planning some fancy footwork upon return as the impeachment process steams forward and a government shutdown remains a possibility.

Showdown over Government Funding Postponed until Dec. 20

Once again, the Congress has punted on funding the government. December 20 is the new deadline for determining overall spending levels for each of the 12 funding bills and completing them. Funding for education hangs in the balance with the House passed bill including a $5 billion increase, but no such increase in the Senate bill. The budget agreement adopted earlier in the year provides for an increase of about $100 billion for defense and domestic spending for this fiscal year. If Congress cannot agree on new funding levels, this new infusion of funds will be left on the drawing table.

Engage in Twitter Chats on Inclusive Principal Preparation

Twitter Chat

In collaboration with the Wallace Foundation, AACTE is launching a Twitter Chat Series in December dedicated to elevating Inclusive Principal Preparation. The four Twitter chats align with our ongoing Inclusive Principal Preparation Webinar Series. The Twitter chats will provide ample space to continue discussing principal preparation with you—our leaders in the field of principal and leader preparation.

Twitter allows participants to engage in conversations, follow exchanges, and locate chats through a dedicated hashtag. To participate, use the hashtags below to locate and participate in the Twitter Chat Series.

The dates for the upcoming Inclusive Principal Preparation Twitter Chat Series are also below. Each Twitter chat will take place from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. The associated webinars are accessible via the provided links. Remember, the fourth webinar is still open for registration!

  1. Tuesday, December 3 – The Challenges and Successes of Principal Recruitment and Retention
    #principalrecruitmentandretention
  1. Thursday, December 5 – Successful University and District Partnerships for Preparing Principals #principalpartnerships
  1. Wednesday, December 11 – From Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems  
    #principalpipeline
  1. Wednesday, December 18 – What Should High-Quality Principal Preparation Look Like?* (*Link to register for the final webinar.) 
    #principalprep

Join Livestream Featuring Lynn M. Gangone Talk on Principal Pipelines

Lynn M. Gangone

You are invited to join The Wallace Foundation’s ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC) and University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) Professional Learning Community (UPPI PLC) livestream event on December 2, 2019, where AACTE’s President and CEO Lynn Gangone will present the Plenary address.

The livestream event begins at 1:45 p.m. ET. Gangone’s address will focus on how schools of education help further principal pipelines. The ELLC-UPPI professional learning community meeting will bring together representatives from 17 states to discuss principal pipeline policies and engage together in team planning.

AACTE is proud to partner with the Wallace Foundation to support the UPPI’s robust, clinically oriented principal preparation.

Watch the livestream event: How teacher and leader preparation can work together to further principal pipelines
Featuring AACTE CEO and President Lynn M. Gangone
Monday, December 2, 1:45 – 2:15 p.m. ​​ET

Revolutionizing Education: A Call for Stories

Ed Prep Matters features the “Revolutionizing Education” column to spotlight the many ways AACTE, member institutions, and partners are pioneering leading-edge research, models, strategies and programs that focus on the three core values outlined in the current AACTE strategic plan: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Quality and impact; and Inquiry and Innovation.

Diverse college classroom

AACTE recently released its 2020-2023 Strategic Plan, which includes a new vision statement: AACTE, its members, and partners collaborate to revolutionize education for all learners. Aligned with the new strategic plan, Ed Prep Matters is launching a new column called Revolutionizing Education to showcase the many ways the Association and member institutions are moving beyond traditional perspectives and are pioneering positive change in educator preparation.

The Revolutionizing Education column is an opportunity for member institutions and partners to share the leading-edge research, models, strategies, programs, and initiatives that focus on the three core values outlined in the new AACTE strategic plan:

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Quality and impact
  • Inquiry and Innovation

Elizabeth Ayisi Named Holmes Scholar of the Month

Elizabeth AyisiCongratulations to Elizabeth Ayisi, a Ph.D. student and graduate research associate in mathematics education in the Patton College of Education at Ohio University. Ayisi holds a bachelors of art degree in mathematics from The College of Wooster and masters of science in mathematics from John Carroll University. Prior to attending Ohio University, she taught high school mathematics, physics, computer science, and college applied calculus. Her expertise includes complex analysis, differential geometry, functional analysis, statistics, and the use of quantitative statistical analysis techniques (e.g., analysis of variance, linear regression, Monte Carlo simulation, structural equation modeling, research methodologies, etc).

Ayisi has presented a number of research posters and delivered presentations at local, regional, and national research conferences. She is also a native speaker of Twi, a common language in Ghana.

Volunteering With AACTE: An Opportunity for Everyone

VolunteerYou are vital to AACTE. Your membership, your service, your knowledge, and your presence are vital to the organization. 

As chair of the Committee on Membership Development and Capacity Building, I know firsthand the benefits of membership in AACTE. However, I wasn’t always aware that I could contribute to the organization. Throughout my career, I have consistently worked at AACTE member institutions, but I assumed certain roles in the organization, such as serving on a committee, were reserved for administrators. At that time, little did I know that faculty, staff, and students are fully vested members of AACTE through their institution’s membership.

After attending and presenting at several annual meetings, I knew I wanted to get more involved. I became a member of the committee when I was an associate professor of education. Through interaction with AACTE members with various backgrounds, I soon realized there are opportunities for everyone to become actively involved in AACTE.

Renewal Season 2020 is Upon Us – Renew Your AACTE Membership Today

REnew your membership

Do you enjoy reading the latest edition of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE)? Do you access AACTE’s free downloadable resources, such as Colleges of Education: A National Portrait or Education Students and Diversity? Then you won’t want to forget to renew your AACTE membership for 2020! 

Your AACTE membership runs from January 1 to the end of the year. To ensure you do not miss the many members-only resources, renew your membership before December 31, 2019.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, below are a few additional offerings that may be of interest:

How Far Must Hate Go to Approach The Holocaust?

This Opinion article by Renée A. Middleton, a past AACTE president and dean of the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education at Ohio University, originally appeared in the Columbus Dispatch and is reprinted with permission.

Renée A. Middleton

Hate crimes are on the rise in the United States. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the United States last year saw the third-highest number of anti-Semitic incidents since 1979. There were 1,879 reported anti-Semitic acts—a 48% increase from 2016 and a 99% increase from 2015. Ohio, meanwhile, ranked third in the nation in hate crimes in general in 2016, according to the FBI. Columbus has more than doubled the number of reported hate crimes in Cincinnati and Cleveland combined.

These troubling numbers come against the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis at the southern border. Refugees are being separated from their families, detained against their will and are not being treated with dignity and respect. The majority of these refugees are children, who are powerless in every sense of the word.

View Webinar on Integrating Social and Emotional Learning, Cultural Competence

AACTE and EdPrepLab logos

On November 14, I had the privilege of moderating the first in a series of webinars produced through a partnership of AACTE and the Educator Preparation Laboratory (EdPrepLab). This webinar, “Social and Emotional Learning, Cultural Competence, and Equity in Teacher Preparation,” will be followed by three others focusing on transformative research and practice in educator preparation.

Joining me for the webinar were Nancy Markowitz of the Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child, Patty Swanson from San Jose State University, Pat Norman from Trinity University, and Mari Jones from the HighTech High Graduate School of Education.

Both Trinity and High Tech High, where Norman and Jones teach, are members of the EdPrepLab network. EdPrepLab, which launched this year, is an initiative of the Learning Policy Institute and the Bank Street College of Education that aims to strengthen educator preparation in the United States by linking research, policy, and practice and by supporting and expanding preparation that is equity-focused, student-centered, and grounded in the science of learning and development.

The Little Makerspace that Could

Student in maker space using two 3-D printer penThe Maker Movement has been gaining momentum over the past 14 years with the publication of MAKE magazine in 2005 and the first Maker Faire sponsored by John Dougherty. The book titled Invent to Learn, 2nd Ed.  (2019) has become what is known as the Maker’s Movement Bible. Written by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, the book goes into detail about how teachers and students can let loose their creativity in a myriad of ways if they are provided with space and materials to do so. 

There have always been “makers” who used their hands, brains, and hearts to invent and produce the things that people use for work and play. Classrooms have long been known as places where students could be caught making things on any given day. Why the hype about maker spaces, then?

Perhaps it has to do with the disconnect that appears to have occurred due to the technology revolution that has moved learning through exploring with material objects to learning from screens. On our small campus in Northeast Ohio, we have seen a constant move toward emptying the library of books and journals in favor of digital texts. Getting a hard copy of a textbook from publishing companies is becoming more of a challenge as well. Students on all levels rely more on Google than library stacks to conduct their research. It may be that the pendulum, as it always does, is beginning to swing the other way, and humans are craving the need to get back to hands-on learning that can leave printing ink on your hands, and clay under your finger nails.

Congress Makes Progress Toward Completing Education Funding Bill

A group of children drawing a hopscotch game on a floor with dollar signs.

This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide update information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Congress Still Working to Avoid that Government Shutdown

The current continuing resolution—a bill that keeps the government temporarily funded – expires next week, on November 21. Congressional leaders have been scrambling this week to find a way to keep government funding extended beyond that time, and thus avoid a government shutdown. They appear to be closing in on another temporary funding extension—through December 20—predicated on progress on the big obstacle, which is agreeing on top line totals for each of the 12 funding bills. Since the House and Senate did not agree on those totals before they wrote their bills, there are significant discrepancies which can only be resolved by a House/Senate agreement on one figure for each bill.  This is critical for the bill that funds education, as the House bill is about $5 billion more generous for education than the Senate draft bill.

AACTE Gives Thanks for Our Members

Lynn M. GangoneThe AACTE National Office Staff and I wish you a peaceful holiday and are grateful for your active involvement in AACTE. In this video, I share updates about what’s happening in the Association as we near the end of the year, including the latest details on the 2019 AACTE Board of Directors Election. Remember to cast your vote by November 29.

Please take a moment to watch the video message below (or read the transcript) to discover how you can stay involved with AACTE this holiday season.