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November 2016 State Policy Recap

Ed Prep Matters is pleased to bring you this special feature on state policy and AACTE state chapter activity. For similar recap articles from earlier months, browse the “State Directions” section of the blog.

Overview of State Policy Activity

During November, many state legislatures continued preparing for the 2017 legislative sessions. Over the past month, Montana, New Hampshire, Nevada, Texas, and Wyoming prefiled bills for 2017 – providing a general preview of legislators’ priorities. Some of the prefiled bills relate to adopting a performance funding system for institutions of higher education, modifying the governance structure of a state’s professional standards commission, requiring the collection of additional information on teachers and paraprofessionals for accountability purposes, and modifying eligibility criteria for a teacher loan program geared to address the teacher shortage.

Recapping State Elections: Results and Next Steps

While the country’s attention during last week’s election was largely on the presidential race, education had a lot at stake in key state-level decisions.

Governors

The first significant category of decisions was for governorships, for which 12 states held elections. Going into this month, Republicans held 31 offices, Democrats held 18, and an Independent led one state. In the 12 states with gubernatorial races, Republicans won six, Democrats won five, and one was still too close to call at press time.

The results put Republicans on track to tie or exceed a post-World War II record for the partisan control of governorships. See this link for an overview of the outcomes of each gubernatorial race.

Vote by Nov. 28 in AACTE’s Board of Directors Election

The annual election for the AACTE Board of Directors opens today and runs through November 28. Eight seats will be decided via online voting: one representing the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education (AILACTE), one representing the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions (CADREI), one representing university presidents/provosts, and five at-large seats.

All AACTE Institutional and Chief Representatives are eligible to vote for all eight open seats. The slate of candidates is as follows:

AACTE Board Approves Principles for National Accreditation in Educator Preparation

The AACTE Board of Directors this fall approved a revision of the AACTE Principles for National Accreditation in Educator Preparation, a document originally drafted in 2006 to state the Association’s aspirational views regarding national accreditation.

The revision was spearheaded by the Board’s subcommittee formed to engage with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The Board felt it was important to reaffirm our core values with respect to what we see as essential elements to any process of accreditation.

Listen to Mom: Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Plate

Many of us growing up with siblings remember being told to “keep your eyes on your own plate” when issues arose or squabbles began. Those words come to my mind when reflecting on the current distractions hounding teacher education. Even as we actively promote the need for educators to think and act as one profession and to engage with various external groups, we also must not forget to mind our own business.

In addition to the uncertainty around the outcome of today’s highly contentious national election, many other factors are competing for our attention and causing us anxiety. The teacher preparation program regulations are now official, and so is the Every Student Succeeds Act. The nation is rapidly moving toward a major teacher shortage, and despite our very best efforts, we have not been able to make a significant dent in diversifying the profession. Our many critics continue to share their views on the state of university-based teacher preparation programs, and our national-level accrediting agency is still working to rise to the level it should in order to assist programs in meeting standards and improving their work. To my mind, we all could benefit from Mom’s mantra: Keep your eyes on your own plate.

Member Voices: Listen to the Children

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This article originally appeared as Ena Shelley’s monthly “Transforming Education” column; it is reposted with permission. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

“While we try to teach our children all about life, they teach us what life is all about.” – Anonymous

You are likely reading this on the brink of our national election. There have been months of bickering, insult slinging, and behavior that would not be tolerated in most of our classrooms. Certainly there are adult issues that must be addressed, yet I sometimes wonder that if we remembered more often the voices and ears of children, we might find the margins of compromise that allow debates to become more about the “us” and less about the “them.” Children truly have wisdom and perspective that adults sometimes forget or lose in the busyness of life. I am sharing three links in this column that are the voices of younger children and adolescents. What if those running for political office, as well as those who already hold a policy-making position, and the media gave more time and attention to the wisdom they have to offer?

Sharon Robinson to Retire in July 2017

Press Release

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(October 18, 2016, Washington, DC) – The AACTE Board of Directors today announced the planned departure of President and Chief Executive Officer Sharon P. Robinson. After more than a decade at AACTE, Robinson will retire in July 2017.

“On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank Dr. Robinson for her many contributions to AACTE,” said AACTE Board of Directors Chair Jane Bray. “Since 2005, Dr. Robinson has led AACTE to achievements well beyond our expectations and has challenged our profession to aspire to great heights. AACTE is met with mixed feelings as Dr. Robinson deservingly transitions into retirement. We are happy for her next phase of life and grateful for her wonderful tenure, yet we realize she leaves a cavernous hole for us to fill.”

Resources to Engage Your Campus in the Democratic Process

As Americans, one of our most important duties is to participate in our democracy. Although it can be challenging to get out the vote on college campuses, engaged citizenship is one of the desired outcomes of postsecondary education, and we certainly want to nurture in our students a sense of responsibility to participate.

To help students navigate residency requirements, absentee ballots and their filing deadlines, and other voting rules and options, I encourage you to consult the resources compiled by the “Your Vote, Your Voice” campaign. This effort is spearheaded by the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, which includes AACTE and nearly 50 other national higher education organizations.

AACTE Board Special Election Results

Congratulations to the newest members of AACTE’s Board of Directors! In a recent online special election, AACTE members chose colleagues to fill seats representing the Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities (TECSCU) and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU):

Alberto Ruiz, Texas A&M University-Kingsville (HACU)
Elaine Chin, San Jose State University (TECSCU)

The new directors will join the Board at its fall meeting in Tampa, Florida.

In Memoriam: Carol E. Smith

Steele
Carol Smith, 1949–2016

Carol E. Smith, longtime AACTE staffer who deftly guided the Association through the early standards movement and years of accreditation reforms, died June 6 in Falls Church, Virginia. She was 66.

A native of Johnson City, Tennessee, Smith gave 23 years of devoted service to AACTE. After an early career in the banking and legal fields, she joined the AACTE staff as an administrative assistant in 1985 and worked up to senior leadership as vice president for professional issues before leaving in 2008.

Her portfolio of responsibilities was vast, including orchestrating the Association’s liaison with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, contributing to the design of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, and convening the Task Force on Teacher Education as a Moral Community, among others.

Last Call for AACTE Volunteer Leaders

Time is running out to apply for service on one of AACTE’s standing committees or run for a seat on the Board of Directors! Submit your application (or nominate a colleague) for a 3-year term by Monday, May 9.

Board of Directors

As noted by current Board Chair Jane Bray (Old Dominion University, VA), now is an exciting time to lead AACTE. “Our profession is truly at a tipping point, and the Board of Directors at AACTE is at the forefront of our profession,” she said. The Board’s agenda includes deliberations on the Association’s overall direction, its role in the changing accreditation system, strategic leveraging of resources, and much more. The current roster can be found here.

Please Join Me in June at AACTE’s Day on the Hill

I am so fortunate to have an opportunity to share my experiences in advocacy leadership at AACTE as chair of the Committee on Government Relations and Advocacy. It is my goal as chair to facilitate educator preparation advocacy at the state and national levels. The upcoming AACTE Day on the Hill, to be held June 7-8 as part of AACTE’s 2016 Washington Week, is an excellent opportunity for us all to develop and practice our advocacy skills together.

This 2-day event includes time to learn an effective advocacy strategy and then apply the strategy in scheduled visits with elected officials from our home states. Before the culminating congressional visits, participants will engage in a day of professional development focused on the knowledge and skills needed in advocacy efforts. We will hear from AACTE experts on what’s happening in Washington related to teacher preparation and discuss key issues that need the profession’s voice on the Hill.

Town Hall Meeting Engages AACTE Members, Leaders on Hot Issues

Members of the AACTE Executive Committee held a Town Hall Meeting February 24 at the AACTE 68th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, providing updates to the membership on key work of the Association and answering questions submitted by the audience on various programmatic and professional issues.

AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson opened the session with her annual “state of the Association” report. She announced that membership numbers are up to 823 institutional and 32 affiliate members and that several exciting new initiatives are under way—replacing or updating others to be more responsive to member needs. The long-operating Professional Education Data System (PEDS), for example, is now suspended in favor of a new data initiative that will aggregate and report on existing data sets, create benchmarking potential for programs, and more.