Posts Tagged ‘accreditation’

AACTE at the Table for Higher Education Negotiated Rulemaking

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is moving forward with negotiated rulemaking around a large number of issues dealing with federal student financial aid in the Higher Education Act, commonly known as “Title IV,” and AACTE will be at the table. Last fall, the Department put out a call for nominations for negotiators to be part of a full committee and three subcommittees, and this week announced the list of negotiators, which includes 18 AACTE member institutions.

The full committee will cover issues around accreditation and innovation, and the subcommittees will advise the full committee on the following issues: faith-based entities, distance learning, and TEACH grants. The first committee and subcommittees sessions will take place next week, January 14–18.

In addition to AACTE member participation, I will be representing the Association and its members on the TEACH grant subcommittee. Negotiators also include a number of AACTE partners. To see the full list of negotiators for the full committee and each of the subcommittees, along with the supporting materials, visit the U.S. Department of Education website.

Would you like to learn more about the law that establishes the processes around negotiated rulemaking? Review the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, or read a five-page summary of the negotiated rulemaking process.

Lynn M. Gangone and Renee A. Middleton advocate for education preparation in recent Ed Week articles

These letters to the editor, Don’t Blame Admissions Standards and Ed. Colleges Provide Value first appeared in Education Week on November 13, 2018. Reprinted with permission from the authors.

Don’t Blame Admissions Standards

To the Editor:

Marc Tucker has helped us better understand education systems around the world. Unfortunately, in his recent opinion blog post (“Teachers Colleges: The Weakest Link,” November 1, 2018), he demonstrates less understanding of America’s teacher-preparation programs than he has about programs abroad.

Ohio Partnership Sways Teacher Licensure Legislation

Ohio recently proved that collaboration across education stakeholders can increase communication and partnerships, as well as shape state legislation.

In fall 2017, a superintendent group representing the Western Ohio Advocacy Network (WOAN) worked with Ohio Senator Matthew Huffman to craft the Ohio School Deregulation Act (SB216), intended to increase local control of education. The initial bill proposed reverting back to having only two general education licensure bands: Grades 1-8 and 7-12, a radical departure from Ohio’s existing licensure bands: PK- 3, 4-9, and 7-12. SB 216 also proposed moving teacher licensure bands from Ohio’s Administrative Code (controlled by the Ohio Department of Education) to Ohio’s Revised Code (with legislative oversight), which meant that any future changes would require legislative action.

AACTE Announces 2018-19 State Chapter Award Recipients

AACTE has awarded five state chapters the 2018-19 AACTE State Chapter Support Grant. The recipients are as follows:

  • Arizona
  • Colorado
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • New Jersey

Each year, AACTE and the Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR) Executive Committee select recipients of the State Chapter Support Grants to help strengthen the capacity of the chapters on various levels, including advocacy and statewide collaboration to meet key challenges, as well as strengthen AACTE’s relationship with state chapters. 

Share Your Feedback on Draft Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has released the first public draft of its position statement on “Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators.” Feedback from AACTE members—schools, colleges, and departments of education that house many early childhood degree programs—about the content and clarity of the statement is critical! We encourage you to provide feedback through this survey.

This statement is a revision of the 2009 position statement on “NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation,” which is a cornerstone of the early childhood profession. It serves as the standards for NAEYC’s higher education accreditation system, as well as the standards for the NAEYC SPA recognition system through the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). It also influences states’ early childhood competencies and professional development systems and informs the program content and design of most early childhood degree programs (preparing an early childhood workforce that serves young children, birth through age eight).

In Memoriam: Frank B. Murray

Our educator preparation community lost one of its strongest advocates for teacher quality on Friday, September 14, when Frank B. Murray passed away after a sudden illness. He was 79.

Frank played a vital role in advancing national accreditation in educator preparation. He was the founding president of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and served as chair of its board of directors and for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). He also worked closely with AACTE as editor of The Teacher Educator’s Handbook and a leader of the Holmes Partnership. He served in various capacities on the editorial boards of several journals in developmental and educational psychology and was a fellow in the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Educational Research Association.

What I Valued at AACTE’s Quality Support Workshop

This event is cancelled until further notice.

When I decided to attend the AACTE Quality Support Workshop last summer, I was a faculty member and assessment coordinator in a college of education. Armed with an already solid understanding of the principles and practices of assessment, I was not sure how much I would get out of attending the workshop, but as the sole representative from my institution, I registered anyway and made the trip to Minnesota. Over the next 3 days, my expectations were shattered, in a very good way!

The workshop was well organized and provided the opportunity to learn from engaging plenary session speakers and included multiple sessions covering a variety of topics related to assessment and accreditation. There was time and planned activities that allowed for ample opportunity to engage in dialogue and collaborate with others who share similar responsibilities at their institutions. It was through these opportunities that I found like-minded people who were tackling the same kind of work for educator preparation providers (EPPs) around the country.

Respond by 6/29 to Survey on Evidence for Tech Integration

The authors are members and leaders of the AACTE topical action group called “All Things Accreditation.” The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Members of the All Things Accreditation Topical Action Group (TAG) spent the spring term this year designing and validating a survey that aims to help us better understand how the field is measuring technology integration in teacher education programs and what evidence colleges are using for technology expectations such as those of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). We invite you to participate in the survey at this link by June 29.

TAG Session Explores Fairness, Evidence in EPP Accreditation

The authors are members and leaders of the AACTE topical action group called “All Things Accreditation.” The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

At the most recent AACTE Annual Meeting, we hosted a session on behalf of the All Things Accreditation Topical Action Group (TAG) to explore the expectations of Standard 4 of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The session, “A Courageous Conversation About Fairness, Justice, and Accountability in EPP Assessment and Impact on P-12 Student Learning,” aimed to evaluate current practices specific to CAEP Standard 4 as well as the merit of using standardized or criterion-referenced state tests designed to evaluate PK-12 student learning as a metric to judge the viability of educator preparation providers (EPPs). We discussed complications around value-added measures (VAM) and the fairness of judging EPPs by their graduates’ impact on student learning.

New Features Coming to AACTE Quality Support Workshop

Do you ever find that you have to leave your office to make progress on important work? At your desk, the urgent can often crowd out the important so that, at the end of the day, you know you were incredibly busy but can’t say that you made progress on any of your real priorities. Leaving the office can be a great way to set aside the day-to-day tumult and really focus.

When you need to tackle the important work of measuring, improving, and assuring the quality of your educator preparation programs, AACTE is ready to help. The 2018 Quality Support Workshop, August 2–4 in Columbus, Ohio, will help you make rapid progress on your quality assurance plan.

Early Bird Pricing Ends May 11 for Quality Support Workshop

Is establishing or revisiting your quality assurance plan one of those “important but not urgent” tasks that you can’t seem to get around to tackling? Do you need advice to ensure that your plan is robust and can point the way to improved outcomes for your graduates? AACTE is here to help! Join us for the 2018 Quality Support Workshop, August 2-4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Building on two successful workshops held in 2017, this year’s event will provide a focused opportunity for you to design or refine an action plan for assuring and improving the quality of your program. And not just conceptually either—you will actually work on your own quality assurance plan!

50-State Comparison Tracks School Leader Certification, Preparation

A new resource developed by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) offers a 50-state comparison of school leader certification and preparation programs, along with individual state profiles.

As more attention turns to the ways in which school leaders are prepared and certified, particularly in light of the impact school leaders have on student learning, states are evaluating and developing policies to strengthen and improve the quality of school leaders. ECS conducted the 50-state assessment of school leader policies and identified the following key takeaways:

Teacher of Refugee, Immigrant Students Named 2018 National Teacher of the Year

mandy-manning

The 2018 National Teacher of the Year was announced today on CBS This Morning: Mandy Manning, a National Board Certified Teacher of high school English and math in Spokane, Washington, has been named to the honor, following the announcement of four finalists earlier this year.

Manning began her teaching career almost two decades ago working with the Peace Corps in Armenia. Since then, she has taught in Japan and in classrooms throughout the United States. Manning’s global perspective has been instrumental in her current classroom in the Newcomer Center at Ferris High School in Spokane, a place where immigrant and refugee students are provided the opportunity to study English, foundational reading skills, mathematics, and computers.

Stacy Duffield of North Dakota State Chosen for 2018 Pomeroy Award

stacy-duffield

AACTE’s Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability has selected Stacy K. Duffield, professor in the College of Human Development and Education at North Dakota State University, to receive the 2018 AACTE Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education. The award will be presented at the 70th AACTE Annual Meeting Closing Keynote session, March 3 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Pomeroy Award, named for longtime AACTE Executive Director Edward C. Pomeroy, is one of the Association’s highest honors, recognizing distinguished service either to the educator preparation community or to the development and promotion of outstanding practices in educator preparation at the collegiate, state, or national level. Duffield stands out in all of these categories.