29 Jul2014
By Sharon Robinson and Mark LaCelle-Peterson
On July 22, New York Commissioner of Education John King convened a task force to advise the state on its future use of edTPA, a performance assessment system for aspiring teachers that is now required for licensure in New York.
As the first state to fully implement policy requiring new teachers to pass edTPA for licensure, New York and its PK-12 educators and teacher educators have encountered a variety of operational challenges. Every state that follows New York, as well as our larger professional community, will benefit from New York’s initiative, experience, and solutions.
Consequential use of edTPA is just one of four assessment innovations rolled out in New York’s ambitious new licensing process. (Other required licensure assessments are the Educating All Students exam, Academic Literacy Skills test, and certificate-specific Content Specialty Tests.) While some of us have expressed concern about the rapid roll-out schedule, it is apparent that many candidates were indeed ready to meet the rigorous new requirements: The initial edTPA pass rate was 84%, which we find impressive and encouraging.
29 Jul2014
By Elizabeth Ross
The Innovations Inventory of AACTE’s Innovation Exchange is an online database highlighting members’ pioneering practices in educator preparation that have shown a positive impact on issues of student learning, preparation program advancement, or educator workforce needs. This blog post is one in a series highlighting entries from the inventory. To request inclusion of your institution’s innovations, contact Zach VanHouten at zvanhouten@aacte.org.
The College of Education at Saint Bonaventure University (NY) has embraced the professional development school model in its initial teacher certification programs as a method for providing rich clinical experiences for teacher candidates. Under this model, candidates receive extensive supervised training in an apprentice style of learning, spending 2 full days per week for 2 semesters in the classroom acquiring the necessary skills to become full-time teachers. Candidates gain in-depth knowledge of classroom structure, management, and technique while learning alongside their cooperating teacher and their cohort of students. Prior to student teaching, each candidate spends a minimum of 300 hours in classrooms; upon completion of the program, each one has spent approximately 1,000 clock hours overall in clinical practice.
21 Jul2014
By Valerie Fry
The National edTPA Implementation Conference organized by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and AACTE will be held October 24–25 at the University of California, Los Angeles. This annual 2-day gathering is open to higher education administrators, faculty, supervisors, and state education agency personnel who are seeking to deepen their understanding of edTPA and network within a learning community of edTPA users.
21 Jul2014
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has awarded its inaugural Research Fellowship in Educator Preparation to teams based at the University of Southern Maine and at William Paterson University of New Jersey. The 1-year fellowships commence August 1.
Each of the two research teams, which include emerging as well as experienced scholars, will receive $30,000 to support projects examining critical issues in educator preparation.
16 Jul2014
By Aaron Goldstein
What is the difference between assessment literacy and data literacy?
On Monday, July 21, at 12:30 EDT, you can learn the answer to this question in a free webinar hosted by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC). AACTE is a partner of DQC.
DQC’s Brennan McMahon Parton will moderate a discussion between two national experts on data literacy and assessment literacy: Research Scientist Ellen Mandinach of WestEd and Founding Principal Stuart Kahl of Measured Progress. Mandinach and Kahl will define data literacy and assessment literacy and discuss the ways they do—and don’t—overlap. DQC’s inaugural teacher fellow, Raquel Maya Carson, will respond from the perspective of a real classroom teacher on data and assessment use.
08 Jul2014
By Zachary VanHouten
The Innovations Inventory of AACTE’s Innovation Exchange is an online database highlighting members’ pioneering practices in educator preparation that have shown a positive impact on issues of student learning, preparation program advancement, or educator workforce needs. This blog post is one in a series highlighting entries from the inventory. To request inclusion of your institution’s innovations, contact Zach VanHouten at zvanhouten@aacte.org.
Rutgers University (NJ) is making a big impact on physics education through an innovative program housed in the Graduate School of Education.
08 Jul2014
By Kristin McCabe
The editors of AACTE’s Journal of Teacher Education invite manuscripts for a special issue on school-based teacher learning. Manuscripts are due November 1, and the issue will be published next year as Volume 66, Number 4 (September/October 2015).
Coeditors Stephanie Knight, Gwendolyn Lloyd, and Fran Arbaugh of Pennsylvania State University have issued the following call for papers with suggested research questions:
Much of what teachers learn about teaching and learning occurs in school-based contexts. Opportunities for teacher learning occur along the professional continuum, from preservice field experiences to a multitude of opportunities for in-service teachers to engage in job-embedded learning. In addition, school-based teacher education is supported by various types of teacher educators—including, but not limited to, mentors, university supervisors, peers, instructional coaches, administrators, district-level supervisors, university faculty, and other professional development providers.
07 Jul2014
By Tiffany S. Erickson
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Angela Duckworth, whose top-rated Ted Talk on “grit” has received more than 4.6 million views, will be the keynote speaker at the 2014 Fall CAEP Conference (CAEPCon) Tuesday, September 30. The conference is being held in partnership with AACTE.
Duckworth’s research on non-IQ competencies that predict achievement influenced the development of CAEP Standard 3: Recruitment and Selectivity. The topic of Duckworth’s keynote will be “True Grit.”
02 Jul2014
By Deborah Koolbeck
It’s an election year – the full U.S. House of Representatives and one third of the U.S. Senate are up for re-election – which makes for interesting legislative times. Elections are just 4 months out, and we have about 7 legislative weeks left in the 113th Congress.
The primary season has essentially ended, and we’ve seen some shockers – including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) losing his primary election and subsequently resigning his leadership position. As we approach the August recess and fall election season, some important work is under way in both the House and the Senate.
01 Jul2014
By Zachary VanHouten
The Innovations Inventory of AACTE’s Innovation Exchange is an online database highlighting members’ pioneering practices in educator preparation that have shown a positive impact on issues of student learning, preparation program advancement, or educator workforce needs. This blog post is one in a series highlighting entries from the inventory. To request inclusion of your institution’s innovations, contact Zach VanHouten at zvanhouten@aacte.org.
Over the past few years, Montclair State University has developed a series of programs geared toward increasing the supply of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers. Programs including the Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency (NMUTR) and the Integrative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (iSTEM) program are contributing to the national initiative “100Kin10,” which seeks to prepare 100,000 new STEM teachers by 2021.
01 Jul2014
By Sharon Robinson
Once upon a time, we were challenged to find useful data about education. Not much information was collected, and it was largely inaccessible. In recent years, as public demands for greater transparency and evidence-based accountability have generated an information frenzy, we still face this challenge—but not because data are scant. Now they are overabundant, often difficult to decipher, or of unreliable quality. In this new environment, we must prepare teachers and other education leaders to be not only data literate, but also advocates for effective data use by others.
