FREE Webinar: What’s the Difference Between Assessment Literacy and Data Literacy?

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.

Innovation at Rutgers: Preparing Effective Physics Teachers

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.

JTE Call for Manuscripts: School-Based Teacher Learning

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.

Angela Duckworth to Speak at CAEP Conference

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.”

Congress Tackles Appropriations, HEA in Advance of Recess, Elections

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.

Innovation at Montclair State University: Preparing Teachers for High-Need STEM Fields

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.

Data Advocacy as a Professional Responsibility

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.

Institute Focuses Chapter Leaders on Advocacy, Communications, Leadership

By Elizabeth Ross and Aaron Goldstein

During the week of June 9, more than 40 AACTE state chapter leaders convened in Washington, DC, for the 2014 State Leaders Institute (SLI).

An annual professional development event exclusively for state chapter leaders, SLI aims to strengthen participants’ leadership skills, enhance chapters’ advocacy and communication efforts, and build connections among chapter heads from across the country.

Free Webinar Series to Discuss Developing Teachers’ Assessment Literacy

By Tim Finklea

AACTE has partnered with Measured Progress to provide a series of three webinars on a new requirement in the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) accreditation standards: facilitating and measuring candidates’ assessment literacy. This webinar series, “Developing the Assessment Literacy of Teacher Candidates,” is free and open to the public.

New Deans, Chairs Gain Rich Development at AACTE Leadership Academy

By Saroja Barnes

AACTE’s Leadership Academy in Milwaukee is under way! More than 80 new deans and department chairs from 65 educator preparation institutions across the nation are sharing in 4 days of professional development to sharpen and refine their leadership skills.

The event, which runs through Thursday, is being led by faculty members who together bring over 60 years of education leadership to the academy. In a variety of sessions and other interactions with participants, they are addressing key challenges that face new deans and chairs, such as implementing a vision, developing faculty, crafting budgets, engaging in public relations, and using data.

CAEP’s LaCelle-Peterson to Join AACTE’s Leadership Team July 1

By AACTE

AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson announced Friday that Mark LaCelle-Peterson, senior vice president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), will join AACTE’s staff as vice president for policy and programs July 1.

“We are delighted to welcome Mark to AACTE,” Robinson said. “He knows the work of our membership very well, and we are eager to bring his expertise to the Association’s programs.”

LaCelle-Peterson will provide strategic and operational leadership for AACTE’s Policy and Programs Department. The position is a member of the senior management team that is instrumental in developing and executing the overall strategic goals of the Association. Managing a team consisting of staff and consultants, LaCelle-Peterson will provide program and policy leadership and will develop high-level activities to showcase and support the work of the Association.

New MOOC to Help Teachers Design Common Core Performance Assessments

By Katie Wilczak

The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

The Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of an exciting new MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), Designing for Deeper Learning: How to Develop Performance Assessments for the Common Core.

This 9-week course will build educators’ capacity to develop and use curriculum-embedded performance assessments that fit local contexts. Course activities will guide students through the development and implementation of a performance task that is aligned with a specific curricular unit and performance outcomes integral to the Common Core State Standards. The course will use a learning-centered approach in which assessments are not only of learning, but also for learning.

Statement on NCTQ Teacher Prep Review

By Sharon Robinson

Yesterday, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its second annual Teacher Prep Review: A Review of the Nation’s Teacher Preparation Programs. Although parts of this report venture a conciliatory tone, as might be expected from NCTQ’s past reports, this review offers largely unhelpful recommendations that are based on questionable methodology.

Public Shaming—Over a Document Review

In an attempt to provide a consumer-friendly guide to teacher preparation programs, NCTQ has moved from rating institutions on a 4-star scale to ranking them numerically—a divisive tactic that mostly serves to pit institutions against one another. Notably, these rankings have as little to do with graduates’ readiness to teach as did last year’s star system.

Model Standards for School Leaders Getting an Update

By Kristin McCabe

This summer, two national education organizations will revise the model standards for the preparation, performance, support, and evaluation of school leaders. The work is expected to be completed in October.

With renewed support from the Wallace Foundation, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Policy Board for Education Administration (NPBEA) will convene panels to update the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards, last updated in 2008, and the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) standards, last revised in 2011. The effort also includes drafting new standards for superintendents or other central-office staff who supervise principals.

Apply Now for AACTE Awards

By Lucy Berrier

Nominations for all of the 2015 AACTE awards are now open on AACTE’s online submission site. To read detailed submission information, please refer to the official Call for Entries.

Our awards program recognizes member institutions’ exemplary programs as well as the achievements of individuals who have notably contributed to education preparation.

This year, the former Best Practice Award in Support of Global Diversity will revert to its predecessor components: one award focusing on multicultural education/diversity and another on global/international perspectives. These areas had been combined after the 2006 award cycle, but the AACTE Board of Directors voted last February to honor them separately again in order to provide distinct recognition of key practices.