10 Feb2015
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE is pleased to announce a new speaker for the 67th Annual Meeting Welcoming Session. A. Lin Goodwin of Teachers College, Columbia University, will join Marc Tucker of the National Center on Education and the Economy at this kick-off general session, Friday, February 27, at noon.
Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, originally scheduled to speak at the session with Tucker, is no longer able to attend the conference.
Goodwin brings her extensive experience in international education reform to this keynote duet for a thought-provoking discussion of economic imperatives and successful systems of educator preparation around the world.
10 Feb2015
By Sharon Robinson
This post also appears in the Public School Insights blog of the Learning First Alliance.
It’s an insidious message embedded in the American psyche: Those who can’t, teach. For years, report after report has banged the drum for raising admission standards into teacher preparation programs, citing international comparisons and championing cost-prohibitive recruitment policies.
In reality, the talent pool now entering teacher preparation programs is rich. Our programs are, in fact, attracting their share of high achievers—defined by any number of criteria.
03 Feb2015
By Amanda Bush, Christine DeGregory and Donna Sacco
Upon arriving at AACTE last month to begin our semester-long internship, we were whisked off to the National Press Club for a press briefing on The Iceberg Effect, based on the new studySchool Performance in Context: Indicators of School Inputs and Outputs in Nine Similar Nations. For three doctoral students who are dedicated to promoting social justice in and out of the classroom, this could not have been a more fitting introduction to our work at AACTE.
The report, released by the National Superintendents Roundtable and the Horace Mann Foundation, casts new light on U.S. students’ performance on international assessments, controlling for social and economic factors that have not been previously studied alongside student achievement on this scale. The results highlight the relatively strong academic achievement of America’s students in spite of our nation’s poor performance in providing supports to help offset the widespread social and economic effects of poverty.
03 Feb2015
By AACTE
AACTE is pleased to announce Michigan State University’s College of Education as the next editorial host of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE). The editors were selected through a competitive proposal process and approved by the Association’s Board of Directors for a 3-year term.
The current editorial team at Pennsylvania State University, which has served the JTE since August 2010, will continue work on the journal through June 2015 to complete Volume 66; however, the Michigan State team will receive all new manuscript submissions effective March 1.
03 Feb2015
By Sharon Robinson
Eighteen education deans have formed a new coalition, Deans for Impact, to engage in the ongoing and important discussion about educator effectiveness and quality evidence. This group has staked out an agenda that is congruent with AACTE’s overall goals and also echoes the professional standards being implemented by the Council for the Accreditation for Educator Preparation.
02 Feb2015
By AACTE
Today, AACTE submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education on the proposed teacher education program regulations. AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson released the following statement on the organization’s submission:
“The members of AACTE embrace accountability for their work. They are eager to understand the effectiveness of their graduates and seek continual program improvement to ensure graduates’ profession-readiness on Day 1 in the classroom.
“The regulatory proposal put forward by the Department, however, is not the appropriate way to hold programs accountable. It would draw energy, funding, and attention away from innovative reforms, proven accountability initiatives, and overall program improvement currently under way in teacher preparation programs across the country.
29 Jan2015
By Zachary VanHouten
On Tuesday, January 27, the American Federation of Teachers and Howard University (DC) convened a panel at the National Press Club to discuss the potential impact of the proposed federal teacher preparation regulations on minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and their teacher pipelines. AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson was among the panelists who shared their concerns and urged the U.S. Department of Education to withdraw the regulations.
27 Jan2015
By Linda McKee
AACTE is very pleased to welcome three new interns from George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. Amanda Bush, Christine DeGregory, and Donna Sacco will be working through May 2015 with Rod Lucero, our senior director for membership engagement and support, and me, AACTE’s senior director for performance measurement and assessment policy.
Over the next semester, the GMU interns will learn the dynamics of performance measurements, assessment policies, and clinical practice in the setting of a national association focused on continuous improvement and support. This is an exciting time for AACTE to guide the field while advocating for and building capacity for high-quality preparation programs. Cooperating with our member institutions to employ education interns has long been a goal for AACTE, and we are excited to see this aim realized.
27 Jan2015
By Rod Jonas
With the February 2 deadline fast approaching to comment on the proposed federal regulations for teacher preparation programs, the North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NDACTE) has wasted no time in developing comments and reaching out to our state officials to express our concerns with the proposed regulations. As questions and concerns mount regarding the proposed regulations, the members of NDACTE felt it was necessary to discuss them with officials in our state.
26 Jan2015
By Lucy Berrier
On January 14, the Council of Chief State School Officers announced four finalists for the 2015 national teacher of the year. The finalists are state teachers of the year from Alabama, Hawaii, Indiana, and Texas.
26 Jan2015
By Kristin McCabe
The Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center (CEEDAR Center) will sponsor a free webinar, “Innovation Configurations in Action,” this Wednesday, January 28, at 1:00 p.m. EST.
Developed last year, innovation configurations are program evaluation tools that help determine the extent to which evidence-based practices are taught, observed, and applied in teacher preparation and professional development programs.
23 Jan2015
By Debra A. Colley
It is time for us to again be advocates for our profession. In response to the notice of proposed federal regulations for teacher preparation programs, we need faculty, students, and the community of PK-12 partners to respond and let their voices be heard.
This is not easy given the February 2 deadline for comment—comments are due just as faculty and students are returning for the spring semester!
20 Jan2015
By Zachary VanHouten
A recent report by the think tank Third Way claims that the federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant program is failing to meet its aims, instead burdening nearly 40% of recipients to date with converted unsubsidized loans after they failed to complete all program requirements.
The report calls for changes to the program, either through “short-term fixes” such as reducing reporting requirements and limiting grant use to “high-performing” programs (as proposed in the new federal regulations for teacher preparation programs) or, preferably, in a thorough overhaul that streamlines all federal assistance for teachers into a simple loan-forgiveness program.
20 Jan2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Before we all head to Atlanta for AACTE’s 67th Annual Meeting, I asked a few past attendees to share tips for what to do at the event. Here’s some useful guidance from Jennifer Waddell, associate director of the Institute for Urban Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
20 Jan2015
By Sharon Robinson
This post also appears on the Public School Insights blog of the Learning First Alliance.
Last week, the White House announced a new push to protect students’ digital privacy, as ever-expanding data collection efforts heighten concerns from parents and advocacy groups about appropriate uses of the data. Institutions of higher education share the administration’s priority to protect elementary and secondary students and uphold diligent safety and privacy practices in preparing teachers for the classroom. Ultimately, safeguarding student data is everyone’s business.
