Etta Hollins to Win AACTE Award for Book on Preservice Field Experiences
AACTE has chosen Rethinking Field Experiences in Preservice Teacher Preparation: Meeting New Challenges for Accountability, edited by Etta Hollins of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, to receive the 2016 AACTE Outstanding Book Award. The award will be presented at the 68th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Tuesday, February 23, at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
Published by Routledge in 2015, this edited volume offers a robust set of perspectives on critical and challenging elements of teacher preparation—how field experiences are designed to support preservice teachers while they are learning to teach. Chapters are organized into three sections focusing on “approximation and representation of practice,” “learning teaching situated in context,” and performance assessment and program improvement. The book provides a collection of models of field experiences across a variety of teacher preparation contexts and deeply examines how the experiences are theorized, designed, and implemented for preservice teacher learning.
In his letter of nomination for the book, Connor Warner of the University of Missouri-Kansas City lauds Hollins’ theoretical framing for offering a “concise and readily understood conceptualization” of learning to teach. Further, he appreciates the book’s take on accountability: “The reference to accountability in the subtitle of this volume is of particular importance,” he writes. “Readers of this book are challenged to recognize that teacher educators and teacher education programs are not simply accountable to state and national accreditation bodies and policy makers; they are accountable to the students in our schools.”
AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, which reviewed the books nominated for the award, praised the winning book’s depth of examination of a critical topic, its variety of author perspectives, and its high-quality writing—as well as its timeliness. “As teacher preparation and teacher evaluation shift toward a performance orientation and pedagogies of enactment are being developed, this volume provides the current state of the art in field-based learning in teacher preparation,” said Committee Chair Mistilina Sato of the University of Minnesota.
“Dr. Etta Hollins consistently reminds us that ‘teaching is the single most powerful profession in this society,’ and the national impact of her scholarship on transforming teaching and the preparation of teacher educators has been profound,” said Chris Brown, interim dean of the School of Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “Dr. Hollins is an innovative teacher and scholar, and we at UMKC are both fortunate and proud of her leadership and monumental accomplishments in improving teaching practices for urban and underserved students. Professor Hollins’ long-standing commitment and impactful stewardship to the profession make her the perfect choice for the 2016 recipient of the AACTE Outstanding Book Award. I proudly congratulate and celebrate her!”
Hollins is professor and Kauffman Endowed Chair for Urban Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her other publications include Learning to Teach in Urban Schools and Culture in School Learning, both published by Routledge. Last year, Hollins inspired attendees of AACTE’s 67th Annual Meeting with her keynote on the importance of understanding communities (see video here). She is a popular speaker with national and international audiences on culturally responsive pedagogy and urban education.
At AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting next week, Routledge will be featuring Hollins’ book in the Conference Community Center, in Booth #312.
AACTE issued a press release today announcing all of its 2016 award winners. For more information on AACTE’s awards program, visit http://aacte.org/professional-development-and-events/awards. Nominations for the 2017 Outstanding Book Award will open in April.
Tags: Annual Meeting, clinical preparation, equity, workforce development
