30 Sep2016
By Angela Maynard Sewall
When we are faced with changes in standards or other expectations for our programs, we often worry about their impact on our work. But sometimes revisions are needed to improve our processes and outcomes, informed by our ever-growing body of research and experience with partners in the field. How can new rules or laws enhance rather than upend our work?
Please join me October 5 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for a free webinar, How Accrediting Organizations and Standards Can Improve Principal Quality, made possible with support from The Wallace Foundation. Panelists will discuss their varied viewpoints on these parameters for improvement and lessons they’ve learned in national and state agencies, PK-12 districts, and higher education.
30 Sep2016
By Aaron Goldstein
Ed Prep Matters is pleased to bring you this special feature on state policy and AACTE state chapter activity. For similar recap articles from earlier months, browse the “State Directions” section of the blog.
Overview of State Policy Activity
Although almost all states’ legislative sessions have now adjourned for the year, September did have a bit of policy activity. Three bills were introduced in Michigan and Montana, including one in Michigan that would create a program to prevent teacher shortages in high-need subjects and geographic areas.
Several states, including Montana and Nevada, got a head start on the 2017 legislative session by prefiling bills, which gives us a preview of likely priorities for the coming year. For example, some of the prefiled bills relate to teacher loan forgiveness and standards for initial teacher licensure.
28 Sep2016
By Zachary VanHouten
Congratulations to the four newest recipients of federal Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grants! Coppin State University (MD), North Carolina A&T State University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of West Alabama will share more than $5 million to improve the preparation of teachers through partnerships with 13 high-need, rural school districts.
The U.S. Department of Education yesterday announced the new 5-year grants, which will be divided among two partnerships with a prebaccalaureate preparation model and two others with residency-based models:
28 Sep2016
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE is pleased to announce that Shaun Harper of the University of Pennsylvania will headline the Welcoming Session at the 69th AACTE Annual Meeting, discussing social justice and equity issues in education and educator preparation. The session will kick off the conference at the Tampa Convention Center on March 2, 2017.
Harper is founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also is a professor in the Higher Education Division of the Graduate School of Education. His work and research center on race and gender in education, equity trends, and racial climates on college campuses.
27 Sep2016
By Deborah Koolbeck
On Friday, September 23, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the presidents of certain institutions that are eligible for TEACH grants, announcing a change in eligibility requirements. If you are at one of these institutions, a response must be filed with the Department within 30 days of the letter – meaning by October 23.
Previously, institutions could offer the grants if their programs held either (a) specialized accreditation awarded through a Department-recognized agency or (b) state approval plus a requirement of at least 10 weeks of full-time preservice clinical experience and pedagogical course work. The letter (see PDF) explains that effective September 22, the Department no longer recognizes any national accreditor for educator preparation programs, eliminating option (a) as a qualifier for eligibility.
27 Sep2016
By Sarah Pistella
Tampa, Florida, is short 1,000 teachers this year. Nine out of 10 low-income schools have staffing deficits in special education. Across the United States this year, classrooms are in need of 60,000 teachers, and the number could reach 100,000 by 2018. These are among the sobering statistics presented at a national policy forum I attended September 15, sponsored by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI).
The event, “Solving Teacher Shortages: Attracting and Retaining a Talented and Diverse Teaching Workforce,” presented the latest staffing and enrollment data and what they mean for education – ranging from fewer classes and larger class sizes to the hiring of underqualified teachers. Various high-profile speakers explained that shortages are driven largely by attrition of teachers for reasons such as lack of respect and autonomy, poor working conditions, and inadequate pay and administrative support.
23 Sep2016
By JTE Insider
Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the latest entry below.
This interview features insights from the JTE article “Engaging and Working in Solidarity with Local Communities in Preparing the Teachers of their Children,” written by Ken Zeichner, Michael Bowman, Lorena Guillén, and Kate Napolitan. This blog highlights the experience of authors Bowman (MB), Guillén (LG), and Napolitan (KN). The article is featured in the September/October issue of JTE.
21 Sep2016
By Ana Maria Schuhmann
Thanks to an AACTE State Chapter Support Grant, the New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NJACTE) recently completed a statewide advocacy campaign to debunk myths about teacher preparation and teacher quality.
In spring 2015, NJACTE submitted a successful proposal to AACTE for funds to expand the capacity, leadership, and relationship with the PK–12 community and the state Department of Education by collaborating on strategies to debunk myths about teacher preparation and teacher quality.
19 Sep2016
By Matthew Wales
AACTE’s 69th Annual Meeting will be held at the Tampa Convention Center (TCC) March 2–4, 2017. Nestled on the banks of the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida, the TCC is an inviting and attractive venue, boasting ample and flexible space well–suited to host AACTE’s Annual Meeting.
The TCC provides the very best Florida has to offer from large meeting spaces and cafés to restaurants and waterfront gathering areas including The Sail, Tampa’s only 360° waterfront bar. For Annual Meeting attendees, the TCC will be the perfect place to enjoy dazzling sunshine and waterfront views, while learning and networking with colleagues.
19 Sep2016
By JTE Insider
Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the latest entry below.
In this author interview, Alastair Henry discusses his article, “Conceptualizing Teacher Identity as a Complex Dynamic System: The Inner Dynamics of Transformations During a Practicum,” published in the September/October issue of JTE.
15 Sep2016
By Terrance McNeil
Congratulations to September Holmes Scholar of the Month Emily Rose Aguiló–Pérez, who just completed her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at Pennsylvania State University!
Aguiló–Pérez’s research interests are in children’s literature, girlhood studies, and Latino studies. The emphasis of her course of study was language, culture, and society in children’s literature, with a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Her dissertation, Tracing Puerto Rican Girlhoods: An Intergenerational Study of Interactions with Barbie and Her Influence on Female Identities, was led by adviser Jacqueline Reid–Walsh.
15 Sep2016
By AACTE
Today, the Learning Policy Institute released a set of reports that present the latest data on U.S. teacher supply and demand and promote comprehensive recruitment and retention strategies to alleviate persistent shortages. AACTE commends the reports’ attention to the steep cost to students of understaffed schools, particularly in low–income communities, as well as the proposed solutions centered on high-quality clinical preparation of new teachers and reducing the attrition rate among practicing teachers.
School districts across the nation are struggling to staff classrooms with adequate numbers of skilled teachers, forcing them to make tough choices that shortchange students. Many educator preparation programs have stepped up recruitment and developed innovative partnerships with districts to meet local needs. Although these efforts are seeing some success, adjustments to the production end of the educator pipeline cannot compensate for the “leaky bucket” of practicing teachers who, according to the Learning Policy Institute, leave at a rate of nearly 8% per year.
14 Sep2016
By Dustin Wunderlich
The following article is reposted with permission from the University of Washington College of Education website. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of AACTE.
As some advocacy groups push to deregulate the preparation of teachers and expand independent, alternative routes into teaching, a new policy brief authored by the University of Washington College of Education’s Ken Zeichner reviews what is known about the quality of five of the most prominent independent teacher education programs in the United States.
13 Sep2016
By Rodrick Lucero
When I was advising prospective teachers at my former institution, I encountered many candidates who had strong potential as educators but struggled to pass the licensure tests. For some of these students, it was helpful to offer practice tests, with feedback, to help combat their test anxiety, but it was challenging for me to find time for this work.
So when I recently met Stephanie Shapiro, the partnerships manager of a test-prep company that offers just this kind of service to teacher candidates–some of it for free–I was intrigued and persuaded her to join AACTE as a new affiliate member. I asked her to share how her organization, Teachers Test Prep, is helping teacher candidates pass their exams. Here’s her response:
12 Sep2016
By Kristin McCabe
Mark your calendar for a special webinar September 29 about key roles for educator preparation providers (EPPs) in solving the nation’s persistent teacher shortages.
Offered by AACTE in partnership with the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), the webinar will highlight the latest enrollment and staffing data and promising models for programs and policies to improve educator recruitment, preparation, and retention.
