A Sunny Start to 2017 at NASDTEC Symposium
The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification held its annual Ted Andrews Winter Symposium January 4-6 in San Diego, California, convening educators from varied settings around the topic “Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Innovation Through Collaboration.”
The theme of partnership-driven innovation was reinforced through a number of sessions in which AACTE members presented along with colleagues from the PK-12 sector and from state education authorities. I was pleased to address the group on the topic of teacher recruitment policy and practice from providers’ perspective. Other notable sessions on the program included these:
- AACTE Board member Nadene Davidson (University of Northern Iowa), who represents the Association on the National Council for the Advancement of Educator Ethics, participated with AACTE’s Sungti Hsu in a presentation on the Model Code for Educator Ethics titled “Fostering Educators’ Ethical Decision Making Through Innovative Practice.” They were joined by Anne Marie Fenton from the Georgia Professional Standards Board.
- Karen Trujillo, director of outreach at New Mexico State University, and her colleagues from Eldorado High School presented “Educators Rising New Mexico: Our Story.”
- In “Statewide Approaches to Recruiting and Retaining Teachers: Employing Partnerships and Systemic Strategies for Addressing Critical Teacher Shortages,” the University of Cincinnati’s Stephen Kroeger was joined by Mary Brownell, director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center at the University of Florida, and Jessica Mercerhill, director of P-16 initiatives at the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
- A session on diversifying the teacher workforce showcased effective innovations at Michigan State University (represented by Sonya Gunnings-Moton) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (represented by Allison Smith). Also presenting were researchers Laura Goe and Amanda Roth of the Educational Testing Service.
- A panel presentation on “growing your own” teachers highlighted initiatives in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington. Speakers from participating universities included Pamela Powell, Kathy Bohan, Cynthia Conn, and Ramona Mellott of Northern Arizona University; Kathleen Crawford-McKinney and Leah van Belle of Wayne State University (MI); and Deborah Dillon and Laura Mogelson from the University of Minnesota.
- A session on instructional coaching to support teacher recruitment and retention featured Harry Gutelius of Eastern University (PA) along with Greer Richardson, Mary Williams, and Deborah Yost of LaSalle University (PA).
- A group of California educators presented “Performance Assessment: A Tool to Strengthen Teacher Recruitment and Retention”: Mary Vixie Sandy and Amy Reising from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and Janice Cook and Helene Mandell of the University of San Diego.
For more information, visit the symposium site at http://www.nasdtec.net/?page=2017TAWS.
Tags: AACTE in the community, AACTE partner organizations, accreditation, ethics, events, school-university partnerships, workforce development
