Nickey Yates Named September Scholar of the Month

By Olimpia Tilles

This article also appears in the September issue of Scholars Report, a monthly e-newsletter for and about the AACTE Holmes Program. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Congratulations to Nickey F. Yates Sr., Holmes Scholar of the Month for September!

Yates is a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. program in educational leadership at Florida A&M University. His research interests include Black superintendents’ engagement with White community constituents, PK-12 environments, and racial issues in education.

‘Playbook’ Offers Roadmap for State Policy to Transform Educator Preparation

By Aaron Goldstein

This week, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released Transforming Educator Preparation: Lessons Learned From Leading States, a playbook for how states can improve educator preparation based on the experience of the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP).

States that participated in NTEP – a multiyear effort to identify policies that effectively support the preparation of profession-ready teachers – were California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington.

Nominate Leaders for AACTE Awards by Oct. 12

By AACTE Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability

There is only one month left to nominate a respected colleague for an AACTE professional achievement award! We are excited to see nominations coming in for AACTE awards and hope yours will be among them. By October 12, please take a moment to nominate someone deserving for one or more of these awards:

• The Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education recognizes distinguished achievement in research, by an individual or team of individuals, over the last decade that has had a major impact on the field of educator preparation. Lindsey was a longtime professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, whose own writing and research had a tremendous and lasting impact on the field. Recent recipients include James Hiebert of the University of Delaware, Jeanne Wilcox of Arizona State University, and Guofang Wan of Ohio University.

AACTE Statement on President Trump’s Ruling on DACA

By AACTE

On September 6, AACTE President/CEO Lynn M. Gangone issued the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:

“The decision by President Trump yesterday to end the DACA policy leaves the plight of these individuals – who are integrated into our schools, our institutions of higher education, our workforce, and our communities – in the hands of the Congress.

Massachusetts Chapter Members, AACTE Staff Engage at Legislative Summit

By Aaron Goldstein

Last month, AACTE staff hosted an exhibit at the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Boston, Massachusetts. We also invited leaders of the local AACTE state chapter, the Massachusetts Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE), to join us in the exhibit booth to share their work with attendees. Over 5,000 state legislators, state legislative staff, and trade association representatives attended the conference.

As I learned from last year’s NCSL Legislative Summit (see my takeaways here), state legislators are eager to receive input from teacher educators. One recurring theme from my conversations with state legislators this year was that they are unfamiliar with the major state policy levers pertaining to educator preparation – accreditation, licensure, and program approval. It was good for AACTE staff and MACTE leaders to interact with attendees from dozens of states, including many members of state legislatures’ education committees.

Webinar Highlights Resources for Educators in Hurricane-Affected Regions

By Zachary VanHouten

The U.S. Department of Education (ED), along with relevant federal and state agencies, hosted a webinar last week to provide emergency-response resources to districts and schools serving hurricane-affected regions.

Officials on the webinar included representatives from ED, the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and state education officials in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. The webinar largely focused on the requirements in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which outlines the procedures for identifying homeless students and the resources schools must make available to homeless students.

Marist to Diversify Education Pipeline Through New Holmes Cadets Program

By Christina Wright Fields

New York’s Marist College is the latest AACTE member institution to join the Holmes Program. For information about how to join the program, contact Tim Finklea at tfinklea@aacte.org. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

This summer, the Education Department at Marist College partnered with the Beacon City School District to join AACTE’s Holmes Cadet Program. Marist College, located in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, is committed to student success, innovation, and providing for social good. Joining the Holmes Cadet network supported Marist’s efforts to diversify the teacher pipeline, while connecting them to a national network of students and faculty who were passionate about the same cause.

Congress Hits the Ground Running With Appropriations Work

House and Senate Move on Education Funding Bills

By Deborah Koolbeck

Congress returned from August recess and hit the ground running on its work funding the federal government as the September 30 deadline looms.

U.S. House of Representatives Action

You might recall that the House passed four appropriations bills as a single package at the end of July. The House determined it would move the eight remaining appropriations bills to the floor as a single package – including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) bill – immediately after August recess. A call for amendments went out in early August.

TEAM Model Clinical Styles Inventory: The Critical Mentor-Resident Relationship

By Amy Vessel

This article is the last in a series of three showcasing the transformation of preservice field experiences at Louisiana Tech University. Read the first article here and the second here. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

In a traditional student teaching experience, the school and mentor agree to host a teacher candidate in the classroom for 10-15 weeks, which can be viewed as a short-term accommodation that is not integral to the school community. In a full-year clinical residency, however, the importance of the mentor-resident placement is essential to the success of the school year for all involved. Therefore, the TEAM (Teacher Educators and Mentors) Model Clinical Residency Center at Louisiana Tech University has made the design of a quality placement procedure a priority.

In the TEAM Model timeline, residents and mentors apply in April/May to participate in the full-year clinical residency. Upon university, school, and district approval of the participants, an electronic clinical styles inventory is distributed to all participants in late May/June, and all placements are finalized in July. On the online inventory, mentors and residents rate their own traits around personality, planning, teaching, professionalism, and other areas in order to better identify their clinical style.

Toledo’s Early Childhood Science Program Wins AASCU’s McAuliffe Award

By Kristin McCabe

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) has selected a professional development partnership of the University of Toledo (OH) to receive the 2017 Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award. The award will be presented October 22 at the AASCU Annual Meeting in La Jolla, California.

The winning program, NURTURES (Networking Urban Resources with Teachers and University to enRich Early Childhood Science), aims to improve the science learning and readiness scores of preschool through third grade students in the Toledo area. NURTURES is a collaboration among the university’s education, engineering, and natural science faculty; local daycare centers and nursery schools; informal science centers; and other community resources to create a complementary, integrated system of science education. The program enhances teacher understanding of science content to improve classroom practices and offers classroom extension activities and family learning opportunities.

Congress Returns – Stay Current With AACTE’s Federal Update Webinar

By Zachary VanHouten

As classes resume at your institution, so too does the work of Congress, which returns to Washington today following its August recess. The disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey may upend the Congressional agenda, potentially shuffling a laundry list of items Congress needs to address, including funding for FY18 and where the federal dollars will flow.

With all of this going on, it has never been more important to remain informed and engaged – and AACTE’s members-only Federal Update webinars help you do just that. You can sign up now for this month’s webinars, September 19 or 20 (see below); you can also view archived webinars and presentation slides through this link.

U.S. Dept. of Education Activates Emergency Contact Center for Hurricane-Affected Areas

By Zachary VanHouten

In order to support the communities affected by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, the U.S. Department of Education has activated its emergency response contact center for school districts and institutions of higher education in the Gulf Coast region. The Department is also coordinating efforts with the Texas Education Agency, the Louisiana Department of Education, and the institutions and districts in impacted areas.