07 Mar2017
By Kristin McCabe
Last week, AACTE was honored to welcome nearly 2,000 members, partners, and friends to hot-and-sunny Tampa, Florida, for the 69th Annual Meeting. Together we shared research, innovative practices, questions, and answers in a robust program addressing the theme “Acting as One: The Power of the Professional Community.”
Over the coming weeks, Ed Prep Matters will bring you a variety of reports from the Annual Meeting, including videos and slides from the general sessions and major forums just as soon as they’re available. Meanwhile, you can view (and share!) our conference photos on Facebook, browse the Twitter feed, and enjoy the following recap videos from Association TV.
07 Mar2017
By Rebecca Gutierrez
The final segments of AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series featuring the George Mason University (VA) clinical model are now available online. This week’s videos present the voices of first and fourth graders from Westlawn Elementary School and Daniels Run Elementary School discussing their experience learning from interns alongside their experienced teachers.
06 Mar2017
By Aaron Goldstein
Ed Prep Matters is pleased to bring you this special feature on state policy and AACTE state chapter activity. For a recap of state policy and state chapter activity in January 2017, see this blog.
06 Mar2017
By Deborah Koolbeck
On March 2, U.S. Senator Benjamin Sasse (R-NE) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 26 to rescind the federal teacher preparation program regulations. The measure has eight cosponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
This introduction is an important step in the process to have these regulations rescinded using the Congressional Review Act. Already, on February 7, the U.S House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 58 to rescind the regulations. Should the U.S. Senate pass the measure, it will go to the president for his signature.
02 Mar2017
By Matthew Wales
Now through May 30, AACTE is accepting session proposals for the 70th Annual Meeting, to be held in Baltimore, Maryland, March 1-3, 2018. We also invite applications by May 16 for AACTE member faculty to review proposals.
The conference theme is “Celebrating Our Professional Identity: Shared Knowledge and Advocacy,” conceptualized as follows in the call for proposals:
28 Feb2017
By Aaron Goldstein
Your association wants you! Are you ready to become a leader in the national educator preparation community, or do you know someone who is? Nominate yourself or a colleague by May 8 to serve in an AACTE governance role.
AACTE is currently seeking applications from volunteers to serve on the AACTE Board of Directors and the following standing committees:
27 Feb2017
By JTE Insider
Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the latest author interview below.
This interview features insights from the JTE article, “Informed and Uninformed Naïve Assessment Constructors’ Strategies for Item Selection,” written by Helenrose Fives and Nicole Barnes of Montclair State University (NJ). The article is featured in the January/February 2017 issue of JTE; you can read the article by going to this link (and AACTE members have free access through this login link).
27 Feb2017
By Debra Cano Ramos
This article originally appeared in the Winter/Spring 2017 edition of Titan Magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Cal State Fullerton education alumna and camp teacher Alex Lehrer leads her students in acting out a scene from the poems that they created about rainforest animals during a Rainforest Safari Camp.
24 Feb2017
By Aaron Goldstein and Clarissa Garcia
In light of the most recent election cycle and AACTE’s commitment to having its members and state affiliates remain connected with officials in their respective states, we have updated the lists of contact information on our website for each state’s policy makers (member login required). Contacts include that of the governor, chief school officer, relevant legislature committees, and education agency staff.
24 Feb2017
By Conra D. Gist and Tim Mahoney
Are you coming to Tampa for the AACTE Annual Meeting, and looking for activities March 1? Please consider joining a free daylong institute exploring a variety of efforts to diversify the teaching workforce, organized by the AACTE Diversified Teaching Workforce topical action group. We’ll be in the Grand Ballroom Salon E of the Tampa Marriott Waterside starting at 8:00 a.m.
The Diversified Teaching Workforce (DTW) Institute will convene a group of national leaders at colleges and universities across the United States to spotlight and explore innovative efforts for addressing racial/ethnic teacher diversity across five key areas: recruitment and retention, teacher preparation, mentorship, induction and professional development, and advocacy. Recognizing the need to create spaces within professional networks to discuss and unpack the challenges and possibilities for increasing teacher diversity, the institute offers presentations on current research, opportunities to plan in working groups, and panel sessions focused on best practices from teacher preparation and teacher diversity pipeline leaders.
21 Feb2017
By Rebecca Gutierrez
Two new videos are available this week on AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series highlighting the George Mason University (VA) College of Education and Human Development’s clinical preparation program. This week’s videos present partner elementary schools’ experience with having multiple teachers in the classroom and display the readiness of George Mason students after completing their 1-year internships.
The College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University (GMU) and its network of professional development schools (PDSs) benefit PK-12 student learning in several ways. Students enjoy having access to a second adult in the room dedicated to helping them succeed; teacher mentors gain new perspectives and techniques they can integrate in their classroom; and teacher candidates are prepared through a yearlong internship to hit the ground running in their own classrooms in the future.
21 Feb2017
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE’s enhanced online professional seminars, offered through the Quality Support Center on the FutureLearn social-learning platform, are well under way! More than 5,000 registrants signed up for the first run of our introductory assessment course, which just concluded, and the second course, Using Data to Improve Student Outcomes, opens March 20. (Please note this start date is a change from the original schedule.)
In this free 3-week course, you will discover how to apply data science to deliver better outcomes for students. Led by Linda McKee, AACTE’s senior director for quality support initiatives, you’ll learn to identify a range of data sources, analyze the data, and present your findings, then select indicators and establish actions to achieve continuous improvement.
21 Feb2017
By Zachary VanHouten
Two new advocacy guides are now available for download in AACTE’s Advocacy Center. These handy references help you put Twitter to use as a strategic advocacy tool and develop effective relationships with the press.
These guides, available exclusively to AACTE members, join four others we’ve developed to boost your advocacy prowess. Here’s the full list of guides currently available through the federal and state pages of the Advocacy Center:
21 Feb2017
By Kristin McCabe
How can you unleash the power of teacher leaders to connect preservice and in-service educators … to enhance clinical partnerships between educator preparation providers and PK-12 schools … and to inform the quality of programs and practice across the continuum of teacher development? Join with peers from your region at an AACTE Quality Support Workshop to construct solutions collaboratively to these and other compelling issues around performance assessment, quality assurance, and continuous improvement.
These workshops will be offered in three regions this year: Fort Worth, Texas (April 24-26); Minneapolis, Minnesota (August 10-12), and Seattle, Washington (November 9-11). At each event, over two half days and one full day, participants will engage in interactive plenary sessions, select from a variety of topics available in break-out blocks, have dedicated time to work in teams and consult with facilitators, and enjoy networking receptions to wrap up each day. See the chart below for an overview of the draft program for the Fort Worth workshop (and visit our website for specific dates and times).
15 Feb2017
By Jane S. Bray
For educators and those who prepare them, sleepless nights over recent national events have unfortunately become all too frequent. The most recent public discourse regarding the confirmation of the new U.S. Secretary of Education has certainly contributed to our level of concerns. In a recent op-ed I wrote that was published in The Virginian-Pilot, “Educational Objects in the Mirror,” I asked if perhaps these events are distracting us from our real worries. As dean of the Darden College of Education at Old Dominion University (VA), I realize that what really keeps me up at night is my state and local concerns – especially the growing shortage of teachers.
The need for more teachers is a cry that I hear on a daily basis from local schools. Recently, I was aghast to find out that in my state, the Commonwealth of Virginia, elementary teachers are now included on the shortage list. Those of us in the profession recognize the significance of the state’s shortage of elementary teachers. If that group of new professionals is diminishing, we really do have some sleepless nights ahead of us.
