30 Aug2018
By Matthew Wales
The 2019 AACTE Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY, is packed full of professional development opportunities designed to expand your knowledge base and engage you in conversations with fellow attendees. But when the meeting is not in session, you will want to venture out and explore the sights that will both energize and inspire you, many of which are just steps away from the hub of the AACTE Annual Meeting.
Learning Lab Sessions will take place in both the Omni Louisville and the Louisville Marriott Downtown, with the Deeper Dives and General Sessions taking place at the brand new ballroom in the Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC). AACTE has blocks of sleeping rooms in four hotels that are either connected to or just a short walk from the KICC:
30 Aug2018
By Jerrica Thurman
While most Americans have high trust and confidence in teachers, a majority also draw the line at wanting their own children to join a profession they see as undervalued and low-paid, according to a report released August 27 on the 50th annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. For the first time since 1969, a majority of respondents (54%) indicate they would not like their children to take up teaching in public schools as a career.
29 Aug2018
By AACTE
AACTE President/CEO Lynn M. Gangone and the AACTE Board of Directors issued the following statement today regarding the Trump administration’s proposal to use federal funds for placing guns in schools:
“AACTE strongly opposes U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s consideration to arm teachers in the classroom as this will endanger the safety of both students and educators. Teacher preparation programs across the nation ensure profession-ready educators are prepared to create safe learning communities where children can learn without fear.
29 Aug2018
By Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.
Join AACTE for two members-only webinars detailing the findings of its newest report Colleges of Education: A National Portrait, released August 9. The research highlights key issues affecting the colleges, schools, departments, and programs that prepare teachers, school administrators, and a wide array of other education professionals. As the National Portrait author, I will present on two key issues highlighted in the report—enrollment/degree and student diversity trends:
21 Aug2018
By Matthew Wales
Registration is now available for the AACTE 71st Annual Meeting, coming to Louisville, Kentucky, February 22-24, 2019. Sign up by October 24 to secure the Early Bird registration discount!
The 2019 Annual Meeting is themed “Sustaining and Advancing the Profession,” conceptualized as follows in the call for proposals:
21 Aug2018
By Meghan Grenda
Is your institution one of the nearly 800 members of AACTE? As your membership director, I’d like to thank you for being part of this community of postsecondary institutions, PK-12 and state affiliates, and strategic partners who are dedicated to high-quality, evidence-based preparation that assures educators are ready to teach all learners. As AACTE opens renewal season for the coming year, I’d also like to remind you of the network of tools and resources at your disposal – all to help you prepare profession-ready educators.
You can discover how to take advantage of a wide range of AACTE member benefits at https://aacte.org/membership/benefits. Let me call your attention to just a few here:
20 Aug2018
By Stacy Duffield
The North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education received a 2017-2018 AACTE State Chapter Support Grant for work on supervisor training modules to enhance the reliability and utility of the state’s new student teacher observation tool. Other AACTE chapters have also recently pursued collaborative work around assessment instruments, including those in Kansas and Ohio.
In 2016, the 12 member institutions of the North Dakota state chapter of AACTE collaborated to develop a student teacher observation tool (STOT). We were seeking a high-quality instrument to facilitate program improvement through meaningful, valid, and reliable data. We also knew that working together decreased the workload for all and leveraged resources and expertise across campuses. Finally, we were interested in adding to the common metrics used statewide to enable continued collaboration to improve teacher preparation in North Dakota.
17 Aug2018
By Erisel Cruz and Kristin McCabe
The start of the fall term can be an ideal time to restock supplies and gather fresh resources for the year ahead. If your work includes preparing and supporting school leaders, here are some helpful links to visit, bookmark, and share as you head back to campus.
15 Aug2018
By Deborah Koolbeck
The AACTE Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR) seeks nominations by October 12 of state chapter leaders to run in an election for the ACSR Executive Committee. The positions open for election are the West Region representative, Northeast Region representative, and ACSR chair-elect, all to take office in March 2019.
Terms and Roles
14 Aug2018
By Christina Tschida, Ann Sebald and Kristen Cuthrell
As leaders of AACTE’s Coteaching in Clinical Practice Topical Action Group (TAG), we are pleased to invite applications from PK-12 personnel to secure funding to attend the National Conference on Coteaching in Bloomington, Minnesota, October 24-26. Applications are due September 1 so don’t delay!
About the National Conference on Coteaching
14 Aug2018
By Thomas E. Hodges
CarolinaTIP Director Nicole Skeen, right, works with first-year teacher Karlee Baxter and students in Baxter’s classroom.
Teacher shortages are a critical concern across the United States, and the University of South Carolina is tackling the crisis head-on with an innovative response to teacher retention. While recruiting new teachers into the profession is vitally important, reducing the alarming rate at which novice teachers leave the profession must be a central focus in addressing the teacher shortage, as shared in a recent op-ed by University of South Carolina College of Education Dean Jon Pedersen.
“If you add the belief that teacher preparation and support should not end at graduation, a desire to gather data to inform programmatic improvement, and a teacher retention issue to new accreditation standards and a college leadership team determined to make a positive impact on the profession, beyond the walls of the university, you arrive at the impetus for the Carolina Teacher Induction Program (CarolinaTIP),” said Cindy Van Buren, assistant dean and one of the developers of the college’s induction program.
10 Aug2018
By Carlos Richardson
Congratulations to the August 2018 AACTE Holmes Scholar of the Month, Taewon Kim!
A doctoral student in counseling psychology at Purdue University since 2017, Kim studies the meaning found in academic and work experiences, especially for women and underprivileged populations. She hopes to explore and develop factors that promote resilience for people with low social status.
10 Aug2018
By Shane Kirchner
The Kansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education received a 2017-2018 AACTE State Chapter Support Grant for work on a statewide observation/assessment instrument for use with student teachers. The author is the chapter’s lead contact on the grant. Other AACTE chapters have also recently pursued collaborative work around assessment instruments, including those in Ohio and North Dakota.
In collaboration with the Kansas State Department of Education and Marzano Research/REL Central, members of the Kansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (KACTE) are piloting and testing the reliability and validity of a student teacher observation/assessment instrument they developed for statewide use.
09 Aug2018
By AACTE
(August 9, 2018, Washington, D.C.) – Colleges of Education: A National Portrait, a report released today by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), provides a comprehensive picture of the nation’s schools, colleges and departments of education: the work that they do, the people who do that work and the students they serve.
Because teacher preparation is so important to society and central to the work of most colleges of education, the report describes in detail the key trends and challenges in meeting the nation’s need for profession-ready teachers. It also portrays the full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs, research and service that are in the broader portfolio of colleges of education.
07 Aug2018
By Benita Kluttz-Drye
Holmes Scholars Carlos Richardson, Benita Kluttz-Drye, Dana Dunwoody, Natoya Coleman, Evandra Catherine, and Hope Barnes join members of the Rowan Urban Teacher Academy, along with Rowan University Dean Monika Shealey (in green).
Several AACTE Holmes Scholars took time out from their intense schedule during the AACTE Holmes Dissertation Retreat and Research Symposium, July 26-28 at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, to speak with students from the Rowan Urban Teacher Academy.
The academy serves students in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade who are interested in learning more about becoming teachers. The purpose of the 10-day program is to create a pipeline into the education profession for high school students from urban areas, hoping that students exposed to the field of education will consider returning to teach in urban schools. As part of the academy’s training and exposure, students tour the campus of the university.
