06 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE Board member Robert E. Floden is one of 12 prominent scholars selected as a 2020 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow. AERA Fellows are selected based on their notable and sustained research achievements. Floden, along with the other 2020 Fellows, will be inducted on April 18 during the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
Floden is dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University and a University Distinguished Professor of teacher education. He serves as co-editor of the Journal of Teacher Education, the official journal of AACTE. During its meeting last month, AACTE Board members elected Floden as the chair-elect and a member of the Executive Committee. He will begin his term as AACTE chair in 2021.
“We are delighted to honor these scholars for their contributions to education research and their dedication to the field,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “AERA Fellows exemplify the highest standards of excellence through accomplishment, professionalism, and commitment. We welcome the class of 2020 to these prestigious ranks.”
AERA is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. The 2020 Fellows were nominated by their peers, selected by the Fellows Committee, and approved by the AERA Council, the association’s elected governing body. They join 665 current AERA Fellows.
06 Mar2020
By Anna Stolley Persky
Julie Conner, a teacher at the Virginia School for the Visually Impaired, works with a female student with vision impairment.
This article originally appeared on the George Mason University website and is reprinted with permission.
The United States is in desperate need of educators who can read and teach braille, according to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). Less than 10% of the 1.3 million people who are legally blind in the U.S. are able to read braille, according to a 2009 report by the NFB.
But few U.S. colleges offer programs that prepare teachers to educate students who are visually impaired, according to Kimberly Avila, professor-in-charge of the teacher preparation program in blindness and vision impairment within the College of Education and Human Development. Avila is also the coordinator for the Virginia Consortium for Teacher Preparation in Vision Impairment.
06 Mar2020
By Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.
At its meeting prior to the 72nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA, the AACTE Board of Directors elected the following board members to leadership positions on the AACTE Executive Committee:
Chair-Elect
Robert Floden
Dean, College of Education and University Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University
Member-at-large
Patricia Alvarez-McHatton
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Student Success, and P-16 Integration
University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley
06 Mar2020
By Ann Doss Helms
This article originally appeared on WFAE and is reprinted with permission.
Fourth-grade teacher Lindsey Turner (left) huddles with student teacher Jessica Jenkins during class at Harrisburg Elementary. Credit Ann Doss Helms/WFAE
Whenever the spotlight turns to struggling schools and failing students, there’s another question that bubbles up: How well are America’s teacher preparation programs doing their job?
Ellen McIntyre, who headed UNC Charlotte’s Cato College of Education for six years, says there’s plenty of room for improvement. The college (which is a WFAE underwriter) is working with Charlotte-area public schools to improve a crucial step in teacher prep: Student teaching.
Too many student teachers, she says, still experience the sink-or-swim approach she did years ago: Being thrown into a classroom with the regular teacher watching passively and critiquing after the fact, while university supervisors pop in and out without forging real connections.
06 Mar2020
By Linda Minor
Registration is now open for AACTE’s 2020 Washington Week. This annual event, with participation from AACTE and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) state chapter leaders, Holmes Scholars, and AACTE members and non-members alike interested in advocating for the profession, will take place in the nation’s capital. This year’s Washington Week will be held May 31 – June 3 at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA, and on Capitol Hill.
06 Mar2020
By Azaria Cunningham
Congratulations to Phillandra Smith, Holmes Scholar of the Month for February 2020. Smith is a second-year doctoral student in special education, and is also pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Disability Studies at Syracuse University. She is one of two inaugural Holmes Scholars at Syracuse University, where she is also a board member on the School of Education Graduate Student Council. Smith serves as an American Education Research Association (AERA) peer reviewer for the Caribbean and African Studies in Education special interest group (SIG).
Originally from The Bahamas, Smith has taught in her home country and Japan. Her research interests include cultural reciprocity in the transition planning of culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities, the retention and recruitment of racially and ethnically diverse students to inclusive education teacher programs, and the experience of Caribbean migrant students with disabilities in U.S. schools.
04 Mar2020
By Dustin Wunderlich
This article originally appeared on the University of Washington College of Education website and is reprinted with permission.
Back in 2017, the University of Washington’s Elementary Teacher Education Program (ELTEP) enrolled its first cohort of teacher candidates in which more than half were people of color and more than half spoke a language in addition to English.
While the diversity of the cohort was welcome — particularly in a state where 89 percent of teachers are white but students of color make up nearly 50 percent of public school enrollment — it also meant UW teacher educators needed to reassess their program.
“When we admitted our first group of very diverse students, I went to the faculty and said ‘We’ve got a gift’,” said Teddi Beam-Conroy, director of the UW’s Elementary Teacher Education Program. “Most efforts [to diversify the teaching workforce] concentrate on recruiting students, and they’re here. So now we have to talk about how we’re going to change to meet their needs. What do we need to do in order to sustain and learn from the students we have with us?”
04 Mar2020
By Weade James
AACTE is excited to announce and welcome the newly elected 2020-21 Holmes Council. The Council, selected by members of the AACTE Holmes Program, is comprised of current Holmes students and serves as the student voice of the program for AACTE. In my role as the AACTE director of development and research and an alumna of the Holmes Program, I look forward to collaborating with the new Holmes Council to implement initiatives that align with the organization’s strategic priorities.
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE says “thank you” to the AACTE members, partners, and supporters who attended the 2020 Annual Meeting in Atlanta February 28-March 1! Your presence was vital to exploring this our theme, “Disrupting Inequities: Educating for Change” during AACTE’s 72nd national conference.
Over the coming weeks, Ed Prep Matters will offer you a range of Annual Meeting coverage. Meanwhile, take a moment to view (and share!) conference photos and conversations on the AACTE Twitter feed using #AACTE20, and enjoy the following recap videos:
Highlights – Friday February 28
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
During the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting attendees went viral on Twitter using #AACTE20—tweeting, retweeting, and, liking posts over the 3 days in Atlanta! From presenters, to Holmes Scholars, to session attendees, hundreds of contributors shared photos of event activities. Thanks to the flurry of social media activity, close to 1,000 conversations took place on Twitter while participants were “Disrupting Inequities: Educating for change.”
Check out a selection of posts below. To see the full volume of tweets, visit us on Twitter at #AACTE20.
03 Mar2020
“Resisting Hate, Restoring Hope: Engaging in Courageous Actions”
By Matthew Wales
Now through May 27, AACTE is accepting session proposals for the 73rd Annual Meeting, to be held in Seattle, WA, February 26 – 28, 2021. We also invite applications by May 13 for AACTE member faculty to review proposals.
The conference theme is “Resisting Hate, Restoring Hope: Engaging in Courageous Actions,” conceptualized as follows in the call for proposals:
Collectively, we are losing traction in our democracy and experiencing reversals in the civil and human rights that leaders such as Cesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harvey Milk all fought to advance. Children are being educated in an environment fraught with violence on our school campuses and in our communities. They are assaulted by guns, words, and legislation that create an unsafe, hateful, and fearful climate. We are living in a time when children are taken from their families, retained in deplorable circumstances, and denied access to basic needs and education. The term “all” seems to only mean some, and people who speak out against these injustices are attacked by words and actions.
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
Holmes Program Scholars Monique Matute-Chavarria, Claudine McLaren Turner, and Ayan Mitra are the first, second, and third place winners, respectively, in the 2020 Holmes Scholars Dissertation Funding Competition (DFC). The competition was held during the Holmes Preconference at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
The DFC is a 10-minute session open to doctoral candidates to present their anticipated dissertation at the “pre-data collection” stage in a creative and compelling way. The first place awardee receives $3,000, the second place winner receives $1,250, and the third place winner receives $750 to support the finalists’ dissertation research proposal related expenses.
02 Mar2020
By AACTE
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) announced today Ann Larson, Ph.D., of the University of Louisville (UofL) (KY) as the new chair of its Board of Directors. During her one-year term, Larson will support AACTE and its President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone in implementing the Association’s new strategic plan, addressing challenges of recruiting qualified teacher candidates representing underrepresented and diverse backgrounds into the teaching profession and growing the Association’s membership.
“AACTE is resolute to represent and increase its membership of postsecondary institutions with educator preparation programs, and is dedicated to high-quality, evidence-based preparation that assures educators are profession-ready,” said Larson. “AACTE and its Board of Directors are committed to a set of shared beliefs, values, attitudes and professional behaviors that characterize revolutionizing education, including shaping education policy and practices that advance learning for all students.”
