How Better Preparing Your Teacher Candidates Can Save Time and Money

By Hillary Gamblin

If you could build a teacher prep program from scratch, what would it look like? 

This wasn’t a theoretical question for Loleta Sartin. In 2005, Sartin helped develop—from the ground up—a progressive teacher education program at Middle Georgia State University, formerly known as Macon State College.

So what did she focus on? Giving candidates as many classroom experiences as possible. The program “ensured our teacher candidates were not just staying in the ivory tower,” explained Sartin. On day one, the faculty taught their courses on-site at local schools.

A decade later, Middle Georgia State found a way to provide its teacher candidates with even more diverse classroom experiences by adopting a video-based assessment tool called GoReact.

Soon, GoReact became an indispensable tool for Sartin and her colleagues to better prepare their candidates while saving their program time and money.

Washington Week Registration Deadlines Fast Approaching

By Linda Minor

You haven’t registered yet for the upcoming virtual AACTE Washington Week?  Make sure to do so now as the deadlines are quickly approaching. Registration rates have been reduced to offer you more opportunities to participate. You don’t want to miss this full lineup of events:

Holmes Advanced Policy Course:  September 2-3

This course is for Holmes Scholars who have participated in a previous Holmes Policy Institute or are in the final year of their doctoral program.  Participants will explore policy and advocacy principles and address current events that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in education. 

Deadline to register:  August 31 

Touro University California Hosts Webinar Series on DEI

By Katrina Norfleet

The Graduate School of Education (GSOE) at Touro University California (TUC) is hosting a series of informative and courageous conversations about what it means for education to live diversity in 2020 and beyond. The Diversity Now Webinar Series covers a variety of subjects designed to stimulate thinking and action. Join experts from GSOE for weekly panel discussions facilitated by Ijeoma Ononuju, coordinator of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusive Education program, through September 30, 2020.

The series launched in July with the webinar, Building a Pipeline for Black Male Teacher Success – A Local Response, and can be viewed as a recorded session. The August webinars, also recorded for on-demand viewing, cover the following topics:

• Schooling During a Crisis – Steps for Successful Hybrid Learning Environments
• Equity and Equality
• Accessibility for All K-12 Students in Remote Learning
• Scholar Activism

Register for the next webinar:

A Guide for Racial Justice and Abolitionist SEL

By Weade James

The Abolitionist Teaching Network recently released a Guide for Racial Justice and Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).  Founded by educators and activists, the Network’s mission is to develop and support educators to fight injustice in their schools and communities.

The Guide for Racial Justice and Abolitionist SEL seeks to engage teachers and administrators in critical reflection and action to address the injustices that impact Black, Brown, and Indigenous students and families. It also challenges educators to abandon the Eurocentric approach of SEL that promotes the use of school resource officers and exclusionary discipline practices. Instead, educators are encouraged to adopt abolitionist practices of SEL that are culturally responsive, reciprocal in nature, transformative and centered on healing.

The guide also accentuates the important role of educator preparation programs to prepare more Black, Brown, and Indigenous teachers, school counselors and administrators. Research consistently suggest that all students benefit from having diverse educators, including increased academic and social emotional outcomes. Diverse educators also have unique attributes that can break down racial stereotypes, and an innate ability to affirm Black, Brown, and Indigenous students’ sense of belonging.

Read more about the guide and resources to promote anti-racist teaching and learning.

Tiffany Hamm Named August Scholar of the Month

By Azaria Cunningham

AACTE congratulates Tiffany Hamm, Holmes Scholar of the Month for August 2020.  Hamm is in the third year of her doctoral program at Syracuse University, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in science education. Prior to pursuing her doctoral studies, Hamm taught earth science in her hometown of Bronx, New York, and earned a B.S. in marine sciences from Stony Brook University and an M.Ed. in Urban Adolescence Education from Long Island University- Brooklyn Campus. 
 
Hamm’s research interest is centered on urban science education. Her life’s work is to study ways to make science education more accessible to students attending schools in urban communities. Hamm recently completed a TED talk titled Urban Narratives in Science Education for the TEDxSyracuseUniversity program

AACTE Offers New Resource to Build or Expand a Holmes Program at Your Institution

By Nicole Dunn

Having a Holmes Program at your institution is an excellent way to provide professional development and student support for racially diverse candidates in educator preparation programs (EPPs). With the upcoming financial challenges COVID-19 will bring to funding efforts that will lead to diversification in the field, AACTE is committed to helping provide those development opportunities with a new resource—the Holmes Program Coordinators Directory.

Are you interested in expanding or creating a Holmes Program? AACTE Holmes Program Coordinators have the experiential knowledge to share with those looking to learn more about the benefits and logistics to starting a Holmes Program at the Masters or Doctoral level. You can learn more by accessing the new Holmes Program Coordinators Directory in the AACTE Resource Library.

How Two Professors Helped Secure Flint Water Crisis Settlement

By Whitelaw Reid

This article originally appeared in the University of Virginia’s UVAToday online news magazine and is reprinted with permission.

Two University of Virginia professors who played a significant role in this week’s Flint, Michigan, water crisis lawsuit settlement are being applauded around the country.

Gail Lovette and Bill Therrien, professors in UVA’s Curry School of Education and Human Development, worked pro bono on the case for nearly four years, analyzing how increased exposure to lead in Flint’s municipal water supply affected children’s learning.

On Thursday, they saw their work pay off in the form of a $600 million settlement with the State of Michigan and other defendants that includes at least $9 million in new funding for special education programs in Flint Community Schools and surrounding school districts that educate special education students who were on the Flint water lines.

Lovette and Therrien called the result a “testament to the people of Flint.”

“Parents and teachers—some at potential great risk because they were still employed by the schools—stood up for their community’s children and students,” Therrien said.

The two professors were part of the litigation efforts of the ACLU of Michigan, the Education Law Center and the New York-based global law firm White and Case. They spent time in Flint, speaking with educators and families and reviewing documents associated with the schools and districts.

Augusta University Keeps New Teaching Grads in the Classroom

By Stacey Eidson

While the turnover rate among new teachers is close to 50% across this country, that is not the case with graduates of Augusta University’s College of Education.

About 93% of the graduates from the College of Education at Augusta University remain in the profession for at least 5 years or more. 

In addition, the College of Education has experienced a 100% job placement rate for its graduates who remained in Georgia since 2014, according to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. 

“Looking at those two data points together, we really buck the national trend,” said Judi Wilson, dean of the College of Education at Augusta University. “Here, in the College of Education, we work extremely hard to prepare our students for the classroom. Our students get more field experiences than some programs around the state and certainly many programs around the nation. I think that makes a tremendous difference.”

Education students at Augusta University receive practical, hands-on experience inside local schools so they can properly gauge if they are a good fit for the profession, she said.

Technology Integration vs. Technology Infusion: What’s the Difference?

By Arlene Borthwick, Teresa Foulger and Kevin Graziano

Considering the ramped-up emphasis on online and remote learning, deans, department chairs, and their faculty are taking a new look at learning goals and related curricula in preparation programs to assure teacher candidates are prepared to effectively use technology for teaching and learning. Programs can no longer claim that a single “techie” faculty member or a stand-alone course on “ed tech” will provide teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills they need to be proficient with integrating technology into the learning experiences they plan. 

The COVID-19 pandemic we have all experienced has clearly illustrated the need to address technology integration in more depth than siloed approaches could ever provide. An infusion approach, where technology is addressed throughout an entire teacher preparation program—from beginning to end—brings methods courses, practica, student teaching, and even liberal arts and sciences content faculty and PK-12 mentors into this framework for scaffolding candidate development. 

But, wait. Just to be clear—What is the difference between integrating technology and infusing technology?

Teresa Foulger, associate professor of educational technology from Arizona State University, explains the difference in a new book, Championing Technology Infusion in Teacher Preparation: A Framework for Supporting Future Educators (Borthwick, Foulger, & Graziano, 2020):

Join the Online Learning Session: Equipping and Sustaining Equity-Oriented School Leaders for Diverse Contexts

By Nicole Dunn

As school contexts are increasingly complex, school leaders must design programming to address the needs of their diverse students. AACTE invites members to participate in the fourth session of The Wallace Foundation’s University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) learning series, which is framed around the primary question: How do we prepare school leaders to lead schools towards equitable outcomes for all learners?

Register now for Equipping and Sustaining Equity-Oriented School Leaders for Diverse Contexts: Tools and Takeaways.

• Date: September 10, 2020
• Facilitator: April L. Peters, associate professor and associate department chair at the University of Houston.
• Presentation: 1:00–1:45 p.m. EST
• UPPI member-only discussion: 1:45–2:30 p.m. EST (A separate email will be sent with a registration link for this session to all UPPI member registrants.)

You’re Invited to AACTE’s 2020 Washington Week

By Ann E. Larson

As chair of the AACTE Board of Directors, I would like to personally invite you to AACTE’s inaugural, virtual Washington Week. This year’s conference will take place throughout the month of September and will provide ample opportunity to engage with colleagues and advocate for educator preparation. 

During these challenging times, it is imperative for congressional leaders to hear our voice about the support, funding, and policies needed to advance the work at our institutions and to move the profession forward. Your voice matters and is critical to AACTE’s advocacy efforts. 

AACTE has designed Washington Week to cover current issues and trends impacting our classrooms, our society, and our world. Lively discussions will address important topics such as:

• Holmes Advanced Policy Course, September 2-3, and Holmes Policy Institute, September 8-10, will highlight civil rights, social justice, and equity in education. Learn more.
• Day on the Hill, September 9-10 and 15-16, will offer the latest advocacy strategies in virtual settings. Learn more.
• State Leaders Institute, September 22-23, will focus on how to combat racism in education. Learn more.

State Leaders Convene to Enhance Ed Prep at State Level

By Ward Cummings

This year’s virtual AACTE State Leaders Institute will take place September 22-23, and will bring together state chapter leaders from AACTE and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) to enhance the presence of educator preparation at the state level. During this AACTE signature event, state leaders will focus on capacity building and augmenting their chapter’s impact through leadership development. Attendees will learn effective skills to engage with their governor’s office, receive the latest tips to strengthen the advocacy capacity of their state chapter and its membership, and enjoy networking opportunities with peers.

The Critical Need for Pause in the COVID-19 Era

By Gail Richmond

This article originally appeared in the AACTE Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) and is co-authored by Gail Richmond, Christine Cho, H. Alix Gallagher, Ye He,  and Emery Petchauery.

The unprecedented health crisis caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus has resulted in innumerable complications and challenges with respect to schooling in the United States and globally. With the closure of schools, parents and guardians and often older siblings have had to oversee the learning of younger, school-aged children. One consequence of what might be called “emergency teaching” or “crisis schooling” has been a recognition, largely by those thrust into such roles of how hard this oversight actually is and a call for more respect and recognition for classroom teachers. Most frequently, this call for recognition and respect has actually been in the form of a recommendation for higher pay. While such an expression of support is laudable, it once again reveals a lack of deep understanding on the part of the general public about the substantial and specialized knowledge and skills teachers need and the scope of their work as effective classroom educators.

While we have learned much about the specialized knowledge and skills that teachers must have to be effective (e.g., Phelps, 2009; Shulman, 1986), given how teaching and learning are unfolding during this COVID-19 “era,” there is much that we need to understand better about these processes (Richmond et al., 2020). At the time in which we are writing this editorial, two such examples include (a) the knowledge for online, face-to-face, or hybrid teaching and learning and (b) the cognitive, social, and emotional transitions for students (and for some, substantial trauma) to new learning platforms and different learning dynamics. There is also much to understand about the specific kinds of supports for students and for teachers that are necessary to maximize effective learning. Despite these needs, the novelty of the pandemic and the conditions students, educators, leaders, and scholars are living through call for a particular kind of pause. In this editorial, we (a) unpack this pause and the relationship to the production of academic scholarship, (b) direct scholars to the complexity of conditions unfolding during 2020–2021 academic years, and (c) encourage action-reflection as an integral part of the research process.

Educational Leadership Students Create 388-page Re-entry Plan

By Deb Lecklider

“In early March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to wreak havoc on every aspect of life as we all knew it. Events were cancelled, businesses began to close, and classrooms became virtual spaces. The world looked and felt very different from anything we had ever known,” wrote Carolyn Gassman, Butler University graduate student.

The Experiential Program for Preparing School Principals (EPPSP), an educational leadership graduate program at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, canceled their summer 2020 research and study abroad learning experience to Italy due to Covid-19.  EPPSP Students, practicing school teachers and educators, understood the complexity of returning to a physical building in the fall 2020 and wanted to support school leaders as they transitioned back to school.

EPPSP’s 40-year history includes experiential and relevant learning opportunities along with proficiencies that allow students to engage in real-life school leadership practices.  Nationally, school leaders began developing re-entry plans and Indiana leaders were conducting plans of their own.

Receive a Complimentary Registration to 2020 Washington Week: August 31 Deadline

By Meghan Grenda

AACTE’s annual Washington Week is a premiere advocacy event for teacher preparation. Teacher educators, students, K-12 representatives, and national education organizations convene each year to discuss current federal and state policies affecting educator preparation. Attendees learn about the latest education trends and receive advocacy training to prepare for Capitol Hill visits to congressional offices, which will take place virtually this year. 

Are you interested in attending this event and receiving a complimentary registration? AACTE members who submit 50% of their dues by August 31 are eligible for a complimentary second registration to 2020 Washington Week. This means if you and a colleague are planning to attend, the second registration is free once your institution submits at least 50% of 2021 membership dues. 

This year’s virtual Washington Week will feature these four unique events: