06 Oct2021
By Michael Rose
The Department of Education announced today changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) that will allow thousands of students to qualify for the program and see their debts forgiven.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was designed to allow student loan borrowers, who pay down their debts for 10 years while working at a public-sector or nonprofit job, to have any remaining debt forgiven at the end of that decade. However, only a small number of borrowers benefited from the program because they had taken out the wrong type of federal loan or had been enrolled in an ineligible repayment plan. In come cases, the debt was not forgiven because of minor clerical errors.
06 Oct2021
By Linda Minor
AACTE’s virtual 2021 Leadership Academy Series is almost sold out! Secure your spot now for the second Session, “When Thinking Wrong is Right: Purposeful Disruption of the Status Quo,” on Wednesday, October 20, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET.
05 Oct2021
Education Funds Hanging in the Balance
By Jane E. West and Kaitlyn Brennan
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Congress Struggles to Move Forward
Since returning from the August recess Members of Congress have been scrambling to get four major pieces of legislation passed and ultimately to keep the government running. As you will recall, the big four are: a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, legislation to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the government from heading into default on its obligations, the bi-partisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill. Last week we reported that the four trains appeared to be moving down the track and were poised to avoid a collision after all—this week, we’re on standby.
05 Oct2021
By NAEd
The Evaluating and Improving Teacher Preparation Programs commissioned paper series is part of the Evaluating and Improving Teacher Preparation Programs project by the National Academy of Education (NAEd) that aims to identify best practices among existing models of evaluation tools and provide recommendations for the development of new models.
The commissioned papers will be published on a rolling basis, and the first two papers are released now.
Download both papers.
05 Oct2021
By Meghan Grenda
The deadline is soon approaching to submit your application for the 2022 AACTE awards. Ensure your institution’s best practice or individual, professional achievement is submitted for the 2022 AACTE Award program. Awards will be presented at the AACTE 74th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, March 4-6. Award submissions can be either self-nominated or nominated by a third party. To submit your nomination, visit AACTE’s online submission site and complete your submission by Friday, October 8
This is the 26th year AACTE’s Awards program has been recognizing member institutions’ exemplary programs as well as individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to education preparation. For an overview of the 2021 award winners, see this press release.
01 Oct2021
By Meghan Grenda
The AACTE membership team is working to deliver tools and resources to enhance members’ career development, provide answers to current challenges, and present opportunities to network and engage with other professionals in the field.
We encourage you to check out some of the new and/or enhanced member resources below to ensure you are taking full advantage of all that is offered to you via your AACTE membership. Remember, these tools and resources are available to all faculty, staff, and even students at AACTE member institutions.
30 Sep2021
By Jennifer Strange
This article originally appeared on the Elon University News site and is reprinted with permission.
Three faculty in the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, Elon University presented at the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Teacher Education (NCACTE) 39th Annual Teacher Education Forum. In addition, one alumnae was recognized as a finalist for the North Carolina Student Teacher of the Year award.
The North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE) held the 39th Annual Teacher Education Forum on Thursday, September 23 through Saturday, Sept. 25. The theme of the virtual forum was “Rethink, Reshape, Reimagine, Revolutionize: Growing the Profession Post Pandemic.”
30 Sep2021
By Amy R. Kline
The New Jersey Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (NJACTE) is proud to introduce Stacey Leftwich as its first African American president. Leftwich steps into this leadership role at a time when racial and ethnic inequities and other issues of social justice are in the news every day. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified these disparities, making this a truly historic and challenging moment for the field of educator preparation. It is also moment in which NJACTE is grateful and honored to have someone as remarkable as Leftwich serve as president.
Leftwich originally hails from Atlantic City, NJ and has spent the past five years as the executive director of the Office of Educator Support and Partnerships at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, where she previously held a faculty position for 18 years. Her educational background is testament to her longtime interest in education, as she holds a B.A. in Education from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University – yes, she is a proud alum who works where she went to college!), an M.A. in Reading Education from Temple University, and a Ph.D. in Reading Education from the State University of New York, at Albany.
30 Sep2021
By Tammy L. Henderson
In this article, Tammy L. Henderson of Lamar University reflects on her experience as an attendee at the first session of the 2021 Leadership Academy Series held August 8.
While Congress and the National Conference of State Legislators (Smalley, 2021) monitor and update the public on the impact, resources, and policies used to address COVID-19, administrators in educational institutions have their boots on the ground. During the first session of the virtual Leadership Academic Series, When We all Get Together Again: Returning to Campus with New Opportunities, administrators, the essential workers of learning, met to discuss, share, and identify innovations. When disclosing and reimagining ways to promote quality education, health, and overall well-being, participants shared the significance of following policies, negotiating ways to teach and touch base with students, negotiate pathways of safe, sound instructional delivery, and adhering to the requirements of state governors, the Centers for Disease Control, and their administrative leaders. My reflections around self-care and leading with compassion became more profound in my awareness while listening to others. I left the session with a renewed sense of energy and ideas to champion health, innovations in education, and administration innovations for contemporary times.
30 Sep2021
By Joseph Peters
In this post, Joseph Peters of Georgia State University reflects on his experience 2021 Washington Week Day on The Hill attendee.
This year’s AACTE Day on the Hill, themed “Your Voice Matters,” was a fantastic experience. The Hop-In virtual platform made it easy to participate in the event. AACTE’s Research, Policy and Advocacy staff provided excellent speakers to prepare everyone for the congressional visits. Our Georgia team was led by Georgia State University’s Project Nurture TQP Grant Director Norma Green. In addition to Georgia State University, Georgia College and State University, Fort Valley State University, and Middle Georgia State University participated in the event. We were able to set up meetings with both Georgia Senators’ staff, as well as the educational policy staff of four Georgia Representatives.
30 Sep2021
By Michael Rose
Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages
This week, the House of Representatives passed the Consider Teachers Act, which would make certain improvements to the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants program. The TEACH Grant program is intended to encourage individuals to enter the teaching profession by providing recipients with grants of up to $4,000 per year to pursue coursework that leads to a certification in teaching. AACTE has long supported this program to help address the nation’s shortage of educators.
30 Sep2021
By AACTE
AACTE and ATE State Leaders Discuss State Policy Trends and Advocacy for Educator Preparation
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) concludes its month-long Washington Week programming with the State Leaders Institute (SLI), September 30 through October 1. SLI brings together state chapter leaders from AACTE and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) to augment their impact on state level educator preparation policy issues and to advocate for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. This program affords leaders the opportunity to gain insight from each other, learn how other states organize their state-level conferences and outreach efforts, and identify key advocacy strategies together.
28 Sep2021
By Jane E. West and Kaitlyn Brennan
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
As you will recall, after returning last week from the August recess Members of Congress were off to the races to get four major pieces of legislation passed and ultimately to keep the government running. The big four are the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the reconciliation bill, a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, and legislation to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the government from heading into default on its obligations. On Tuesday evening House Democrats took an initial step towards warding off a government shutdown, passing a short-term spending bill that would keep the government funded through early December and lift the limit on federal borrowing until after the midterm elections in 2022.
28 Sep2021
By Meghan Grenda
AACTE’s Member Spotlight features an individual from a member institution, highlighting how their work makes a difference in classrooms across the country. Nominate yourself or another member by providing a response to the following questions and sending to mgrenda@aacte.org
Meet Kari Vogelgesang …
Position/Institution: clinical associate professor and director, professional development at Iowa Center for School Mental Health, Baker Teacher Leader Center
College of Education, University of Iowa
-
-
- How long have you been a member of AACTE?
I’ve been a member with AACTE for 7 years.
- Why did you join AACTE?
The University of Iowa has had a membership for our teaching and learning faculty since I was hired … and maybe before I was hired?
- Why did you decide to enter the field of educator preparation?
When I was a practicing elementary school teacher and started working with student teachers, I knew that I wanted to move over to educator preparation. In addition, while completing my master’s program, I surprisingly fell in love with research—particularly research that focused on better understanding classroom practices that can lead to healthier outcomes for our students.
28 Sep2021
By Matthew J. Camp
This article originally appeared in Inside Higher Education and is reprinted with permission from the op-ed author. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
September 2 marked the anniversary of the National Defense Education Act, the law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 to vastly expand funding for colleges and universities. The country has been the better for it ever since. Eisenhower famously warned about the military-industrial complex and how every dollar spent on a bomber could have been spent on a school.
Today, Americans realize the futility of spending $2 trillion over 20 years fighting a lost war in Afghanistan. What would the world look like if that money had been spent on education in that country and in ours? Now is the time for every college in the country to fight hard for the next massive investment in higher education. Quite simply, they should lobby for our future.
Unfortunately, higher education institutions have historically played defense when it comes to advocating for their own interests. For the past four years, colleges have spent lots of time and money responding to chaotic Trump-era proposals on immigration, free speech on campus, graduate student taxes, Title IX changes and restrictions on research. In most states, funding to higher education is much lower today than it was 20 years ago.
