Archive for September, 2022

The Unintended Consequence of Brown v. Board: A ‘Brain Drain’ of Black Educators

In 74 Interview, author Leslie T. Fenwick said the effects were so damaging that ‘the nation’s public schools still have not recovered’

This story was produced by The 74, a non-profit, independent news organization focused on education in America.

American students have attended school for nearly 70 years under the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools. But a new book uncovers a little-known by-product of the case: Educators and policymakers in at least 17 states that operated separate “dual systems” of schools defied the spirit of Brown by closing schools that served Black students and demoting or firing an estimated 100,000 highly credentialed Black principals and teachers.

In Jim Crow’s Pink Slip, scholar Leslie T. Fenwick, tapping seldom-seen transcripts from a series of 1971 U.S. Senate hearings on the topic, writes that the loss of Black educators post-Brown was “the most significant brain drain from the U.S. public education system that the nation has ever seen. It was so pervasive and destabilizing that, even more than half-century later, the nation’s public schools still have not recovered.”

AACTE Celebrates Member Leaders of Hispanic Heritage

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, AACTE is re-posting an Ed Prep Matters article by student member Rachel Bowman that spotlights Mildred Boveda and David Fuentes, who discuss their heritage and what it means in the world of teacher education.

When Mildred Boveda, associate professor of special education at Penn State University, was filling out some basic forms required for an academic appointment, she came to a question that made her pause:

Which of these best describes your race/ethnicity?

  • White/ Non-Hispanic
  • Black/ Non-Hispanic
  • Hispanic

The list went on.

Boveda, an Afro-Latina woman of Dominican descent and complex intersecting identities, had always felt more at home in the Black community. But the erasure of her Latina roots, even just through a checkmark, was not something she could reconcile with.

She checked Hispanic.

Borrowers Can Refinance Federal Student Loans to Benefit from PSLF

Apply by Oct. 31

One of the barriers to a diverse and well-prepared educator workforce is the high cost of college and student loan debt. Research has found that higher debt burdens are associated with students avoiding public service jobs, particularly in the education field. 

To encourage highly qualified individuals to become teachers or serve in other public sector jobs, the federal government created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2007, which eliminates any remaining federal student loan debt for those individuals that make 120 qualified payments while working for a qualified non-profit employer.

Reflecting on ‘The Growth and Impact of Alternative Certification: Findings from Two Studies’

For 30 years, I have been involved in teaching and teacher education as a graduate student, lecturer, professional development facilitator, teacher, professor, and administrator. Most of that time I was part of the university system. I worked for years at one of the oldest teacher preparation programs in the country (Eastern Michigan University) and now at an institution that offers a non-profit higher education alternative route certification (University of Michigan – Flint, although it is a 30+ credit master’s program). I wondered if my experience prejudiced my view on for-profit alternative route programs (alt. routes). Was my negative visceral reaction to “why can’t getting your teaching certificate be like getting a real estate license?” justified? With enrollment in traditional higher education teacher preparations falling 47% from 2010-2020 and enrollment in for-profit alternative routes up 140%, am I just reacting to the threat?

The webinar presented by AACTE: “The Growth and Impact of Alternative Certification: Findings from Two Studies” confirmed my concerns. Texas, the first state to approve non-higher education alt-routes, prepares more teachers than any other state in the country, and as of 2018-19, had 41 for-profit alt route programs that accounted for 68% of all enrollments in teacher education programs in the state.  As such, Texas was used as the site of a two-components study on for-profit alternative route certification programs.

Aiding Teacher Candidates’ Understanding of Learner Variability

Rachel Besharat Mann will share her experience in translating learning sciences into practice using the Digital Promise Learner Variability Navigator tool during the webinar co-hosted by AACTE, “Learning Sciences Research for the Classroom” on September 26, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Below, Mann offers a preview about her experience using the web app for whole child learning.

You can read all of the teaching books and take all of the courses but being in the classroom is a completely different experience. You are working with individual people with varied backgrounds and needs and their behaviors; strengths, and needs can change based on a variety of factors outside of a teacher’s control. There is no roadmap to tell you how students learn differently or even if they are learning at all. This is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way over the years and have vowed to help my higher education students avoid the same pitfalls in K-12 classrooms that I did.

A Post-Recess Washington Update: New bills, Initiatives, Reports and Resources

This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Congress may have been on recess for the month of August, but it certainly did not feel like a break. Behind the scenes staffers maintained diligent in their work as Members spent time both in Washington, D.C. and their home states and districts for the opportunity to hear directly from constituents. In mid-August, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act is the legislation we have formerly referred to as the “reconciliation bill” or “Build Back Better.” That said, the Inflation Reduction Act is much different than any of the previously proposed “reconciliation bills” — including no investments in the educator workforce. Read more about what is included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

LFA Member Organizations React to NAEP Results

On September 1st, 2022, the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics released the mathematics and reading results of 9-year-olds from the 2022 NAEP long-term trend assessment. The following summary is from NAEP’s Highlights report:

In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students to examine student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020. This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics.

Daniqua Williams Named Holmes Scholar of the Month

Congratulations to Daniqua Williams, named Holmes Scholar of the month to kick off the 2022-2023 academic year! In June of 2022,  Williams successfully defended her dissertation study titled “Assessing Multicultural Counseling Competency Training with College Counselors who Serve International Students.”

Call for Reviewers: AACTE’s 75th Annual Meeting

AACTE is seeking peer reviewers from a wide spectrum of backgrounds to serve in selecting learning opportunities of the highest quality for its 75th Annual Meeting, themed, “Innovation through Inspiration: Remembering the Past to Revolutionize the Future.”

This is an opportunity to volunteer your time and expertise to select session topics from this year’s proposal submissions that will shape the conversation at our 75th anniversary meeting, focused on revolutionizing and elevating educator preparation and the teaching profession. To apply, visit Call for Reviewers.

2022-23 AACTE State Affiliate Awardees Selected

Congratulations to the AACTE state affiliate organizations from Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, and Montana which were selected from among numerous excellent applicants for a 2022-23 State Affiliate Support Award. AACTE uses these awards to support state affiliate organizations in advancing the following priorities:

  • Advocacy and Policy Leadership
  • Enhancing Program Quality
  • Partnership and Communication

Can Apprenticeships Help Alleviate Teacher Shortages?

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

As much as she wanted to, Karol Harper hadn’t planned to go back to school to get her teaching license. With a full-time job and a family — she couldn’t afford it. It would have meant a loss of income and benefits.

Harper, a teacher’s aide in the special education department at Farragut Intermediate School in Knoxville, Tennessee, was interviewing a candidate for a position at her school when she learned about her state’s new teacher apprenticeship program.

The program enables participants to get licensed as teachers through an apprenticeship, instead of paying out of pocket for the degree. Many apprentices work in a school, gradually taking on more teaching responsibilities, while studying for an education degree at night. Other students, like high schoolers and college students, work as student teachers in their local districts, while taking working toward their bachelor’s degree. The tuition and fees are paid for through the program, but in addition student apprentices get tutoring and coaching.

What Kids Need in the Classroom

This article originally appeared on MSU Denver RED.

With the psychological and economic pressures of Covid-19, increased gun violence, systemic racism, political polarization and, most recently, the financial stresses of inflation, many adults are struggling with their mental and emotional health. It’s no wonder that children, too, are experiencing more trauma than ever.

Last fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association jointly declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health due to “soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality” caused by Covid-19 and other factors. Trauma such as physical abuse, bullying and witnessing violence will often contribute to higher anxiety and negatively impact attention, memory, cognition, problem solving, reading ability and academic performance, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Teacher Education Programs Desperately Seek Students

This article originally appeared on Inside Higher Ed.

As the school year gets underway, a national teacher shortage has K-12 districts scrambling and job boards lengthening. The president of the National Education Association called the lack of classroom teachers a “five-alarm crisis.” Some students are returning to full-time in-person learning only to find their instructors teaching through screens, often from hundreds of miles away. Many teachers are overburdened by large classes, and in some cases, they are teaching without a degree. Some districts will start the school year with a four-day week to accommodate a lack of staff.

The flow of new teachers through the pipeline has slowed to a trickle, in part due to years of declining enrollment in education programs. Now higher education institutions are looking for ways to reverse what has become an alarming national trend.