25 Oct2022
By Michael Rose
Voters will cast their votes on November 8 for scores of local, state, and federal elections. The election results will likely be felt for years, including in our nation’s classrooms. The results could impact curriculum, civil rights for underrepresented students, educator preparation, and other related issues.
While election experts predict modest changes in the composition of Congress, even the slightest of changes can have significant effect on our students and educators.
What does all this mean for AACTE, its members, and the students they work with?
Join me for a discussion on Wednesday, November 9 about the challenges and opportunities we expect over the next two years, including the following:
25 Oct2022
By Lynn M. Gangone
With the onset of a new academic year, AACTE is optimistic about the future of the profession as there has been positive movement in policies and legislation that addresses the challenges educators and educator preparation programs face. However, to maintain forward momentum, we must continue to advocate at the local, state, and federal levels.
As an education leader, your voice matters. That’s why I am asking you to participate in AACTE’s
75 Days | 75 Ways to Advocate for Education campaign. Developed to mark AACTE’s 75th anniversary, the movement centers around raising national awareness of ways to advocate for change that ensures every student has a highly trained and qualified teacher in their classroom and equitable education is available for all learners.
21 Oct2022
By Lisa Buie
This article originally appeared on reimaginED, the policy and public affairs communications platform for Step Up For Students and is reprinted with permission.
The Early Learning Residency Program at Austin Peay University proved to be what recent graduate Malachi Johnson was looking for: a college education and a guaranteed job.
In her 20s, Heather Fracker set her sights on becoming a respiratory therapist. But as John Lennon observed, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
Fast forward two decades, and Fracker, a 43-year-old single mom to two middle schoolers, is pursuing a new dream. In two years, she will be a fully credentialed elementary school teacher thanks to an accelerated program that began in her hometown.
21 Oct2022
By Jenna Conan Simpson
In today’s schools, the ability to integrate technology into the teaching and learning environment is a necessary and crucial skill. Many K-12 classroom environments are technology-rich, with 1:1 devices, blended learning, and even distance instruction taking place. However, new teachers often enter the classroom unprepared to successfully utilize educational technology and navigate the technology-rich classroom environment. The research study, Preparation to Teach in Technology-Rich K-12 Classroom Environments, examined the preparation of preservice teachers to teach with technology in today’s classrooms and explored the gap between the preparation teachers received in their teacher education program and what they needed to be able to do to be successful as classroom teachers. The study was conducted during the spring of 2022, and a total of 217 K to 12th grade teachers in their first three years of teaching in the United States participated in the survey, with ten participating in an in-depth follow-up interview.
21 Oct2022
The School’s assistant dean for educator preparation and accreditation will lead state teacher preparation advocacy group until 2024
By The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education
Diana Lys, Ed.D., assistant dean for educator preparation and accreditation at the UNC School of Education, was named the ninth president of the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE) on Thursday, Sept. 22, at the organization’s 40th annual Teacher Education Fall Forum held in Raleigh.
NCACTE is the leading advocacy group for policy issues regarding teacher preparation in North Carolina, and its membership includes private and public educator preparation programs across the state. Lys will serve as NCACTE president until 2024.
In the role she will have an opportunity to make direct impact on the success of teacher education and preparation in the state — and, ultimately, the success of students, educators, and schools.
20 Oct2022
By FutureEd
Teacher shortages dominated education headlines during the summer. The billions of dollars of federal pandemic-relief money states and school districts are pouring into the teaching force—and the funding’s substantial consequences for longstanding policies and practices in the more-than-three-million-member profession—have received far less attention.
20 Oct2022
By Kaitlyn Brennan
The new “In the States” feature by Kaitlyn Brennan is a weekly update to keep members informed on state-level activities impacting the education and educator preparation community.
Fairfax County Considering Recruiting Teachers From Barbados to Address Shortage
This week, leaders in Virginia’s largest school system, Fairfax County Public Schools, announced they are working with Barbados Ministry of Education to explore the possibility of recruiting teachers from Barbados to address its staffing shortage. Interested candidates would be required to have a Virginia Department of Education-approved degree and course transcripts. They will also have to qualify for one of the state’s alternative routes to getting a license, and would have to apply for an official statement of eligibility document from the state before applying for jobs in the county.
19 Oct2022
By Saginaw Valley State University
Saginaw Valley State University is seeing gains in the number of students pursuing teacher certification at the university for the fall 2022 semester. In addition, SVSU’s award-winning residence halls are completely filled, as student interest in living on campus has rebounded.
SVSU has 146 students pursuing teacher certification, up from 126 last year, including 23 new students who are employees of Saginaw Public Schools and enrolled through a new partnership between SVSU and the school district. All of these students have previously completed bachelor’s degrees and want to become certified teachers.
18 Oct2022
By Lynn M. Gangone
Greetings! As we are entering the final months of 2022 and AACTE is strategically planning for the year ahead, I wanted to share some prodigious achievements we have made over the year and updates from our recent Board of Directors’ meeting.
Given the scope and scale of the teacher shortage, at the Board of Directors’ meeting, we determined that we should evaluate all current and new opportunities based on whether they will contribute to increasing enrollment in educator preparation programs. We are calling this our “North Star.” The strategic priorities of the association won’t change. Still, we will emphasize the near term on addressing the teacher shortage, understanding that by doing so thoughtfully and carefully, we can advance our priorities in advocacy, DEI, and advancing educator prep policy, practice, and research. I am also pleased that our Strategic Priority, “Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” has been changed to “Prioritizing DEI” because it better reflects AACTE’s emphasis on racial and social justice and equity.
18 Oct2022
The U.S. Department of Education Grant Will Fund Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Education for Principals Programs.
By High Point University
High Point University’s Stout School of Education is a recipient of a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund two graduate programs for teachers and principals for the next five years. The school will receive $9,786,041, the second largest federal Teacher Quality Partnership grant awarded to 22 universities in the nation.
The Teacher Quality Partnership grant is the largest competitive grant ever awarded to High Point University, says Amy Holcombe, dean of the Stout School of Education. This is the second Teacher Quality Partnership Grant awarded to HPU’s Stout School of Education, which received a previous $4 million grant in October 2018.
18 Oct2022
By Michael Rose
Earlier this year, President Biden announced plans to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for individual borrowers who make under $125,000 per year, an action that could benefit more than 40 million Americans. The application to receive debt forgiveness formally opened on October 17 and it is estimated to take about five minutes to complete.
18 Oct2022
By Kaitlyn Brennan
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.
While Congress is on an extended recess leading into the mid-term elections, work behind the scenes continues. Washington Update typically breaks with Congress, but you can expect to see updates coming to your inbox leading up to the mid-terms.
18 Oct2022
By AACTE
Do you know a deserving individual who has contributed greatly to the profession of teacher preparation? Now is the perfect time to submit a nomination for a 2023 AACTE professional achievement award. Nominations are open through October 31. Award recipients will be honored during the AACTE 75th Annual Meeting, February 24 – 26.
17 Oct2022
Murray providers produce nearly 7,500 high quality graduates ready to make positive impact on P-12 learning
By Matt Vanover
The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) announced today that 32 providers from 16 states, Puerto Rico and Jordan received recognition for their leadership and commitment to continuous improvement. The recipients of the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement.
The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC. Murray was the founding President of TEAC, served as Chairman of the Board for TEAC and was also an initial member of the CAEP Board of Directors. He was a key advocate for a single set of educator preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger that created CAEP. He also served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Delaware from 1979 to 1995.
14 Oct2022
By Anne Tapp Jaksa
With fall now well underway, state associations are busy hosting conferences and gearing up for yet another active year of policymaking on issues impacting educator preparation. Because state policymaking is now a year-round activity, AACTE and ACSR decided that it would be important to create an opportunity for states to connect with each other and with AACTE and its partners at this time of year.
Register for the inaugural Fall Virtual State Leaders Institute on Tuesday, November 1 from 12 to 5 ET. With a low registration fee of $50 for AACTE members and non-members alike, this half-day workshop is a great opportunity for state association leadership teams to reap the benefits of learning from and collaborating with colleagues from other state associations.
