14 Nov2023
By AACTE
The AACTE Annual Meeting is a cornerstone event for educators, researchers, and education leaders alike. While the main conference offers a wealth of insights and networking opportunities, there is an often-overlooked gem that deserves special attention — Preconference opportunities. Attending AACTE Preconference activities is an excellent way to invest your time and commitment to learning during the Annual Meeting. Check out the schedule and descriptions below to see what this year’s preconference has to offer.
14 Nov2023
By Tyler Pointer
PEN America’s new report, America’s Censored Classrooms 2023: Lawmakers Shift Strategies as Resistance Rises, written by program director Jeremy C. Young and research consultant Jeffrey Adam Sachs has now been published, highlighting the progress of educational gag orders as a result of state legislative sessions in 2023.
The report finds that, while the threat of gag orders has not diminished this year, the form and structure of such laws have changed dramatically. According to the report, more gag orders became law this year than in 2022, though fewer were introduced.
In PK-12, there was a major shift away from critical race theory (CRT) bans toward “Don’t Say Gay” bills, many of them as a result of Florida’s law last year. These bills attempted to censor any mention of gender, sexuality, or identity in the classroom, including extending some bans all the way through grade 12. In higher education, there was a shift away from classroom restrictions and toward limits on university governance processes that protect academic freedom. Diversity and inclusion bans, curricula, general education courses, accreditation agencies, and even university mission statements were censored, particularly in Florida, and Texas, and a bill still under consideration in Ohio.
13 Nov2023
By Sara Reichenberger
Growing up in a small, conservative community, I learned early on to keep my true self hidden. My sexuality was a secret I guarded fiercely, aware that in the close-knit circles of my hometown, it wouldn’t be accepted. This knowledge cast a shadow over my youth, but it also ignited a flame within me — a determination to find a path that led beyond the confines of narrow-mindedness. Education was my beacon, my compass guiding me through the fog of fear and judgment.
I clung to the belief that if I could excel in school, make it to college, and become a teacher, I could escape the suffocating atmosphere of my hometown. This goal was my lifeline, pulling me forward through years of silent struggle. And eventually, I made it. I was accepted into a teacher education program, a tangible step toward the life I yearned for — one where I could be true to myself without fear.
But the journey was far from straightforward. In one of my final field experience placements I was assigned a cooperating teacher, Mrs. H, who was known for her expertise in classroom management and innovative teaching methods but who, I soon discovered, harbored strong negative opinions about the LGBTQ community. She often made dismissive comments, cloaked in humor but cutting deep, about “people choosing to be gay.”
13 Nov2023
By Christi Mathis
This article was originally published by Southern Illinois University.
Split-second decisions frequently determine the outcome of a game, a medical procedure, a military battle, or a law enforcement situation. Scott Boatright, a doctoral candidate at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is conducting research to see if people can train with simulation and extended reality to make judgments more quickly and effectively. His work has already garnered national recognition along with a $10,000 scholarship from the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA).
Boatright, of Tampa, Florida, has been working on the project in the School of Education’s Organizational Learning, Innovation and Development (OLID) program with Peter Fadde, OLID professor of learning systems design and technology.
“The goal is to systemize and speed up the training and learning experience,” Fadde said. “We asked ourselves, how we could take the seemingly intuitive decision-making process used by experts and capture their methodology and expertise and train others to use it faster and faster.”
Boatright said getting to work on this innovative research using video-occlusion technology, a form of virtual reality, with Fadde and other SIU faculty is what drew him to SIU.
“I developed a keen interest in applying my classroom knowledge to the real world. Specifically, the application of innovative training methods and technologies, such as extended reality, to improve human performance in dynamic, high-pressure environments,” Boatright said.
13 Nov2023
By Megan Tagami
This article was originally published on October 29, 2023, with Honolulu Civic Beat.
At Makakilo Elementary, Christine Carder posed a question to her first graders. “What letters make the sound ‘ea’ as in tea?” The class eagerly scrambled to write down the correct letter combination in their notebooks.
This exercise helps to build students’ phonemic awareness, instructional coach Karen Yogi explained to the group of parents invited to observe Makakilo’s reading lessons for the morning. Older students will later advance to activities such as reading in pairs and assessing each other’s fluency and vocabulary skills, Yogi added.
“This is why my son says he’s famished at dinner, instead of hungry,” said parent Donna Sinclair, noting the improvement she’s seen in her fifth-grader’s vocabulary this year.
Makakilo Elementary is one of about 80 schools in the state to receive funding from a roughly $50 million federal grant awarded in 2019 to improve literacy among the country’s youngest readers.
13 Nov2023
By Kirstin Werner
The Kern Family Foundation is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity. The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham located in Edgbaston, U.K. delivers a Master of Arts (MA) in Character Education. The MA program is a part-time degree that is taught online over three years giving students the flexibility to complete the program alongside full-time employment. The 2024 cohort begins in September 2024.
The university will offer scholarships covering the full tuition expense for a select number of U.S. citizens, who live and work in the United States. This scholarship is known as the Kern Award. As a valued partner of the foundation, we invite you or one of your esteemed colleagues to apply for the program.
At 11:00 a.m. CST on December 14, 2023, Paul Watts, Ph.D., program lead for the MA in Character Education, will be presenting an information session about the program via Zoom.
13 Nov2023
By Nicole Dunn
On November 9, the U.S. Department of Education, TEACH.org, and the One Million Teachers of Color (1MToC) Campaign announced their partnership for a new public service announcement (PSA), Teachers: Leaders Shaping Lives.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and the Biden Administration are prioritizing teachers and the shortage crisis by investing in strong teacher pipelines that focus on diversifying the profession. AACTE was consulted on this project and on the development of the PSA.
By demonstrating the value and impact of teaching, the PSA looks to elevate the profession, shift perceptions, ignite respect, celebrate teachers, and inspire more talented people — especially Black and Latino talent — to become teachers. In a LinkedIn Live event that accompanied the PSA launch, Secretary Cardona dived into teacher diversity and shortages, stating that the teacher shortage is a symptom of a teacher respect issue.
07 Nov2023
By Tyler Pointer
InnovateEDU is reviving the EdSAFE AI Alliance to promote the responsible use of AI in education on a global scale. As a founding steering committee member, AACTE joins the EdSAFE AI Alliance alongside fellow education and learning partners to foster AI policy, collaboration, and best practices for PK-12 education.
Originally convened in 2020 and operative through September 2023, the newly revived alliance will continue its mission based on its core philosophy, the SAFE Framework:
- Safety: data privacy and security and a “do no harm” approach;
- Accountability: clear stakeholder responsibilities;
- Fairness: bias-free equity and ethics; and
- Efficacy: demonstrable learning outcomes from the use of AI technology.
The working goals of the EdSAFE AI Alliance’s mission include guiding responsible policy development, crafting initiatives to bring such policy to fruition, publishing white papers, supporting district and state policy labs, and creating special fellowship programs.
More information is available at EdSAFE’s new website.
07 Nov2023
By Maureen Tracey-Mooney
The U.S. Department of Education has published a new Raise the Bar Policy Brief, Eliminating Educator Shortages through Increasing Educator Diversity and Addressing High-need Shortage Areas. The brief highlights key Department efforts to support and advance educator diversity and address high-need shortage areas, as well as national and state data on teacher diversity and areas in which states have particular shortages. It includes visualizations spotlighting state and national data on educator diversity, including in a range of roles and the diversity of students enrolled in educator preparation programs, as well as data on states’ projected shortage areas for 2023-24.
The Department is committed to a comprehensive policy agenda to recruit, prepare, and retain a racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse and well-prepared educator workforce. This includes promoting educator diversity while recruiting, preparing, retaining, and supporting teachers, administrators, and other educators and ensuring that education is a profession that people from all backgrounds can pursue. Developing and supporting a diverse educator workforce is critical to strengthening student success. Additionally, addressing high-need shortage areas ensures all students have access to a high-quality, well-rounded education. Through Raise the Bar: Lead the World, the Department is working in partnership with states, tribes, local educational agencies (LEAs), and educator preparation programs (EPPs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), to eliminate educator shortages in our nation’s schools and to strengthen and diversify the education profession.
07 Nov2023
By Tyler Pointer
AACTE’s Dean in Residence Leslie T. Fenwick, Ph.D., recently delivered the 20th Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research in Washington D.C.
According to the American Educational Research Association, which hosted the event, the Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research illuminates the important role of research in advancing the understanding of equality and equity in education.
Fenwick’s lecture, “Otherwise Qualified: The Untold Story of Brown and Black Educators,” offered a newly excavated history of implementing the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. It also advances her theory of “cultural elision” to explain how Brown is still misdefined.
07 Nov2023
By Kiersten Greene, Liz Kolb and Christie Terry
The ways that teacher education programs in the United States address educational technology have changed significantly over the past twenty years.
2000 – 2010: Literacy Phase
In the early days of internet-connected classrooms, teacher preparation programs treated educational technology as a non-essential “add-on.” When technology was included, most programs replaced a single “overhead projector” course with a class on basic technology literacy skills.
- Over half of the universities taught educational technology through standalone courses, and most programs had a “test out” option. (Gronseth et al., 2010)
- Students primarily learned “point and click” skills with software tools (Foulger et al 2012).
07 Nov2023
By Nicole Dunn
With the fall semester coming to an end and preparations for the spring semester quickly approaching, education faculty can make the most out of AACTE resources when needing to provide classroom observation experience for their teacher candidates. ATLAS (Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools®) is a video library that provides video cases and analysis tools of accomplished teaching practices indexed to common teaching and learning frameworks across various classroom settings. Observations with ATLAS are made even more valuable because they include insights into behind-the-scenes instructional decision-making.
AACTE has partnered with the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, Inc. (‘NBPTS’ or ‘The National Board’) to offer individual and institutional access to ATLAS at a reduced cost for AACTE members who are new subscribers.
AACTE members who sign up for a new ATLAS subscription before the end of 2023 will receive a 20% discount on institutional or individual subscriptions. Both institutional and individual subscription options are available for both one and three-year terms, and those selecting a 3-year term will be eligible for the 20% discount.
07 Nov2023
By Michael Staton
The Clemson University College of Education’s teacher residency program will expand to school districts in the Pee Dee region thanks to a $2.39 million award from the U.S. Department of Education. The project will place 16 teacher residents in participating districts in the region each year for four years, paying each a $25,000 living stipend during their residency year when the students are placed with mentor teachers.
College leaders expect that most of the educators taking advantage of this stipend will be those pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) online from Clemson. These students — often career changers coming into education with a bachelor’s degree in another field — will be afforded the same opportunity as undergraduate students in the residency program and enjoy additional support to spend a year with a mentor teacher while earning their MAT degree.
The students will spend a full academic year of residency with an experienced mentor teacher who continuously gathers data about a resident’s progress to provide targeted support and feedback. Teacher residents in the Pee Dee districts will receive the $25,000 stipend and move from a collaborative, co-teaching role in the classroom to an increasingly responsible, lead-teaching role.
06 Nov2023
A (Multimedia and Evidence-Based) Ranch Hand to Help Tame the Wild West of Teacher Candidate Supervision: Introducing the COACHED Platform
By Brooke Evans
AACTE is pleased to offer Lunch and Learns, new professional development opportunities for members. These 30-minute sessions are designed to provide you with an immediate tool or strategy that you can immediately apply to your work. Can’t make it virtually? All Lunch and Learns will be available on-demand just for AACTE members. Watch them during your lunch break or whenever it is convenient for you.
AACTE Members are invited to the next Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, November 14, from 1:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET. Michael J. Kennedy, Ph.D. (University of Virginia), a member of AACTE’s Innovation & Technology Committee, will introduce the COACHED Platform (Capturing Observations and Collaboratively sHaring Educational Data), a suite of evidence-based coaching tools and professional learning materials for teacher educators. He will also address questions about how COACHED can fit alongside existing (and required) checklists or other evaluations of teacher candidates.
For more information, and to register for the event, please visit aacte.org
06 Nov2023
By Jenna Somers
This article was originally published by Vanderbilt University.
ChatGPT is here to stay and educators need to adapt to their students using it — at least, that is what news headlines have suggested for almost a year following ChatGPT’s unveiling. Much of the coverage has given voice to worries about the possibility that AI will hinder learning by doing students’ work for them. But the AI revolution has just begun, and some experts are seizing on AI’s positive potential to augment teaching and learning.
A growing number of those experts are faculty at Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development, including Scott Crossley, professor of special education, Bethany Rittle-Johnson, professor of psychology and human development, and Kelley Durkin, research assistant professor of teaching and learning. They have teamed up to launch data science challenges that will leverage the power of AI to advance K-12 education in writing and math. Supported by several private foundations, they will lead two challenges focused on improving student writing and one challenge to model students’ math misconceptions. Teams will compete to integrate AI models into automatic writing evaluation systems to better provide feedback to students. The math challenge aims to provide teachers and students with early feedback on probable misconceptions.
