Department of Education Provides New Raise the Bar Brief and Map Data

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.

Fenwick Delivers 20th Annual Brown Lecture in D.C.

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.

Study on EdTech in Teacher Preparation

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).

Take Advantage of Classroom Observation Materials with ATLAS

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.

Clemson to Use $2.39 Million from Department of Education to Expand Teacher Residency Across the State

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.

Register for November 14 Lunch & Learn with Michael Kennedy

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

Peabody Researchers Receive Funding to Launch Data Science Challenges to Improve Education

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.

Final Reminder: State Leaders Institute Starts November 1

By AACTE

AACTE and the Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR) invite all who are interested in state policy impacting educator preparation to gather together at the Fall Virtual State Leaders Institute, where you can catch up on the latest information about state policy developments and share advocacy plans, activities, and resources with your colleagues from around the country. 

The low registration fee of $50 per person ($65 for AACTE non-members) and virtual format are designed to enable all who have an interest in state policy to attend.

Join us as we delve into innovative strategies, research, and best practices that will help us elevate teacher preparation programs to new heights. Together, we can work towards creating a brighter and more effective future for our educators and, in turn, for the students they inspire. Your participation in this event will be instrumental in shaping the future of teacher preparation. We look forward to your presence and contributions.

In California: Teacher Shortage and Opioid Crisis Bills Become Law

By California Department of Education

Like most states in the nation, California is experiencing a teacher shortage. Teacher recruitment has largely been led by the 1,000 individual districts in the state, and the California Department of Education (CDE) historically has not had the staffing capacity to engage in direct teacher recruitment or support in this area.

In recent months, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond launched a one-stop recruitment portal that allows teacher candidates to get information in one place, including how to pursue a teaching credential, how to find vacancies at districts, and ways to access resources to support their education and credentialing. Thurmond also hosted a Teacher Recruitment Summit in August and formally launched a coalition to further engage in direct recruitment of teacher candidates statewide.

#AACTE24 Early Bird Registration Rate Ends November 1

By AACTE

Tomorrow, November 1, is your last day to save with early bird registration. Students, faculty, leaders, K-12 administrators and staff, and education partners are invited to join AACTE at the 2024 Annual Meeting at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, February 16–18.

This year’s Annual Conference theme, Ascending New Heights: Propelling the Profession into the Future, aligns with the association’s vision and mission to revolutionize education for all learners by elevating education and educator preparation through research, professional practice, advocacy, and collaboration.

Check out the preconference activities, take a further look at some of the Featured Sessions, or view the meeting schedule on AACTE’s website. Plus, new this year is the “Team” rate — register three or more individuals from your institution to save even more.

Learn more and register by November 1.

Washington Update: Speaker Johnson Elected, Department of Education Awards Grants for Fostering Diverse Schools

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.

Inspiring Partnerships: Multimillion-Dollar Global Competition Sparks Learning Innovation

Spurring Advancements in Education Technology, Georgia State Partnership Benefits Students and Educators Around the World

By Georgia State University

Imagine an app at a child’s fingertips that uses insights about how they learn to help them solve a tricky math problem or a learning platform that can help upskill workers for the new economy. These are just two of the ideas that could soon be a reality thanks to a transformative undertaking known as the Tools Competition.

The competition was started in 2020 by The Learning Agency at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic as educators switched to emergency, online education. It brings together technologists, researchers, and educators from around the world to develop innovative learning solutions. Since its first cycle, the competition has named 80 winning ideas from 35 countries.

Georgia State University is a partner in the initiative which just launched — through November 10 — its latest search for candidates to design and develop cutting-edge, creative ideas to propel education technology further.

Register for the November 2 Lunch & Learn with David Slykhuis

Why Your Dean Wants You to Keep Your Outlook Calendar Up-To-Date and Other Microsoft 365 Tips

By Brooke Evans

AACTE is pleased to offer Lunch & 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 & Learns will be available on-demand for AACTE members. Watch them during your lunch break or whenever it is convenient for you.

Join us on Thursday, November 2, from 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET for AACTE’s Lunch & Learn, Why Your Dean Wants You to Keep Your Outlook Calendar Up-To-Date and Other Microsoft 365 Tips, with David Slykhuis, Ph.D., of Valdosta State University. This session will briefly touch on several of the important, and often underutilized abilities of Microsoft Office 365. Some examples include the following:

Education and Workforce Data Review Shows Promising State-Level Trends in Legislation

By Tyler Pointer

A new report by Data Quality Campaign (DQC) shows data legislation in various states that have passed into law could positively affect student performance.

In 2023, state legislators introduced 269 bills in 44 states and Washington D.C. that address data across education and the workforce, 72 of which became laws. The Education and Workforce Data Legislation Review by DQC spotlights the bills introduced and laws enacted in 2023 addressing data governance, as well as other recommendations for states to support data access through improved statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs).

Unlock Big Savings: Register Early for AACTE’s 2024 Annual Meeting

By AACTE

The 2024 AACTE Annual Meeting is not just an event; it’s a grand gathering of like-minded individuals, and a platform for learning, networking, and sharing unique perspectives in teacher preparation. Early registration for the Annual Meeting can be a money-saving strategy that offers multiple benefits, from budgetary savings to securing your spot.

With early bird registration closing on November 1, you have just over a week to lock in savings. Join us February 16-18 at the Gaylord Rockies in Aurora/Denver, CO, in Propelling the Profession into the Future. The AACTE 2024 Annual Meeting theme aligns with the association’s vision and mission to revolutionize education for all learners by elevating education and educator preparation through research, professional practice, advocacy, and collaboration. Check out the preconference activities, and take a further look at some of the Featured Sessions for 2024: