Superintendent Arntzen is Accepting Applications for the Third Year of the Teacher Residency Project

By Montana Office of Public Instruction

Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen is accepting residency and district applications for the third year of the Montana Teacher Residency Program. The Residency program is a one-year paid student teaching experience during the final year of undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or master’s studies for education majors. Residents will be paired with a teacher-leader, and receive a stipend, district-provided housing, and partial tuition support.

Resident teachers will also commit to teaching in a Montana school district for a minimum of three years. Those interested in becoming a resident can apply here. Districts interested in hosting a resident can apply here.

“The Residency Program is a great opportunity for Montana-made teachers to gain valuable classroom experience,” Arntzen said. “The academic success of our children depends on access to high-quality teachers who are well prepared from day one. This reflects my Montana Hope and Montana Teach initiatives by emphasizing community engagement and strong teacher leaders to put our students first.”

UW–Madison School of Education Joins Forces with School Districts, DWD to Cultivate Aspiring School Leaders 

By Kari Dickinson

This article was originally published on the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s website. 

To help identify and nurture future school leaders, the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education is partnering with three Wisconsin school districts to launch the District Leadership Preparation Pipeline (DLPP) program. This innovative program aims to transform 25 current school district employees into highly effective school leaders by August 2025.  

The DLPP program is a collaborative effort, bringing together an urban, suburban, and rural school district in south-central Wisconsin. Supported by funding from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s (DWD) Fast Forward Industry Sectors Worker Training grant program, the initiative leverages the School of Education’s highly regarded 14-month principal preparation curriculum. 

“Good principals and school leaders truly benefit teachers, staff, and the education students receive,” DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek said. “We are eager to partner with the UW–Madison School of Education to help prepare leaders who will support our schools, our educators, and our future workforce.” 

University of Louisville College of Education & Human Development to Create State Reading Research Center 

By Jennifer Recktenwald and Chris Wooton

This article was originally published on the University of Louisville’s news website. 

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has tapped the University of Louisville’s (UofL) College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) to create the Kentucky Reading Research Center, a new entity that will support educators in implementing reliable, replicable reading programs and promote literacy development.  

The project includes a two-year, $6 million contract — one of the largest competitive grant awards in the CEHD’s history — and is renewable for up to five years. 

Executive Vice President and University Provost Gerry Bradley and CEHD Interim Dean Amy Lingo, who will serve as executive director of the Kentucky Reading Research Center when it launches July 1, joined state officials and legislators at Bourbon Central Elementary School in Paris, KY, to announce the project on June 3. 

Human Rights Are All Our Rights: A Holmes Washington Week Reflection

By Sean Hembrick

Sean Hembrick, Holmes Scholar — The Pennsylvania State University

As a first-time attendee for AACTE Washington Week, I wanted to learn more about educational policy and advocacy. Being a fourth-year higher education doctoral student, I understand the importance of pushing forth efforts that speak to our ever-increasing educational field. I know that at the height of educational change are the millions of educators who continue to push forth visibility and accessibility for all students and educators.

This week, I had the opportunity to not only be in the community with fellow Holmes Scholars but also to be an active contributor in pushing forth educational reform. Connecting with educational advocates and policymakers led me to think about what more needs to be done and ensure that future generations of students are being seen, heard, and validated.

Violence, Aggression Against Educators Grew Post-Pandemic

By Jim Sliwa

While threats and violence against PK-12 teachers and other school personnel in the United States declined during the pandemic after the restrictions were lifted, incidents rebounded to levels equal to or exceeding those prior to the pandemic, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

As a result, the percentage of teachers expressing intentions to resign or transfer rose from 49% during the pandemic to 57% afterward, the researchers found.

“Aggression and violence against educators and school personnel are major concerns that affect the well-being of school personnel and the students and families they serve. This study highlights a growing crisis in our schools that needs to be addressed nationally,” said lead author Susan Dvorak McMahon, Ph.D., of DePaul University, chair of the APA Task Force on Violence Against Educators and School Personnel. The task force conducted two surveys in collaboration with national education and related organizations. The results were published in the journal American Psychologist.

UToledo Educator Leads $2.3M Initiative to Keep High-Quality Science Teachers in Classrooms

By Nicki Gorny

Education can be a challenging vocation.

School districts often struggle to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, who cite job satisfaction and burnout as key reasons they leave the classroom.

Natasha Johnson, Ph.D., can relate to the challenges facing today’s teachers, with roughly two decades of classroom experience in metro Atlanta preceding her transition to The University of Toledo’s Judith Herb College of Education in 2020.

It is why she’s passionate about a $2.3 million initiative she’s heading to support sixth through 12th-grade science teachers in high-need districts in Ohio and Kentucky, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Scholarship Program.

Secretary Cardona Outlines Steps to Modernizing the Office of Federal Student Aid

By U.S. Department of Education

The following message was posted today on the Education Department’s Homeroom blog.

In a letter sent to all staff today, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona outlined comprehensive steps the Department is taking to improve Federal Student Aid (FSA) for students, families, borrowers, and schools. These efforts will ensure FSA works better and addresses ongoing management and operational challenges. Specifically, the Department is taking the following steps:

New Jersey Department of Ed. Awards Grants to Help Schools Improve Climate Change Instruction

By Michael Yaple

The New Jersey Department of Education today announced awards for two grant opportunities to help schools implement, improve, and expand climate-change instruction in the classroom.

The grants will approach climate-change instruction through two avenues:

• An interdisciplinary learning and community projects grant will provide funds directly to school districts to help them partner with local organizations or their municipality to establish Interdisciplinary Learning Units and Community Resilience Projects. These projects will help schools impact their community through projects such as planting rain gardens with plants that will ease flooding; growing food using aquaponics to combat food insecurity; restoring native plant species; and planting dune grass to restore and protect native habitats.
  
  
• The Climate Change Learning Collaboratives grant will fund programs in which colleges and universities will create Climate Change Learning Collaboratives to provide training to teachers on how to infuse climate change into the curriculum.

Q&A with AACTE Coaching’s Kandi Hill-Clarke

By AACTE

Kandi Hill-Clarke, Ed.D., is the former dean of the College of Education at the University of Memphis and currently serves as provost fellow for Faculty Affairs and Leadership Development. Hill-Clarke will facilitate the New Deans cohort, part of AACTE Coaching. In the following Q&A, AACTE asked Hill-Clarke for a preview of her cohort’s coursework and what members can expect from participating in this new AACTE-exclusive experience.

Who inspired you to become an educator?

From a young age, I was inspired to become a teacher by my mother, a retired educator who taught elementary school for 40 years. I vividly remember helping her decorate her educational bulletin boards, watching her grade papers, and sitting in on after-school conferences. At the age of six, I knew that I would become a classroom teacher. This realization set me on a path to turn my dream into a reality, beginning with “teaching” my imaginary students in my grandparents’ living room, with the dining room serving as the school’s cafeteria. Pursuing a career in teaching was a choice I made intentionally and strategically and a goal I am proud I accomplished. Teaching is deeply ingrained in me, and throughout my career in higher education, I have been fortunate to both teach and learn in new and different ways as an academic leader.

Deadline Extended: Call for Reviewers

By Altovise Davis

The deadline for AACTE’s Call for Reviewers for the 2025 Annual Meeting has been extended to June 14, 2024. The Association is seeking member-institution representatives to volunteer to represent AACTE’s principles in evaluating content for papers and presentations at the 2025 Annual Meeting.

We highly encourage candidates interested in reviewing Strand IV: Deepening the Impact of Education Research and Research to Practice and Strand V: Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to apply, as these strands receive the largest number of submissions.

Podcast Highlights Black and Brown Students’ Experiences During NYC Desegregation  

By Tyler Pointer

Theresa Canada, Ed.D., host of “The Silk Stocking Sisters Podcast”

Seventy years ago, the course of education in the United States changed forever with the historic passing of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark decision that determined that state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools were unlawful. 

AACTE member and researcher Theresa Canada, Ed.D.,  who received an education during the 1960s desegregation efforts in New York City, recounted this experience through the lens of her and six other Black and brown girls in a recent podcast series. 

Canada, a professor in the Education and Educational Psychology Department at Western Connecticut State University, and host of “The Silk Stocking Sisters Podcast,” was a student at P.S. 6, the Lillie Devereaux Blake School, (PS 6), which is nestled on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City and was one of the first schools in the city to launch desegregation efforts. Now documenting her memories of the school through the podcast, Canada explores the historical legacies of the shared experiences of PS 6 alumni and what it demonstrated for the desegregation movement in the northern United States. 

Deadline Extended to June 14 — Volunteer for an AACTE Programmatic Committee

By Tunara Moore

AACTE has extended the deadline to apply for a Programmatic Advisory Committee. This is a great chance to lend your talent and expertise to one of AACTE’s committees. Nominations are now due June 14, 2024. 

AACTE is seeking volunteers to serve on the following programmatic advisory committees: 

• Educator Diversity 
• Global Diversity 
• Government Relations and Advocacy 
• Holmes Program 
• Innovation and Technology 
• Meetings and Professional Development 
• Membership Outreach and Engagement 
• Research and Dissemination 

Teaching Asian American History in and Beyond May

By Lin Wu, Esther Kim, Sohyun An and Noreen Naseem Rodriguez

The following is a Q&A by Lin Wu, Ph.D., member of AACTE’s Global Diversity Programmatic Advisory Committee and assistant professor in the College of Education at Western Oregon University in reflection of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month and how teaching Asian American history extends beyond the classroom and timeframe designated to honor AANHPI history. Wu recently interviewed Noreen Naseem Rodríguez, Ph.D., assistant professor at Michigan State University’s College of Education, Sohyun An, Ph.D., professor at Kennesaw State University’s Bagwell College of Education, and Esther Kim, Ph.D., assistant professor at William & Mary School of Education, whose research in teaching Asian American history culminated in a collaboration spanning the course of a decade.

(Top) Noreen Naseem Rodríguez, Esther Kim (Bottom) Sohyun An, Lin Wu

Lin: What is your advice for teachers to strategically teach Asian American history, especially those who live in states with legislation that banned the teaching of historical truths?

All: It’s difficult to give one-size-fits-all advice for teaching no matter the topic, so this is even more complex when it comes to highly variable responses to teaching and learning about race and ethnicity. We have all taught pre- and in-service elementary educators in the U.S. South, so we deeply understand the complexity that many teachers face, in and beyond the South, because it’s important to remember that pushback to the teaching of race is happening across the country, not just in Florida and Texas.

Celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month at AACTE’s Webinar on Building Leadership Pathways for Asian/American and Other BIPOC Faculty.

By Nicole Dunn

As Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month comes to a close, we are excited to invite you to celebrate by joining us for a special webinar, Building Intentional Pathways for Asian/Americans and Other BIPOC Faculty to Advance in EPP Leadership, which takes place on Wednesday, May 29, at 12 p.m. EST.

This webinar is the culmination of AACTE’s Thought Leadership Series: “Exploring Leadership Diversity in Educator Preparation Programs: An Asian/American Perspective.”  Over the past months, Ed Prep Matters has published a series of articles authored by Nicholas Hartlep, Ph.D., and Rachel Endo, Ph.D., that lay the groundwork for the critical discussions we will have during the webinar. These articles provide a deep dive into various aspects of leadership diversity in educator preparation programs, each contributing a vital piece to the overall conversation.

Voices of Vision: AANHPI Leaders Shaping the Future of Educator Preparation

By Sohyun Meacham

During Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI), a deeply engaging dialogue unfolded at the University of Northern Iowa, featuring Holmes Scholars Tiffiany Evans and Nimisha Joshi, alongside their mentors, Shuaib “Meach” Meacham and Sohyun “Soh” Meacham. This discussion brought forth a comprehensive exploration of their experiences and insights into leadership within the realm of educator preparation, particularly from the perspective of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Tiffiany, whose leadership shines within her role at an elementary school library, took a significant step by inviting Soh as a guest speaker for AANHPI Heritage Month. This act of leadership highlighted her commitment to fostering a deeper understanding of AANHPI issues within her school community.