09 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
Former AACTE Board member Dale Paul Scannell died at the age of 90 on February 14 at Abington Hospital near his home in Flourtown, PA. Dr. Scannell made many contributions to the field of education preparation, including the development of the country‘s first integrated five-year program in education at the University of Kansas in 1981. He received the AACTE Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education in 1989.
Dr. Scannell earned his B.A., Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa. Rising quickly in the education field, he was appointed dean of Education at the University of Kansas in 1969 and continued in that role for 16 years. He then served for six years as dean of education at the University of Maryland in College Park, followed by posts at the University of South Carolina and at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). Throughout his tenure, he mentored many faculty, both men and women, and he created a special program at the University of Maryland to encourage women to enter administrative roles in the College of Education. He ended his professional career at age 70 after serving for 10 years as a consultant to the United Arab Emirates University, College of Education.
06 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE Board member Robert E. Floden is one of 12 prominent scholars selected as a 2020 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow. AERA Fellows are selected based on their notable and sustained research achievements. Floden, along with the other 2020 Fellows, will be inducted on April 18 during the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
Floden is dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University and a University Distinguished Professor of teacher education. He serves as co-editor of the Journal of Teacher Education, the official journal of AACTE. During its meeting last month, AACTE Board members elected Floden as the chair-elect and a member of the Executive Committee. He will begin his term as AACTE chair in 2021.
“We are delighted to honor these scholars for their contributions to education research and their dedication to the field,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “AERA Fellows exemplify the highest standards of excellence through accomplishment, professionalism, and commitment. We welcome the class of 2020 to these prestigious ranks.”
AERA is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. The 2020 Fellows were nominated by their peers, selected by the Fellows Committee, and approved by the AERA Council, the association’s elected governing body. They join 665 current AERA Fellows.
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE says “thank you” to the AACTE members, partners, and supporters who attended the 2020 Annual Meeting in Atlanta February 28-March 1! Your presence was vital to exploring this our theme, “Disrupting Inequities: Educating for Change” during AACTE’s 72nd national conference.
Over the coming weeks, Ed Prep Matters will offer you a range of Annual Meeting coverage. Meanwhile, take a moment to view (and share!) conference photos and conversations on the AACTE Twitter feed using #AACTE20, and enjoy the following recap videos:
Highlights – Friday February 28
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
During the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting attendees went viral on Twitter using #AACTE20—tweeting, retweeting, and, liking posts over the 3 days in Atlanta! From presenters, to Holmes Scholars, to session attendees, hundreds of contributors shared photos of event activities. Thanks to the flurry of social media activity, close to 1,000 conversations took place on Twitter while participants were “Disrupting Inequities: Educating for change.”
Check out a selection of posts below. To see the full volume of tweets, visit us on Twitter at #AACTE20.
03 Mar2020
By Katrina Norfleet
Holmes Program Scholars Monique Matute-Chavarria, Claudine McLaren Turner, and Ayan Mitra are the first, second, and third place winners, respectively, in the 2020 Holmes Scholars Dissertation Funding Competition (DFC). The competition was held during the Holmes Preconference at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
The DFC is a 10-minute session open to doctoral candidates to present their anticipated dissertation at the “pre-data collection” stage in a creative and compelling way. The first place awardee receives $3,000, the second place winner receives $1,250, and the third place winner receives $750 to support the finalists’ dissertation research proposal related expenses.
13 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) recently updated its Supporting Inclusive Schools for the Success of Each Child: A Guide for States on Principal Leadership guide. Developed in collaboration with AACTE and other education partners, this online guide strengthens principals’ capacity to lead inclusive schools to ensure each student has an equitable opportunity to succeed. The updates include additional resources and a new policy to practice section, showcasing the work of the four states—Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio—involved in CCSSO’s Advancing Inclusive Principal Leadership (AIPL) State Initiative, of which AACTE is also a partner. The four states are refining their school leader preparation and development efforts to ensure there is a focus on supporting the academic and social and emotional success of each learner, with an emphasis on those with disabilities.
10 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE is delighted to announce Indiana University School of Education as the recipient of the 2020 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives for its K-16 Global Education Initiatives across Indiana program. Vesna Dimitrieska, coordinator, Global Education Initiatives at Indiana University School of Education and Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, will be recognized formally with the award at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting, February 28 – March 1, in Atlanta, GA.
The uniqueness of Indiana University’s program lies in its structure as a joint program between its School of Education and its Hamilton Lugar School (HLS) of Global and International Studies, working collaboratively to create globally competent teachers. Hosted at the School of Education, the program ensures graduates enter the workforce with deep global knowledge and “strong fluency in the regional cultures, languages, and perspectives shaping our world.” By combining the resources that are available from the two schools, the program is providing equitable access to urban, suburban, and rural parts of Indiana and initiating, maintaining, and expanding partnerships with educators in schools from 18 different counties across the state.
10 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE is delighted to announce the selection of the nine authors of the book, Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education, as winners of the 2020 AACTE Outstanding Book Award. They will be recognized formally with the award at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting, February 28 – March 1, in Atlanta, GA.
The book, published by Teachers College Press in 2018, provides the field of teacher education with a paradigm-shifting take on accountability, an issue that is central to the theory, policy, and practice of teacher education. The book’s insights and arguments are supported by rigorous scholarship regarding the historical, sociopolitical, and policy contexts of teacher education accountability. The authors created an eight-dimensional framework to critically examine the current dominant accountability paradigm, to deconstruct four influential accountability initiatives, and finally, to envision a new paradigm of democratic accountability.
“Their framework is powerful as a tool used not only for critique, but also for providing a structure for envisioning an entirely different accountability paradigm—one that values democracy, equity, professional responsibility, and deliberative and critical democratic education,” said Tamara Lucas, Dean of the College of Education and Human Services, Montclair State University.
10 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE is delighted to announce the Salisbury University School of Education as the recipient of the 2020 AACTE Best Practice Award for Innovative Use of Technology for integrating maker education throughout its educator preparation program. Diallo Sessoms, associate professor, Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education, Salisbury University, will be recognized formally with the award at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting, February 28 – March 1, in Atlanta, GA.
Salisbury University is pioneering the idea of “classrooms” as makerspaces, which will push future educators to inspire their students to be makers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. The official makerspace, a physical space for faculty and students to generate visceral experiences, opened in fall 2018. Both faculty and students are learning to infuse the maker mindset into their teaching philosophies by applying a combination of programming, design thinking, 3D modeling, and physical computing experiences. While the university’s educator preparation program has a stand-alone technology course, it is also emphasizing the integration of concepts across all instructional methods courses. To build capacity for in-service educators, the School of Education is also offering professional development in invention literacy for practicing teachers to increase play-based learning and makerspace access.
10 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE is delighted to announce Manhattanville College’s School of Education (SOE) in Purchase, N.Y. as the recipient of the 2020 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity for its Changing Suburbs Institute® (CSI) program. Shelley Wepner, dean and professor, Manhattanville College of Education, will be recognized formally with the award at the AACTE 72nd Annual Meeting, February 28 – March 1, in Atlanta, GA.
CSI is a grassroots, school-university-community collaborative that was established in recognition of the increasing diversity in suburban school districts and to ensure that practicing and prospective teachers are prepared to teach an increasingly diverse student population. Now in its fourteenth year, CSI focuses on four major areas: teacher leadership/development, collaboration, dissemination of information, and parent education. To address teacher leadership/development, CSI has established Professional Development Schools (PDS) in 16 schools across eight districts in Westchester County. Each PDS has a Leadership Team comprised of a faculty liaison, teachers, and school administrators.
04 Feb2020
AACTE DEI Video: Building the Special Education Pipeline
By Katrina Norfleet
Ed Prep Matters features the “Revolutionizing Education” column to spotlight the many ways AACTE, member institutions, and partners are pioneering leading-edge research, models, strategies and programs that focus on the three core values outlined in the current AACTE strategic plan: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Quality and impact; and Inquiry and Innovation.
In the next segment of the AACTE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion video series, AACTE members address the critical shortage of special education teachers and how to ensure teachers can effectively serve students with disabilities. The video aligns with AACTE’s strategic priority to advocate for high-quality educator preparation and the inclusion of all students in equitable access and opportunity in PK-20 classrooms. In this DEI video, Building the Special Education Pipeline, leaders in educator preparation consider approaches to increasing the pool of highly qualified special education teachers.
30 Jan2020
By Katrina Norfleet
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) have announced the four finalists for the 2020 National Teacher of the Year, all of whom are graduates of AACTE member institutions:
Chris Dier, 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, obtained a master of arts in teaching and a master of arts in educational administration from the University of New Orleans. While a Hollyhock Fellow at Stanford University, a program that brings educators together to create more inclusive classrooms, he developed an equity project to legitimize student language. A 10-year teaching veteran, Dier currently teaches world history and AP human geography at Chalmette High where he engages students by bringing aspects of their identity and culture to the forefront of their education. Learn more.
Leila Kubesch, the 2020 Ohio Teacher of the Year, teaches Spanish and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at a high-need middle school. To help empower all youth, she fosters community partnerships, writes grants for innovative learning, and instills a mindset of dreaming big through large-scale service-learning projects. The work of her
16 Jan2020
By Katrina Norfleet
In an article that originally appeared in Special Ed Connection, author Kara Arundel spotlights AACTE’s collaboration with the CEEDAR Center in launching the Reducing the Shortage of Special Education Teachers Networked Improvement Community (NIC). As part of the NIC initiative, 10 preparation programs in higher education have been selected to participate in this NIC and implement a range of strategies that will positively impact the special education teacher shortage by the Fall of 2022.
Cleveland State University (CSU) is one of the universities featured in the article, along with its Associate Dean for Faculty and External Affairs Tachelle Banks. AACTE’s Caitlin Wilson commented on how CSU and the nine other institutions will help find solutions to the nationwide teacher shortage. “By better understanding what works in particular context and comparing how it is similar or different at another university helps us to learn and share with the filed how that particular strategy or promising practice might be adapted depending on local conditions,” said Wilson, the director of program improvement and practice.
Read the full article, “Network of Universities Collaborate to Solve Special Educator Shortages.“
16 Jan2020
By Katrina Norfleet
The School Superintendents Association (AASA) announce the four finalists for the 2020 National Superintendent of the Year,® a distinction that honors school system leaders throughout the country for making a positive difference in the lives of the students they serve. The four finalists for the 2020 National Superintendent of the Year® are:
- Gustavo Balderas, Eugene School District 4J, Eugene, Ore.
- Samantha Fuhrey, Newton County School System, Covington, Ga.
- Michael Nagler, Mineola Public Schools, Mineola, N.Y.
- Jeffery Smith, Hampton City Schools, Hampton, Va.
14 Jan2020
By Katrina Norfleet
AACTE kicks off its countdown today to the advance registration deadline for AACTE’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA. Only 10 days are left to take advantage of discounted rates. As the largest gathering of educator preparation professionals in the nation, AACTE’s Annual Meeting offers you access to essential tools to drive change at your institution, in your community, and for the profession.
Here are 10 reasons to attend #AACTE20:
- Join the conversation and tackle important issues in education today with a diverse set of peers.
- Get motivated by inspiring speakers and gain fresh perspectives.
- Tailor your learning experience by choosing among hundreds of sessions that cover a broad variety of topics.
- Discover new ideas that can make you more effective with your students, colleagues, and partners.
- Engage with attendees, form new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Bring a colleague to share in the learning!
- Build new alliances, business ventures, and partnerships to advance your work.
- Take part in hands on demonstrations of new products, and discuss solutions to your specific needs with exhibitors and sponsors.
- Step outside your comfort zone and open your mind to innovation.
- Achieve greater focus on the problems of practice to help you take your programs to the next level.
- Experience the energy of different perspectives uniting around common goals. Add your voice to the mix!
View the full lineup of the keynote speakers, schedule and preconference events on our website. To see the full list of sessions and create your personal schedule, log in to the Online Event Planner.
The January 24 advance registration deadline is quickly approaching! Act now to get the best rates.
