Apply Now: AERA-GSU Conference on Professional Development Schools Research

By Rebecca West Burns

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) Professional Development School Research Special Interest Group (SIG) in partnership with Georgia State University (GSU) has received a Research Conference Grant Award from AERA. The purpose of the grant award is to support a three-day conference in September of 2021 on advancing PDS research and creating a collaborative national research agenda. Researchers, scholars, scholar-practitioners and doctoral students from different regions of the country, representing diverse perspectives, and varied domains of inquiry will be invited to present their visions, views, theories, research and research approaches. The conference will be in-person at GSU and remote for a number of individuals starting on Friday, September 17 through Sunday, September 19.

Developing Urban Teacher Leaders Together: The Mort Teacher Leader Academy

By Debbie Mills, Diane Yendol-Hoppey, Rebecca West Burns and Woodland Johnson

The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Teacher education is entering an exciting era. Scholars and practitioners alike are calling for teachers to be educated differently (AACTE, 2010; CCSSO, 2015; NCATE, 2010), which means that the way we prepare teachers and the way we support teachers’ ongoing professional development must change. In lieu of one-size-fits-all, “sit and get” training sessions, teachers’ professional development must be ongoing, differentiated, sustained, and rooted in issues that they face on a daily basis. Such is the experience for the teachers of Mort Elementary School in Hillsborough County Public Schools (the 8th largest school district in the United States) who participate in the Mort Teacher Leader Academy (MTLA).