14 Aug2020
By Monika Jo
As K-12 student populations continue to diversify, it is essential for educator preparation programs to ensure teacher candidates possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to meet the needs of all learners. Mixed reality simulation is an effective tool to facilitate the development of culturally responsive and sustaining educators and to foster self-reflection. Through virtual simulations, instructor and peers provide critical feedback and observation of candidates’ performance via video.
Join AACTE and Mursion for the webinar, “Fostering Critical Self-Reflection: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners through Mixed Reality Simulation,” at 1:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, August 18. This session will detail the process used in a STEM methods course to engage candidates in addressing the needs of English language learners and provide examples of how candidate thinking and planning changed as a result. The presenters include:
13 Aug2020
By Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.
A June 2020 paper from the National Center for Education and the Economy offers interesting insights about how countries with top-performing K-12 education systems have responded to the wholesale move to distance education. In addition to summarizing what countries have done, the paper includes many examples of specific initiatives with links for additional information. Among the findings:
- Several countries affected by the SARS epidemic had emergency distance plans in place that they were able to activate when the pandemic struck. These plans included training for teachers on distance education and creation of repositories of materials for online learning linked to the jurisdictions’ curricula.
- Even countries not impacted by prior pandemics have made investments in creating support networks for educators that provided teachers with access to expert advice and support for teaching online.
- Because many top-performing countries had already invested in creating online repositories of teaching and learning materials, they were able to quickly develop guidance and supports for teachers when schools had to move online.
- Several countries leveraged expert teachers to create lesson materials for their online repositories and to provide support to less experienced teachers.
- As other countries have begun to re-open, they have prioritized in-person access for students with special needs and for students who have particularly struggled with online learning, relying primarily on the professional judgment of teachers to identify those students.
13 Aug2020
By Bev Makhani
Washington State University’s Office of Academic Engagement (OAE) was notified by the U.S. Dept. of Education that it is awarding three student support services grants to benefit veterans, STEM students, and future teachers at the university.
OAE Executive Director Michael Highfill said the grants—totaling over $4 million—will each serve between 120 and 140 low-income and first-generation students annually.
“We are pleased with this federal investment in WSU and our successful efforts to serve students through ambitious and innovative programming,” said Mary F. Wack, vice provost for academic engagement and student achievement. She leads the university division of the same name—which uses the acronym Division of Academic Engagement and Student Achievement (DAESA) and is part of the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President.
13 Aug2020
By Linda Minor
The deadline for the AACTE 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award is quickly approaching. Have you or someone you know recently completed a prize-worthy doctoral dissertation related to educator preparation? If so, applications are being accepted through our online submission system until August 21.
This award recognizes excellence in doctoral dissertation research (or its equivalent) that contributes to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. Overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, this award includes a $1,000 cash prize, as well as special recognition at AACTE’s 73rd Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA, February 26 – 28, 2021.
12 Aug2020
By Jerrica Thurman
Take advantage of discounted rates for the virtual AACTE 2020 Washington Week! Join AACTE’s efforts to advocate for the funding and support colleges of education need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your voice matters now more than ever, and this year’s reduced rates allow your colleagues and students to participate in the political action as well.
Here’s what past attendees had to say about the value Washington Week offers:
“I’m excited that it’s time for Washington Week again! Last year was my first experience, and I loved every minute of it. [Activities included] learning the ins and outs of how to advocate, practicing advocacy skills, and visiting the House of Representatives [as well as] discussing mental health initiatives in schools, teacher shortages, and low wages for educators. It’s an awesome experience, one that I’ll never forget. Get excited for a great time you won’t regret!” − Danna Demezier, Florida Atlantic University
“In the past, I have attended three Washington Weeks. It was amazing! I had the opportunity to share my concerns as a former educator, teacher educator, and a constituent. Nothing compares to running around Washington with Deans and meeting staffers or legislators in Congress.” − Azaria Cunningham, Penn State University
“I attended the State Leaders Institute my first year as state chapter president. The networking and valuable information obtained from experts changed the way we did business in our state chapter. Our state chapter has grown because of SLI. It is the best professional development opportunity for state chapter leaders. It should not be missed.” − Mary Murray, Bowling Green State University
11 Aug2020
By Robert Floden
The Michigan State University (MSU) College of Education has served as editorial home of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) for almost six years. With the editorship have come benefits, both to the editorial leaders and to our college. To handle the large number of manuscripts that come to JTE each year, we recruited a team, with four faculty co-editors (all at MSU), a half-dozen or so faculty associate editors (some at MSU, some at other institutions), and a part-time staff member as managing editor. We also had a rotating annual appointment of a junior faculty member as assistant editor, and two part-time graduate assistants.
As a part of the editorial team, faculty members contributed to scholarship on teacher education by making decisions and providing guidance to authors, both of which ensured that the publications in JTE were substantial contributions to the field, using high quality scholarship to address important issues. Editorial team members also had opportunities to participate in writing the editorials included in each issues—editorials that were then frequently cited by other scholars.
11 Aug2020
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
This year’s Capital Hill visits during Washington Week will feature AACTE’s DEI Handbook, which will include your strategies to elevate diversity, equity, and inclusion within your institutions.
What might those strategies look like? We are glad you asked! While DEI may be a broad concept, we are most interested in learning about how you are supporting the recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color on your campus. We also want to know how you are supporting your faculty and staff to become culturally competent in their teaching, research, and in their community engagement.
Why should you submit your strategies? You are shaping the field! Your practices matter to your colleagues, to your peer institutions, and importantly to your Congressional leaders:
- AACTE members want to learn from you.
- Your peers want to develop their own strategies and build off of your models.
- Your Congressional leaders need the evidence of your strategies to advocate for increased funding.
07 Aug2020
By Jackson Holtz
The University of Washington today announced a $6 million anonymous gift earmarked to bolster diversity in the education workforce, a key driver in ultimate K-12 student success, especially for students of color.
The gift will expand financial support for and recruitment of teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds, including candidates of color and those who are multilingual. In addition, the gift provides professional learning and supports to enhance retention in the teaching workforce, and evaluation and dissemination of the key learnings to aid efforts across the nation to boost the racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity of teachers entering the profession.
“This extraordinary and generous donation will help to develop a more diverse and representative educational workforce,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “We are deeply grateful for this forward-looking gift that will do so much to benefit students, especially multilingual students and students of color, as well as the students they go on to teach and mentor as educators.”
07 Aug2020
By John Henning and Stacey Leftwich
The theme of the Third Annual New Jersey Convening on Diversifying the Teacher Workforce is “Leadership for Diversity: Creating Culturally Responsive Recruitment, Instructional Practice and Retention Strategies.”
The New Jersey Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Convening, co-sponsored by Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, New Jersey Department of Education, and the New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is intended to address the serious need to increase the diversity of the New Jersey teaching population and increase culturally responsive practices in the state. This meeting is designed to engage stakeholders and constituents in New Jersey in considering the barriers and supports to diversifying the teacher workforce to increase our numbers of culturally responsive practitioners and to develop culturally responsive practices among New Jersey’s educators. This convening will also provide opportunities for participants to learn about promising and successful efforts to increase teacher diversity in New Jersey and for growing and sustaining culturally responsive educators.
07 Aug2020
By Weade James
AACTE in collaboration with the Holmes Scholars Council is offering a Virtual Writing Session to help provide a community of support for students’ personal and professional writing and publishing endeavors. Participants of the event will learn about strategies and tools for effective writing from guest speakers Andrew Daire, dean of the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Diandra Prescod, associate professor of counselor education and counseling psychology at University of Connecticut.
Along with a designated space for both collaborative and individual writing, participants will also have the opportunity to work with writing coaches in pre-scheduled one-on-one coaching sessions to enhance research and scholarly productivity. Students will receive constructive writing feedback from faculty members at Boston University, University of Central Florida, DePaul University, and Florida Atlantic University. The goal for this event is to ensure that Holmes Scholars have a supportive space to focus on their writing goals and academic endeavors during this unprecedented and difficult period.
Events will occur on Saturday, August 15 and 22 from 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Interested scholars are encouraged to register and sign-up for a one-on-one coaching session in advance.
07 Aug2020
By Ejana Bennett
The Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) School of Education is sponsoring a two-day research and mentorship summit on August 13 and 14 designed for historically underrepresented schools and colleges of education Ph.D. student, as well as M.Ed. students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. The summit will offer resources and professional development to facilitate students’ success as doctoral students who will be positioned for tenure track faculty positions. Students will have opportunities to discuss and better develop their research and scholarship interests and skills, learn strategies for success, and network with other underrepresented minority graduate students and faculty.
Register in advance for the virtual (via Zoom) VCU Fall 2020 Research and Mentorship Summit.
07 Aug2020
By Linda Minor
Registration is now open for AACTE’s virtual 2020 Washington Week! Connect with peers from across the country for the premier national advocacy event for educator preparation. Take advantage of the reduced event rates and encourage your colleagues and students to join policy leaders in impacting our profession.
Registration rates are as follows:
| |
Member |
Non-Member |
Scholar |
Student |
| Holmes Advanced Policy Course: September 2-3 |
|
|
$25 |
|
| Holmes Policy Institute: September 8-10 |
|
|
$25 |
$25 |
| Day on the Hill: September 9-10 and 15-16 |
$199 |
$299 |
$25 |
$25 |
| State Leaders Institute: September 22-23 |
$279 |
$369 |
|
|
Register for AACTE’s Washington Week today! Learn more about the affordable rates and other event details at www.aacte.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation using #AACTEWW20.
Do you have questions or need assistance? Please email events@aacte.org.
04 Aug2020
By Nicole Dunn
Higher education and PK-12 school systems around the country continue to persevere through the pandemic while the policies that structure the new school year continue to change day-to-day. Since the onset of COVID-19, our partners have observed how the pandemic has affected teacher and leadership preparation programs and are excited to share lessons learned. This August, join us for a “Back to School” webinar series with three of our strategic partners: EdPrepLab an initiative of the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and Bank Street Graduate School of Education, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools (ATLAS) group. In each, we will discuss how to apply what was learned this past spring to the upcoming academic year within higher educator preparation programs.
03 Aug2020
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE Board members Kimberly White-Smith, Stephanie Knight, and John Blackwell met with me to discuss the importance of collaboration during times of crises. In the videos, White-Smith, Knight, and Blackwell shared the following:
“Academic justice is of critical importance right now. And that is our contribution to the change that is happening. As educators, we have the ability to work with our communities to provide education to our in-service and pre-service teachers so they come out of this experience better prepared,” said Kimberly White-Smith, dean of the University of La Verne’s LaFetra College of Education. “We know that many of our families are experiencing trauma right now due to illness with COVID or have experienced other sort of trauma as a result of anti-blackness, or racist ideologies or policies in our community. We can better support our communities, our students, and develop educators who can address those concerns head-on.” White-Smith is the intellectual force behind a number of scholarly endeavors that foster academic justice for traditionally underserved students through enhanced educational environments, policies, and teaching strategies.
03 Aug2020
By AACTE
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone issued the following statement today regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s guidance that forces colleges and universities to reopen with in-person classes:
“AACTE is appalled by efforts to deny international students from attending U.S. colleges and universities on the basis of enrollment in online versus in-person classes. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s position prohibits new or initial students on foreign visas after March 9 from entering the country and enrolling in fully online courses, thus forcing them to take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction this fall. This policy is both harmful to the health, safety, and overall well-being of the students and detrimental to their educational trajectories. Additionally, this action exacerbates the complex challenges institutions of higher education already face during this unprecedented time.
