25 Jun2024
By Parastoo Nikravesh
This article was originally published on Stephen F. Austin State University’s website and is reprinted with permission.
Nine students in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Education Studies traveled to Washington, D.C., in early June to learn firsthand what it felt like to advocate for their future professions to the U.S. Congress during AACTE’s Washington Week.
Students attending the AACTE’s legislative conference engage in advocacy training and learn about the legislative process for public education. Walking the hallowed halls in which our nation’s representatives decide how best to guide our democracy, they also meet with U.S. representatives, senators, and their staffers, and tour historical sites across Washington.
18 Jun2024
By Martin Walls
This article was originally published on Syracuse University’s website.
An anonymous benefactor has given $150,000 to the Syracuse University School of Education to provide scholarships for Native American students preparing to become inclusive education teachers. The School of Education Indigenous Teacher Preparation Fund will provide scholarships to at least seven undergraduate students in its first cohort, which will matriculate by the 2026-2027 academic year.
The scholarship will pay for a maximum of 30% of an individual student’s tuition. A portion of the fund will provide support for special programming and academic opportunities for Native American teacher preparation students, such as undergraduate research, conference attendance, or study away opportunities within the US.
11 Jun2024
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.”
11 Jun2024
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.
03 Jun2024
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.
20 May2024
By Sacred Heart University
Four Sacred Heart University students and one alum from SHU’s doctor of education in educational leadership program presented their dissertation research during the preconference portion of this year’s AACTE 2024 Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.
Tanya Collins ’25 gave a round table presentation about the impact of summer programs on the academic achievements and self-efficacy of students of color. “Receiving critical and constructive feedback from peers about my dissertation proposal was significant,” said Collins, assistant principal and director of human resources at the Interdistrict School for Arts & Communication in New London.
Collins and the other SHU participants are scholars associated with the AACTE’s Holmes Program, which supports racially or ethnically diverse students enrolled in doctoral programs in education. SHU’s Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development (FCEHD) is one of more than 50 AACTE member institutions that sponsor the Holmes Program, which offers networking, mentorships, and the opportunity to present research at the annual AACTE meeting.
02 May2024
By Anne Tapp Jaksa
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education continues to reshape teaching and learning landscapes. Our commitment to understanding this transformation is exemplified through our ongoing research, focused on the perceptions and experiences of PK-12 and post-secondary educators with AI tools. As AI’s influence grows, it is crucial to gather and analyze insights from those at the forefront of educational innovation — our pre-service and in-service educators and school administrators.
In a recent study, a majority of educational stakeholders expressed favorable views toward AI tools (Impact Research, 2023b). Yet, detailed understanding of how these tools are being utilized and their impacts remains limited. Surveys tailored to capture the nuanced experiences and perceptions of undergraduate and graduate students within educator preparation programs (EPPs) will explore these dynamics further, providing a comparative analysis with high school students’ AI engagement (Schiel, Bobek, & Schnieders, 2023).
16 Apr2024
By Megan Simpson and Payton Baggett
The immersive capabilities of virtual reality — once thought to be just for gamers — are making their way into classrooms nationwide. Thanks to a generous gift from Furniture Connection, these technological innovations are now available for college students at Austin Peay State University (APSU).
University officials ushered in a new era in teacher preparation with the grand opening of the Furniture Connection EdTech Studio on March 11. This state-of-the-art space, located within the Eriksson College of Education, represents a leap forward in equipping aspiring educators with the latest educational technologies and immersive learning experiences.
The Furniture Connection EdTech Studio is a comprehensive learning hub that allows pre-service teachers to gain hands-on experience using virtual reality (VR) headsets, 3D printers, LEGO® Education sets, robotics, coding devices, and other cutting-edge tools.
15 Apr2024
By Laurel White
The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education has announced a $2 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to measure the process and outcomes of equity-centered leadership in schools.
The funding will support the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning–Mapping Equity Indicators (CALL-MEI) project, co-led by UW-Madison Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis professors Rich Halverson and Christopher Saldaña and Columbia University Teachers College professor Alex Bowers. The two-year project aims to develop new equity indicators, evidence models, and data tools. To that end, researchers will work with eight school districts across the country and identify public datasets that can serve as evidence for equity indicators and develop visualization tools for district and school leaders to track the progress of equity-related leadership efforts.
08 Apr2024
By Elena Armstrong
Currently in her third year of teaching first grade at Cotter Schools, Jessica Houghton can clearly see the influence Winona State University’s Education Village had on her teaching career.
The state-of-the-art mini-campus for the College of Education was finished in 2019 and included renovations to Helble Hall, Wabasha Recreation Center, and Cathedral Elementary School to create modernized classrooms and innovative spaces. Education Village is celebrating its five-year anniversary this April with an open house and community activities.
Houghton was in her senior year when Education Village opened. She got to see first-hand the impact it had on her schooling, peers, and learning environment.
01 Apr2024
By Ryan Clancy
On NC State University’s sixth Day of Giving, March 20, 2024, donors made 992 gifts to the College of Education, the most gifts the college has ever received on the day. Additionally, for the third year in a row, the college won the Faculty and Staff Giving Challenge.
The gifts will go toward benefiting students and ensuring they are prepared to become extraordinary educators by creating and expanding scholarships, funding high-impact student experiences and equity initiatives, and fostering educational innovation.
“Thanks to donor support on Day of Giving, more students will pursue their dream of becoming educators, more students will deepen their education through high-impact experiences and the College of Education will expand its reputation as the college that prepares North Carolina’s best educators,” said Matt Friedrick, the college’s executive director of development.
11 Mar2024
By Savannah Peat
If you ever needed a perfect example of how the University of New Mexico directly feeds into the community, you don’t need to look further than the College of Education and Human Sciences (COEHS).
The new Restorative Practice Partnership between COEHS, the District Teacher Residency Program (DTRP), and Garfield Middle School is creating a fundamental pipeline of restorative practices from children, to future teachers, and to the classroom.
“Our partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) is underscored by experiences like this for our Teacher Residents,” DTRP Director and COEHS Professor Marjori Krebs said. “By providing opportunities for our future teachers and future principals to learn the power of Restorative Practices from the Garfield Middle School students and teachers provides them with an excellent foundation for leading their own classrooms and schools.”
11 Mar2024
By Hadlee Rinn
A group of teacher educators from the College of Education and Human Services and College of Science and Engineering at Central Michigan University (CMU) received a grant from the National Science Foundation to help college students become familiar with the core teaching practices, which are ideas or actions teachers follow to support learning. Additionally, the core teaching practices are demonstrated to have the greatest impact on student learning and were adopted by the Michigan Department of Education several years ago.
“We chose to focus on [the core practices of] building respectful relationships with students and modeling and explaining content. […] I would argue these are two of the more important teaching practices [because] if you’re going to teach students and have them learn effectively, you need to have a good relationship with them,” Kevin Cunningham, Ph.D, the lead principal investigator on the project said. “The ability to take what is challenging content and make that clear and intelligible to students [is important].”
26 Feb2024
By Shannon G. Magsam
Nursing, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapy students in the College of Education and Health Professions recently had the unique opportunity to work with children who have hearing loss at SPARK Day.
The college collaborated with the non-profit Arkansas Hands and Voices, which supports parents and professionals who work with children with hearing loss regardless of their communication approach.
SPARK — an acronym for Student Preparation to Care for ARkansas Kids — was partially funded through a WE CARE grant. The college’s future caring professionals gained clinical experience with this specialty population, a requirement of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for professional certification. The day also provided clinical training opportunities for those studying to be occupational therapists and nurses.
26 Feb2024
By Megan Simpson
The power of partnerships is more than a talking point for Prentice Chandler, Ph.D., dean of the Eriksson College of Education at Austin Peay State University. These partnerships are elevated, celebrated, and taken seriously, and this attitude was fully apparent as the College of Education hosted its semiannual Partnership Advisory Council Meeting on February 15.
“These two meetings that we have each year are some of the most important work in the college,” Chandler said. “We can do just about anything if we work together.”
University-district partnerships are essential and have resulted in some of the college’s nationally recognized programs, including the Grow Your Own Teacher Residency. The Partnership Advisory Council is a collaborative effort that brings together Austin Peay faculty and staff with school district leaders and stakeholders from across Tennessee. These meetings allow the college to share updates on its programs and initiatives and gather feedback from partners to help guide improvements.
