24 Jan2019
By Katrina Norfleet
Today, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced four educators with diverse teaching styles and who teach different subjects as finalists for the 2019 National Teacher of the Year:
 Donna Gradel, the 2019 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, is a high school science teacher who empowers her students to discover ways they can improve their local environment, including helping their city to develop and implement sustainable solutions to improve the water quality and natural habitats of the city’s waterways. Learn more. |
 Kelly Harper, the 2019 District of Columbia Teacher of the Year, is a 3rd grade teacher who leads her students to work on advocacy projects throughout the year, even going so far as meeting with members of Congress in the U.S. Capitol Building. Learn more. |
 Danielle Riha, the 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year, is a middle school teacher who has learned from Yup’ik Elders how to incorporate indigenous knowledge that she applies in a culturally infused curriculum with her students at the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School, which she helped open to increase opportunities for students to connect to their identity and community. Learn more. |
 Rodney Robinson, the 2019 Virginia Teacher of the Year, who teaches social studies in a juvenile detention facility, creates a positive school culture by empowering his students— many of whom have experienced trauma—to become civically-minded social advocates who use their skills and voices to affect physical and policy changes at their school. Learn more. |
21 Jan2019
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE kicks off its countdown today to the advance registration deadline for AACTE’s 71st Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY. Only 7 days are left to take advantage of discounted rates. As the premier educator preparation conference in the nation, AACTE’s Annual Meeting provides you access to tools to drive change at your institution, in your community, and for the profession.
Here are 10 reasons why you should plan now to attend:
- Shake up your routine by tackling important issues in education today and sharpen your skills with a different set of peers.
- Hear from inspiring speakers and get motivated with fresh perspectives.
- Customize your learning experience by choosing among hundreds of sessions that cover a broad variety of topics.
- Share your experiences and get new ideas that can make you more effective with your students, colleagues, and partners.
- Mix and mingle to form new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Bring a partner to share in the learning!
- Create new alliances, business ventures, and partnerships to advance your work.
- Get hands-on demonstrations of new products, and discuss solutions to your local needs with exhibitors and sponsors.
- Step out of your comfort zone and open your mind to innovation.
- Gain greater focus on the problems of practice to help you take your programs to the next level.
- Feel the energy of diverse perspectives uniting around common goals. Add your voice to the mix!
Don’t be left out of the largest annual gathering of educator preparation professionals! The January 28 advance registration deadline for the AACTE’s 71st Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY, February 22-24, is quickly approaching! Act now to get the best rates.
Read the full lineup of the keynote speakers, schedule and preconference events on our website. To view the full list of sessions and create your personal schedule, log in to the Online Event Planner. Secure your spot today!
17 Jan2019
By Matthew Wales
In just over a month from now, approximately 2,000 educator preparation scholars, practitioners, and strategic partners will meet in Louisville, KY for AACTE’s 71st Annual Meeting. Over the course of three days, more than 250 sessions will take place, with content designed to engage students, early career professionals, and seasoned experts alike. With so much content being presented, you will want to prepare your schedule in advance to maximize your time at the meeting. Be sure to visit the AACTE Event Planner, where you can search the Annual Meeting offerings by keywords, topics, conference strands, and other fields to locate sessions of interest and create a personalized itinerary.
One place you won’t want to miss is the Conference Community Center. Located on the second floor of the Omni Louisville, the center is not only the place for you to connect with colleagues in a dynamic, engaging environment, but is also where you can find the official Registration area for the Annual Meeting. Conveniently situated in the Second Floor Foyer, adjacent to many of AACTE’s Learning Labs, the center offers you a place to take a break and network, while also engaging with our Annual Meeting sponsors:
17 Jan2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
AACTE is collaborating with the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to present the free webinar, An Intentional Focus on Mitigating Risks Across the Continuum. The webinar will take place on Thursday, January 24, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. EST. Advanced registration is required to participate.
The profession of education is highly complex, with educators having to make multiple decisions in their daily work. Competing tensions and greatly nuanced variables that are inherent in this field can add to the vulnerabilities and risks that educators must navigate, especially when it comes to professional decision making.
16 Jan2019
By Caitlin Wilson
In December, the Wallace Foundation hosted a livestreamed discussion on Improving Principal Preparation Programs as the culmination of a two-day event for members of its University Principal Preparation Initiative Professional Learning Community (UPPI PLC). This initiative focuses on redesigning university principal preparation programs at seven universities in an effort to resolve the disconnect between what was happening in the universities to prepare educational leaders and the real-world demands of the job. The panel discussion highlighted the experiences of one UPPI university, Florida Atlantic University, and their district partners.
During this engaging discussion, panelists highlighted the importance of maintaining routines of collaboration so partnerships can advance and how those partnerships played a key role in the success of realigning the experience for educational leaders moving from preparation to school leadership roles. “Relationships and having the right people on the bus makes the difference,” said Ted Toomer of Broward County Schools. Panelists also spoke about the importance of tracking systems to better learn from the data to improve programs and cited that superintendent support for the work is critical.
16 Jan2019
By Sara McAlister
This article and photo originally appeared on the University of Mississippi Ole Miss News website and is reprinted with permission.
Meet Ava and Dev. They are in middle school. Ava is quick-thinking and decisive and likes to be challenged with new ideas and concepts. Dev is a rule-follower who is self-driven with high standards.
Ava and Dev are not your average students. In fact, they are not even real students at all. They are avatars in a virtual classroom at the University of Mississippi School of Education, where education majors are gaining valuable, hands-on teaching experience even before their student teaching.
Mursion, originally called TeachLive, is a cutting-edge technology that delivers customized virtual reality training to provide professional challenges that exist in the job every day.
Developed at the University of Central Florida, Mursion is being used at more than 85 campuses in the United States. Since 2012, Mursion has grown at UM. Last school year, 800 students in the School of Education practiced with the system and are required to use it at least twice as part of their coursework before graduating.
14 Jan2019
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE is pleased to announce the keynote speakers for the 71st Annual Meeting Closing Session are Mary Dilworth, editor of Millennial Teachers of Color, and Leslie Fenwick, dean emerita of Howard University. The session will take place at the Kentucky International Convention Center on February 24, 2019.
Join this dynamic duo in a provocative discussion that probes beneath the surface to address how the millennial generation of teachers and those of color, in particular, have become agents of change in education. Discover why the missing link in the recurrent conversation about teacher diversity and inequities is the millennial generation—the most diverse, educated, socially connected, and now largest generation in the workforce.
11 Jan2019
By Jerrica Thurman
Arrive early and attend a free AACTE preconference workshop prior to the 2019 Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY. AACTE is excited to offer these special workshops at no cost this year! Now is your chance to delve into pressing topics critical to advancing educator preparation with colleagues who share your specific academic and research interests.
The full list of AACTE preconference events held February 21 is as follows:
11 Jan2019
By Deborah Koolbeck
As you prepare for AACTE’s Annual Meeting, I would like to highlight a new opportunity for attendees— an advocacy preconference! Preconferences happen on Thursday, February 21, and this one is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Join members of the AACTE Committee on Government Relations and Advocacy as well as other colleagues in the field for “A Return to Discourse: A Foundation for Effective Advocacy.”
11 Jan2019
By Deborah Koolbeck
Early last month, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Statistics released its “First Look” at the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) winter 2017-18 data collection. This includes fully edited and imputed data and four survey components: graduation rates for selected cohorts 2009-14, outcome measures for cohort year 2009-10, student financial aid data for the academic year 2016-17, as well as admissions for fall 2017.
Would you like to learn about or receive other releases from IES and its component centers and regional labs? Sign up for email updates from the U.S. Department of Education. Once registered, you have the option to manage your preferences to receive only those newsletters and updates that will serve you. Similarly, you can sign up to receive updates at your state level to stay abreast of your state’s Department of Education.
11 Jan2019
By Jerrica Thurman
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released yesterday A Vision and Guidance for a Diverse and Learner-Ready Teacher Workforce, a report that outlines key recommendations state education chiefs, leaders in educator preparation, local education agencies, and others can take to ensure each child in the public school system is taught by a diverse and learner-ready teacher workforce. The report highlights actions for attracting, preparing, placing, supporting, and retaining teachers from diverse ethnic or racial backgrounds and socioeconomic experiences. It identifies specific policy levers state education agencies (SEAs) have authority over that should be activated to achieve the vision of what success can look like for students and teachers as well as highlight distinct responsibilities of SEAs where they have a moral imperative to lead for equity. Additionally, the report appendix references some of the best practices and policy recommendations states have implemented to push this work forward.
Along with state chiefs, AACTE and other national education organizations partnered with CCSSO on its new initiative to diversify the teaching profession through its Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers (DLRT) Initiative. The collaboration led to the production of the new report—a viable resource for state teams that provide model research- and evidence-based state best practices and policies.
09 Jan2019
By Katrina Norfleet
Congratulations to Ashley L. White and Cassandra B. Willis (pictured left to right) for receiving the 2018 Jane West SPARK Award at the Teacher Education Division (TED) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) conference in November. The award, established in 2016, is given annually to individuals who advocate for special education in teacher preparation (e.g., government relations, letter writing, visits to Congressional members), and is committed to continuing this work in the future.
Ashley L. White
A doctoral student at the University of South Florida (USF), White received a 2015 doctoral fellowship for the Special Education Policy Studies, a grant specifically designed to prepare doctoral scholars as leaders in the field of special education policy. The following year, she was accepted to the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education’s (HECSE) Doctoral Short Course. HECSE is an organization that advocates for the “appropriate educational opportunities and effective school outcomes for millions of American children and youth with disabilities.” Since becoming involved in HECSE, her advocacy activities have included interning at the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) where she engaged in policy matters including but not limited to regulatory reforms, ED/OSEP grant priorities, and engagement with advocacy organizations. White also served as an HECSE intern, with responsibilities that included connecting faculty at USF with HECSE committees, distributing USF documents to its Congressional representatives, and arranging Hill visits for university faculty as well as all of HECSE’s Florida members.
08 Jan2019
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is moving forward with negotiated rulemaking around a large number of issues dealing with federal student financial aid in the Higher Education Act, commonly known as “Title IV,” and AACTE will be at the table. Last fall, the Department put out a call for nominations for negotiators to be part of a full committee and three subcommittees, and this week announced the list of negotiators, which includes 18 AACTE member institutions.
The full committee will cover issues around accreditation and innovation, and the subcommittees will advise the full committee on the following issues: faith-based entities, distance learning, and TEACH grants. The first committee and subcommittees sessions will take place next week, January 14–18.
In addition to AACTE member participation, I will be representing the Association and its members on the TEACH grant subcommittee. Negotiators also include a number of AACTE partners. To see the full list of negotiators for the full committee and each of the subcommittees, along with the supporting materials, visit the U.S. Department of Education website.
Would you like to learn more about the law that establishes the processes around negotiated rulemaking? Review the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, or read a five-page summary of the negotiated rulemaking process.
08 Jan2019
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education Office (USDOE) of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, recently published a funding opportunity geared to help improve the outcomes of postsecondary students, specifically underrepresented students. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) has issued a Funding Announcement and Request for Proposals on “Building Rigorous Evidence about How to Improve Postsecondary Success.”
According to the USDOE newsletter, “LJAF is interested in funding research and evaluation projects testing interventions related to postsecondary success (including student learning, persistence, completion, time to completion, job placement, and post-college earnings). They are particularly interested in interventions that promise to improve success among underserved students, such as low-income students, students of color, adult students, and veterans. LJAF has committed up to $10 million for these grants.”
Letters of Interest are due by January 31, 2019.
(Please note: AACTE is sharing this opportunity; it is not an endorsement of the foundation or its work.)
To stay abreast of other funding opportunities and updates, subscribe to the USDOE newsletters.
04 Jan2019
By Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.
Congratulations to the following individuals who will join the AACTE Board of Directors effective March 1, 2019.
Patricia Alvarez-McHatton, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Representative
Jennie Carr, Bridgewater College (VA)
Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education Representative
