The AACTE Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR) seeks nominations by October 12 of state chapter leaders to run in an election for the ACSR Executive Committee. The positions open for election are the West Region representative, Northeast Region representative, and ACSR chair-elect, all to take office in March 2019.
Terms and Roles
As leaders of AACTE’s Coteaching in Clinical Practice Topical Action Group (TAG), we are pleased to invite applications from PK-12 personnel to secure funding to attend the National Conference on Coteaching in Bloomington, Minnesota, October 24-26. Applications are due September 1 so don’t delay!
About the National Conference on Coteaching
Teacher shortages are a critical concern across the United States, and the University of South Carolina is tackling the crisis head-on with an innovative response to teacher retention. While recruiting new teachers into the profession is vitally important, reducing the alarming rate at which novice teachers leave the profession must be a central focus in addressing the teacher shortage, as shared in a recent op-ed by University of South Carolina College of Education Dean Jon Pedersen.
“If you add the belief that teacher preparation and support should not end at graduation, a desire to gather data to inform programmatic improvement, and a teacher retention issue to new accreditation standards and a college leadership team determined to make a positive impact on the profession, beyond the walls of the university, you arrive at the impetus for the Carolina Teacher Induction Program (CarolinaTIP),” said Cindy Van Buren, assistant dean and one of the developers of the college’s induction program.
Congratulations to the August 2018 AACTE Holmes Scholar of the Month, Taewon Kim!
A doctoral student in counseling psychology at Purdue University since 2017, Kim studies the meaning found in academic and work experiences, especially for women and underprivileged populations. She hopes to explore and develop factors that promote resilience for people with low social status.
The Kansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education received a 2017-2018 AACTE State Chapter Support Grant for work on a statewide observation/assessment instrument for use with student teachers. The author is the chapter’s lead contact on the grant. Other AACTE chapters have also recently pursued collaborative work around assessment instruments, including those in Ohio and North Dakota.
In collaboration with the Kansas State Department of Education and Marzano Research/REL Central, members of the Kansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (KACTE) are piloting and testing the reliability and validity of a student teacher observation/assessment instrument they developed for statewide use.
(August 9, 2018, Washington, D.C.) – Colleges of Education: A National Portrait, a report released today by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), provides a comprehensive picture of the nation’s schools, colleges and departments of education: the work that they do, the people who do that work and the students they serve.
Because teacher preparation is so important to society and central to the work of most colleges of education, the report describes in detail the key trends and challenges in meeting the nation’s need for profession-ready teachers. It also portrays the full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs, research and service that are in the broader portfolio of colleges of education.
Several AACTE Holmes Scholars took time out from their intense schedule during the AACTE Holmes Dissertation Retreat and Research Symposium, July 26-28 at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, to speak with students from the Rowan Urban Teacher Academy.
The academy serves students in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade who are interested in learning more about becoming teachers. The purpose of the 10-day program is to create a pipeline into the education profession for high school students from urban areas, hoping that students exposed to the field of education will consider returning to teach in urban schools. As part of the academy’s training and exposure, students tour the campus of the university.
As I reflect on the 2018 Holmes Dissertation Retreat and Research Symposium, one word strikes me repeatedly – timely. As a doctoral candidate in research methods and evaluation, I am currently finalizing the blueprint of my dissertation. The past 3 years in my program have been an exciting mix of academic and cocurricular activities where I have learned how the theory works. Now, in the final phase of my dissertation, it is time to transform the knowledge and competencies I acquired thus far into credentials–i.e., get my degree.
The sessions in the July retreat at Rowan University (NJ) were just what was needed to “move the needle” on my dissertation gauge. Thoughtful sessions not only provided us with resources for continuing and finishing our doctoral work, but also brought invaluable insights on how to expand our scholarly endeavors beyond graduation.
This week, AACTE President/CEO Lynn M. Gangone will meet with deans from across the country at the Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) meeting hosted by AACTE member institution University of Colorado Boulder, August 8-9.
EDJE is a nationwide alliance of education deans that advances equity and justice in education by speaking and acting collectively and in solidarity with communities regarding policies, reform proposals, and public debates. Participants come from public and independent colleges of education around the country, most of which are AACTE member institutions.
AACTE and member institution Boston University (MA) are delighted to announce a pilot expansion of the AACTE Holmes Program in a new postdoctoral fellowship. The Holmes Postdoctoral Program in Education and Human Development welcomes its first two associates to the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development this fall for a 2-year residency.
On Thursday, August 9, AACTE will release Colleges of Education: A National Portrait. This report, an exclusive AACTE member benefit, provides a comprehensive picture of U.S. colleges of education: the work that they do, the people who do that work, and the students they serve. Because teacher preparation is so important, it describes in detail the key trends and challenges in meeting the nation’s need for highly skilled teachers. The report also portrays the full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs, research, and service that occur within schools, colleges, and departments of education.
Beginning August 9 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, you will be able to download the free executive summary (available to the public) and the complete 70-page report (for AACTE members only.) The full report will be a valuable reference document for anyone needing to understand the history and current state of colleges or education or to benchmark their own college or program against national trends.
After successfully completing its original 3-year term as editorial host of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE), Michigan State University (MSU) this month began work under a renewed contract for editing the highly ranked journal through 2021.
As of July 1, the coeditors are Tonya Bartell, Dorinda Carter Andrews, Robert Floden, and Gail Richmond, all from MSU. Associate editors include Jeff Bale, University of Toronto, Canada; Christine Cho, Nipissing University, Canada; Corey Drake, MSU; Nathan Jones, Boston University (MA); Emery Petchauer, MSU; and Cinthia Salinas, University of Texas, Austin. The team is further supported by MSU Assistant Editor Maribel Santiago and Graduate Assistants Eliana Castro and Mary Neville.
Four final videos are now available in the AACTE Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series focused on the district and community partnerships of the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach. (View these and others in the series on AACTE’s Video Wall.)
The videos capture interviews with faculty, administrators, teacher candidates, and other partners in the Long Beach College Promise and the UTEACH residency program.
I am thrilled to announce that AACTE’s contact lists for state policy makers in each state and the District of Columbia have been updated and posted in the AACTE Resource Library (accessible to AACTE members only!). In addition, links to these lists can be found on the AACTE Advocacy Center’s State Advocacy page and on AACTE’s State Policy and Legislation page.
These documents are an AACTE member benefit to support you in your state-level advocacy work. Use them to find key state policy makers–for example, legislators for authorizing and appropriating education funds, state department of education contacts, and even your governor’s education staffer.
East Carolina University (ECU) has been named the new institutional home of the North Carolina New Teacher Support Program (NC NTSP), which provides university-based professional development and on-site instructional coaching for new teachers throughout the state.
The NC NTSP aims to boost the effectiveness and reduce attrition among early-career teachers in order to raise student achievement, especially in historically disadvantaged and underserved school districts.
Originally launched with federal Race to the Top grant funds in 2012, the program now operates with funding from the state legislature, which allows districts to enroll teachers in the program at a subsidized rate. Nine universities in the UNC System provide the instructional support in partnership with 53 school districts around the state.