Do you know a deserving individual who has contributed greatly to the profession of teacher preparation? Submit a nomination today for an annual AACTE professional achievement award. Nominations are open through October 10.
The AACTE Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability looks forward to receiving your nominations for the following three awards:
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the country have just concluded another successful observance of National HSIs Week, celebrated this year from September 17-23. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) joined the celebration by releasing a Resource Page dedicated to its new legislative initiative, the PK-12 and Higher Ed Collaboration. This initiative would create a new Part C under Title V of the Higher Education Act for a grant program to support partnerships and collaboration between HSIs and Hispanic-Serving School Districts (HSSDs) that educate the majority of Hispanic students.
On the Resource Page, you will also find a recently launched interactive map that shows the geographic relationship between HSIs, HSSDs, Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Emerging Hispanic-Serving School Districts. Click on this link for details on our PK-12 and Higher Education Collaboration initiative and to view our interactive maps.
As a new state chapter of AACTE, the Montana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MTACTE) focused on the development of a basic infrastructure during the 2017-18 academic year. Our primary goals in establishing MTACTE were threefold:
The AACTE 2018 Annual Meeting drew positive reviews from attendees who completed the event survey, with more than 95% rating the conference content as “Excellent” or “Good.” When asked what they liked most about last year’s Annual Meeting, more than 95% chose General Sessions and Deeper Dives (AACTE’s reimagined Major Forums) as their top activities. AACTE’s new Learning Lab session format was also popular among respondents, as more than 88% rated these interactive sessions as “Excellent or “Good.”
AACTE invited and encouraged Annual Meeting attendees to share specific feedback, and here’s what a few had to say about the 2018 event:
This column originally appeared in Chatanoogan.com and is reposted with permission.
With education on the forefront of conversations in our community, it is now more urgent than ever that we send passionate teachers into the classroom with the knowledge, resources, and drive to lead our schools through this transformation.
As director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Education, I am charged with providing our students with a high-quality education and preparing them for the classroom. Our program trains and prepares the bulk of teachers entering Hamilton County Schools from high school to their own classrooms and beyond.
On Thursday, September 13, 2018, a spending deal was reached on both the Department of Defense and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (labor-H) spending bills. These two bills were combined into one bill by the U.S. Senate and sent to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The two bodies then went into conference on the package, and a deal was reached. The next steps are to pass the agreement, known as a conference report, before the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2018).
AACTE has partnered with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) on the new Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative. The Initiative is a network of nine states that will connect with each other and experts in the field to receive individualized support as they address challenges to increase the racial diversity of the teacher workforce in their states. Participating states are Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, and New York. Through this work, these states hope to revise, enact or remove state policies that will address specific challenges for both diversifying the educator workforce and ensuring all educators are culturally responsive in practice by 2020.
“CCSSO is proud to launch the Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative as we strive to better prepare all teachers to meet the needs of every learner in their classroom,” said Carissa Moffat Miller, executive director of CCSSO. “This work is firmly rooted in CCSSO’s commitment to providing an equitable education to all students.”
The new 2018 Data Quality Campaign (DQC) National Poll report shows teachers value education data and they see it as critical to effective pedagogical strategies that enhance student learning. The findings indicate 95% of teachers say they use a combination of academic and nonacademic information to understand their students’ performance. This information can range from test scores and graduation rates to attendance and classroom behavior. The poll report released on September 12 found teachers and parents trust and rely on education data as a tool to support students.
Partnerships between teachers and parents are also strengthened when student data are available. Eighty-six percent of the teacher respondents say the information helps facilitate communication with parents about their children’s performance because it gives an objective place to start conversations. Ninety-three percent of parents want data so they can help their children do their best.
Greetings, colleagues. We are honored and excited to be co-chairing AACTE’s Strategic Planning Task Force. The task force is charged with creating a plan to guide AACTE’s activities through 2022. We had our first meeting on September 12, and we will be working hard over the next several months to produce a final plan in time for the 2019 Annual Meeting in Louisville.
We are embarking on this effort at a pivotal moment in the Association’s history. Colleges, schools, and departments of education have fewer resources to spend on representation and professional development, and there are more competitors for those scarce resources. AACTE has to constantly demonstrate its value and rapidly evolve to meet the changing needs of our profession.
Greetings to my AACTE colleagues around the country!
As your AACTE Board of Directors chair and as a recent recipient of an AACTE Best Practice Award (on behalf of my institution), I encourage you to apply or nominate worthy individuals and programs for the 2019 AACTE awards. The call for entries is open through October 10, 2018.
The Learning First Alliance’s (LFA) newest report, “Community in Education: Bringing Businesses and Schools Together,” provides a compilation of recommendations to help foster more meaningful, real-life educational experiences for students. The report is the result of nearly 30 executives and key staff members convening to address ways to build better relationships and find common ground for advancing public education. The participants represent various sectors ranging from technology, manufacturing, and media companies to local government agencies, nonprofits, and LFA organizations.
AACTE, an LFA member organization along with 12 other national education associations, was represented by President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone, who participated in the daylong discussions that led to the published report.
This article originally appeared in UConn Today and is reposted with permission. The University of Connecticut is 1 of 10 institutions participating in AACTE’s Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Teacher Initiative Networked Improvement Community (NIC). To learn more about how UConn developed the programs noted in the article through its participation in the NIC, visit this AACTE webinar and Ed Prep Matters blog post featured in 2016.
A lack of diversity among classroom teachers in elementary and secondary schools has long been a national issue. In the state of Connecticut alone, less than 8 percent of teachers are of color, while students of color represent 40 percent of the population.
As summer comes to a close, AACTE would like to introduce you to a few new (and a few updated) membership benefit offerings that can be of service to you as the 2018-19 academic year begins.
Colleges of Education: A National Portrait (2018) – This report provides a comprehensive picture of colleges of education: the work that they do, the people who do that work, and the students they serve. The report describes in detail the key trends and challenges in meeting the nation’s need for highly skilled teachers. This exclusive, members-only tool is now available for download.
In case you missed it in State Directions, AACTE’s state-focused monthly e-newsletter, the ACSR Executive Committee created two new ad-hoc committees in response to participants’ feedback at the 2018 State Leaders Institute during AACTE’s Washington Week in June.
The two ad-hoc committees will focus on:
AACTE has an active network of state chapters across the country, and would like to help promote what’s happening in your local chapter through its communication channels. Is your state chapter providing activities to share best practices, engage on solutions to challenges, or advance professional skills? If yes, then please share your event details with AACTE!
Whether your state chapter convening varies from monthly meetings to large conferences in the spring and fall, AACTE would like to promote your event details on the state chapter and events pages of its website. If you are a state chapter leader, please take a moment to complete a short online form for each chapter meeting and conference that will take place during the 2018-19 academic year.