26 Sep2017
By Lori Piowlski, Elizabeth S. Finsness and Karen Colum
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
At the College of Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU), our strategic vision is to inspire lifelong learning and professional engagement through racial consciousness, social justice, and inclusion within a global context. Our collective energy as a faculty is spent engaging in conversations, professional development, and research to ensure that our instructional approaches foster cultural proficiency in our teacher candidates.
To enhance that collective learning, several MNSU faculty attended the “edTPA and Equity” strand during the August AACTE Quality Support Workshop held in Minneapolis. The sessions, facilitated by teams of local teacher educators and national experts, examined how edTPA constructs address equitable teaching and learning practices and considered how candidates can engage in the assessment as a reflective opportunity to learn about equitable teaching practices.
26 Sep2017
By Zachary VanHouten
As part of continued efforts to provide relief for hurricane-affected regions, the U.S. Department of Education this week issued guidance to outline flexibility in reporting deadlines, grant-funded activities, continuity planning for disrupted programs, and fiscal management efforts. This guidance applies to state and local education agencies, Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools, postsecondary institutions, and other Department grantees.
Institutions affected by the recent hurricanes are highly encouraged to review the guidance, particularly if your program receives funding from a federal grant, receives federal student financial aid, or if you have other general questions regarding postsecondary education relief.
26 Sep2017
By Jemima Cabedo
“Although the current dialogue about school choice is generally focused on charter schools, vouchers, and the overall diversion of taxpayer monies to private entities, it misses a fundamental reality: Most public school districts already offer a wide range of choices to their students.” This message is at the core of a new report from the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education titled Busting the Myth of “One Size Fits All” Public Education.
At an event unveiling the report earlier this month, panelists discussed the wide variety of alternative options offered in public education. Thomas Gentzel, executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association, noted that the system has evolved over many years from one that offers limited options into one that molds to students’ diverse needs – providing a greater degree of choice, in fact, than many private schools.
22 Sep2017
By Donna Cooner and Wendy Fothergill
This fall, AACTE will present a new webinar series called “Principals as Transformation Leaders,” supported by The Wallace Foundation as part of the Association’s ongoing partnership to disseminate the latest research and practice innovations in principal preparation. As faculty working with current and aspiring principals in Colorado, we are excited to serve as moderators for these webinars. If you are involved in school leadership, either as a practicing administrator or as a university faculty member, please join us!
The first webinar, titled Principals as Transformation Leaders: Changing Roles and Responsibilities, will be held October 12 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. Transformation leaders identify needs and empower stakeholders to implement positive change to maximize the desired results. They are visionary, resourceful, and adaptable – qualities that are especially valuable in today’s educational environment, where the roles and responsibilities of a principal are changing drastically in any typical day. This webinar will explore these changes and how they impact the day-to-day work of a principal. Learn about proactive ways to support new principals in their challenging role from our panelists:
19 Sep2017
By Jerrica Thurman
For 70 years, AACTE has flourished through committed educator preparation providers coming together as a profession. Now more than ever before, your voice is important in shaping the future of education in America.
Come to Baltimore March 1-3, 2018, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the premier educator preparation conference in the nation: the AACTE Annual Meeting!
19 Sep2017
By Todd Alan Price
This month’s members-only Federal Update webinars are today and tomorrow, September 19 and 20 – or just view the recording in our archive if you miss them! The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Over the summer of 2017, I integrated a valuable new asset into my doctoral-level Critical Policy Analysis class: advocacy resources from AACTE. From the members-only webinars to downloadable advocacy guides, these materials informed my students’ discussion of policy items pertinent to not only Illinois but the nation at large. They also provided current, practical information and tools for students to become more engaged in advocacy outside of class.
19 Sep2017
By Aaron Goldstein
Today, the Education Commission of the States (ECS), a national organization of state education policy leaders, released a report that reviews state policies related to teacher license reciprocity. While states are facing educator pipeline challenges, the report finds that teacher licensure systems are intended to ensure educator quality, but have the potential of limiting cross-state mobility that could cause harm teacher attrition and retention.
The report explores teacher license reciprocity – in which a candidate who possesses an out-of-state license can earn a license in a new state based on state requirements. At the national level, the report references the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) Interstate Agreement, which collects agreements between NASDTEC member states to understand which licenses are transferable and what additional requirements might be needed. At the state level, the report finds that since last year, 11 states have enacted new laws or regulations that facilitate teacher license reciprocity. Two states – Arizona and Nevada – became full reciprocity states by enacting new laws that remove barriers for licensure. Two additional states – Oklahoma and Delaware – passed new laws that waive certain assessment requirements for out-of-state candidates.
18 Sep2017
By JTE Insider
Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the authors of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online – just log in with your AACTE profile here.
This interview features insights from the article “New Standards Require Teaching More Statistics: Are Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers Ready?” written by Jennifer N. Lovett of Middle Tennessee State University and Hollylynne S. Lee of North Carolina State University. The article, which appears in the May/June issue of JTE, is summarized in the following abstract:
15 Sep2017
By Zachary VanHouten
By October 2, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) is seeking input from the field on its requirements related to efficacy, replication, and effectiveness studies.
The impetus of the feedback request follows recommendations provided from a technical working group that was assembled in October 2016. IES seeks to understand whether the current Goals 3 and 4 (out of its full list of five) are meeting the needs of the field or whether modifications would be beneficial to replication and effectiveness studies. Goal 3 addresses efficacy and replication studies, and Goal 4 supports independent evaluation of prior efficacy studies.
15 Sep2017
By Olimpia Tilles
This article also appears in the September issue of Scholars Report, a monthly e-newsletter for and about the AACTE Holmes Program. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Congratulations to Nickey F. Yates Sr., Holmes Scholar of the Month for September!
Yates is a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. program in educational leadership at Florida A&M University. His research interests include Black superintendents’ engagement with White community constituents, PK-12 environments, and racial issues in education.
14 Sep2017
By Aaron Goldstein
This week, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released Transforming Educator Preparation: Lessons Learned From Leading States, a playbook for how states can improve educator preparation based on the experience of the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP).
States that participated in NTEP – a multiyear effort to identify policies that effectively support the preparation of profession-ready teachers – were California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington.
12 Sep2017
By AACTE Committee on Professional Preparation and Accountability
There is only one month left to nominate a respected colleague for an AACTE professional achievement award! We are excited to see nominations coming in for AACTE awards and hope yours will be among them. By October 12, please take a moment to nominate someone deserving for one or more of these awards:
- The Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education recognizes distinguished achievement in research, by an individual or team of individuals, over the last decade that has had a major impact on the field of educator preparation. Lindsey was a longtime professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, whose own writing and research had a tremendous and lasting impact on the field. Recent recipients include James Hiebert of the University of Delaware, Jeanne Wilcox of Arizona State University, and Guofang Wan of Ohio University.
12 Sep2017
By AACTE
On September 6, AACTE President/CEO Lynn M. Gangone issued the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
“The decision by President Trump yesterday to end the DACA policy leaves the plight of these individuals – who are integrated into our schools, our institutions of higher education, our workforce, and our communities – in the hands of the Congress.
11 Sep2017
By Aaron Goldstein
Last month, AACTE staff hosted an exhibit at the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Boston, Massachusetts. We also invited leaders of the local AACTE state chapter, the Massachusetts Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE), to join us in the exhibit booth to share their work with attendees. Over 5,000 state legislators, state legislative staff, and trade association representatives attended the conference.
As I learned from last year’s NCSL Legislative Summit (see my takeaways here), state legislators are eager to receive input from teacher educators. One recurring theme from my conversations with state legislators this year was that they are unfamiliar with the major state policy levers pertaining to educator preparation – accreditation, licensure, and program approval. It was good for AACTE staff and MACTE leaders to interact with attendees from dozens of states, including many members of state legislatures’ education committees.
11 Sep2017
By Zachary VanHouten
The U.S. Department of Education (ED), along with relevant federal and state agencies, hosted a webinar last week to provide emergency-response resources to districts and schools serving hurricane-affected regions.
Officials on the webinar included representatives from ED, the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and state education officials in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. The webinar largely focused on the requirements in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which outlines the procedures for identifying homeless students and the resources schools must make available to homeless students.
