20 Oct2015
By Whitney Watkins
Congratulations to October Holmes Scholar of the Month Coralis Solomon!
Solomon is a second-year doctoral student in the counselor education program at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Her research interests are mindfulness and self-compassion in counseling.
Solomon has worked in La Amistad, a community agency where she provided mental health services to individuals suffering from traumatic experiences. She is currently coordinating an in-school community counseling clinic for a partnership with the UCF counselor education program and Seminole County Public Schools. This endeavor is serving as an excellent opportunity for counseling students to get a chance to work with a population they may not see in the clinic on campus. In addition, this partnership offers free services to families so they can take advantage of mental health counseling that they may not otherwise be able to afford.
16 Oct2015
By Hannah Maes
Data are ubiquitous in this day and age, and making sense of all the numbers and trends can be overwhelming. Yet using data wisely is critical to be able to learn from experience and determine strategic directions for improving what we do. So where do we start—how do we identify what information we need and appropriate sources to use? How do we recognize patterns in the data and their lessons for our work? And how do we put it all together to improve our programs and demonstrate our accountability?
16 Oct2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Did you know October is National Principals Month? While we appreciate our school leaders year round, this month is a special time to honor principals for their leadership and vital work in schools.
National Principals Month is a broad celebration of the principalship, marked by national and state resolutions, formal awards and recognitions, and acknowledgments from U.S. senators and representatives and other top government officials. It is an opportunity to say “thank you” to principals across the nation and to share with the community all the great things that principals do.
16 Oct2015
By Deborah Koolbeck
Please join me for a free webinar next week for AACTE members to discuss these issues: Monday, October 26, at 11:00 a.m. EDT or Tuesday, October 27, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.
On September 16, the U.S. Department of Education transmitted its draft of its final rule (which is not publicly available) for the teacher preparation program regulations to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The next step in this process is that OMB will review the draft and work with the Department to craft the final rule. The final rule then will be released by OMB.
At this point in time, OMB will take meetings with stakeholders only on the proposal as drafted in December 2014. AACTE organized a group of 10-12 higher education and PK-12 national associations and met with OMB on October 7, 2015, to express our concerns as a profession with the proposed regulations, in particular focusing on the cost and burden of implementation.
13 Oct2015
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE congratulates Christopher A. Koch on his new appointment as president of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), announced today. He will oversee the national effort to implement an evidence-based accreditation system that aims to improve teacher quality and strengthen PK-12 learning.
“Chris is an ideal leader for CAEP,” said AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson. “He has experience partnering with teacher educators to meet the educational needs of diverse student populations. His dedication to service and the teaching profession is deep and profound, and his commitment to collaboration is evident. He has earned high regard as a trusted collaborator for the essential function of program accreditation.”
13 Oct2015
By Conra D. Gist and Tim Mahoney
Topical action groups (TAGs) are groups formed within AACTE to provide a forum for individuals with common interests to network, collaborate, conduct research, and develop policy with the support of AACTE, which provides operational funds, publicity, meeting space at the Annual Meeting, and support that comes from affiliation with the Association. For more information, visit http://aacte.org/professional-development-and-events/tags.
In 2014, a group of teacher educators focused on teacher diversity convened to form the AACTE Diversified Teacher Workforce (DTW) TAG, which, although relatively new, has already begun a number of ambitious initiatives. DTW had its first formal meetings at the 2015 AACTE Annual Meeting and developed a mission statement.
13 Oct2015
By Roberta Ross-Fisher
Topical action groups (TAGs) are groups formed within AACTE to provide a forum for individuals with common interests to network, collaborate, conduct research, and develop policy with the support of AACTE, which provides operational funds, publicity, meeting space at the Annual Meeting, and support that comes from affiliation with the Association. For more information, visit http://aacte.org/professional-development-and-events/tags.
Do you feel tangled up in the educational maze known as accreditation and want to know more? Looking for others who share your interest? Now is a great time to join the AACTE All Things Accreditation TAG!
13 Oct2015
By Guneev Sharma
Twitter can be used in a variety of ways, from celebrity stalking to news tracking to simply sharing life’s events with friends. As more and more people create accounts and become active users, Twitter’s application in teaching and learning also is growing. On September 29, Jeff Carpenter and Scott Morrison of Elon University (NC) and Michael Maher of North Carolina State University presented the second in their series of three free webinars for AACTE members on Twitter’s potential for use in teacher preparation programs.
13 Oct2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Only 1 day is left to take advantage of the Early Bird Registration rate for AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada! This special offer expires October 14 at midnight EDT.
At the Annual Meeting, you’ll gain access to cutting-edge research and initiatives for “meeting the demands of professional practice” in educator preparation. Experience some of the most popular offerings of the conference in our six major forums for 2016.
13 Oct2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Many educator preparation providers are highly engaged in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and are actively working alongside PK-12 administrators, teachers, and parents to prepare students. Learn how AACTE member institutions in Kentucky are successfully implementing the standards in a free AACTE webinar, “Is Common Core Impossible?” Tuesday, October 20, at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
Thanks to a grant from the Learning First Alliance’s Get It Right campaign, AACTE will host this webinar as the first in a two-part series on CCSS implementation in educator preparation programs. This webinar focuses on the successful work of the Kentucky Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in facilitating its members’ work to align their educator preparation programs with CCSS after Kentucky became the first state to adopt the standards. Presenters will discuss how a communication strategy, community involvement, policy advancement and alignment, and professional development and capacity building were used for successful implementation.
13 Oct2015
By Amanda Lester and Omar Davis
Participants in the inaugural Project LEAD Summit of the Associated Colleges of Illinois
On September 25, AACTE staff had the privilege of taking part in the inaugural Project LEAD (Leaders in Education Advocating for Diversity) Summit in Chicago, Illinois. The summit was a daylong conference conducted by the Associated Colleges of Illinois Center for Success in High-Need Schools to engage teacher candidates and faculty in interactive discussions focused on increasing diversity in the teacher workforce.
06 Oct2015
By Sharon Robinson
Participants in the 2015 National Technology Leadership Summit included the heads of educator preparation associations for literacy, English, special education, engineering, science, mathematics, and more.
Last week, AACTE hosted an annual technology summit for the leaders of 10 teacher educator associations that formed a coalition in 2000 around educational technology and educator preparation. This 2-day event has witnessed or directly led to some amazing developments over the years, ranging from research to tools to entirely new technologies, as coalition members serve as a unique focus group and visionary working network bridging education and industry.
06 Oct2015
By Deborah Koolbeck
The fall is ushering in more than a change in the weather in Washington this year. Multiple unpredicted changes in leadership have D.C. buzzing about what it all means.
- U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) resigned from Congress as of October 30, 2015.
- U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan resigned as of December 2015.
- Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Rep. John Kline (R-MN) will not seek re-election next year.
06 Oct2015
By Michelle Kotek
A new video in AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series focuses on a thriving partnership in Colorado from the perspectives of novice teachers prepared in a professional development school model. This blog highlights one teacher’s experience and offers insights from his assistant principal about the program’s success.
The forward-thinking partnership between Colorado State University (CSU) and the local Poudre School District employs a professional development school (PDS) model to prepare teachers who are ready to teach on Day 1. Their classroom is the classroom: Instead of taking their classes off site at the university, prospective teachers receive their lessons and then put them into practice in the same school building—with real kids and under the tutelage of a real teacher. While the program’s elements are fairly typical, its particular success comes from each course’s clinical component and support from a robust professional community.
06 Oct2015
By Angela Maynard Sewall
In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker advised, “Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present.” How helpful this wisdom is for everyone in the education field, whether PK-12 or higher education! For our students and our society, the future is now. Participants in the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative have taken that advice to heart as they have worked on practical, deployable strategies to improve how principals are recruited, prepared, and supported in urban schools, right now. The six districts and multiple higher education partners already are seeing improvement in student learning as a result of their work over the past few years.
On Thursday, October 15, the second webinar in AACTE’s free series on the Principal Pipeline Initiative will explore “Building the Partnerships” to bridge the differences among institutions and programs in the pursuit of their common goals. Like the first webinar, which discussed “Laying the Foundation,” this event will feature a panel of school and university leaders who’ve participated in the initiative. Panelists will discuss inputs needed, agreements and protocols, and the impact and outcomes of building new and stronger partnerships among the key groups.
