03 Nov2015
By Christine DeGregory
If you have been inspired by the previous Research-to-Practice Spotlight videos featuring the robust partnership between Colorado State University (CSU) and the Poudre School District (PSD) in Fort Collins, don’t miss the newest installment in the series, in which school and university officials share advice on how to implement a successful clinical practice model.
Utilizing a professional development school approach, CSU and PSD have created an intentional, collaborative endeavor to achieve their shared mission of preparing highly qualified and effective teachers.
03 Nov2015
By Angela Maynard Sewall
What are the assessment and evaluation challenges related to the development of great principals? A free webinar next week will explore the assessment of progress, the benefit of standards, and outcomes that have led to change and greater focus on the preparation and professional development of school leaders in the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative.
On Thursday, November 12, the third webinar in AACTE’s series on the initiative will feature the following participants:
03 Nov2015
By Susan Korach
While the impact of partnerships is not yet fully understood, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that school districts that partner with local principal training providers are more likely to leverage programmatic changes that result in principals who are better equipped to lead schools to improve student performance.
— Cheryl King, Quality Measures: Partnership Effectiveness Continuum (2014)
Last month, I had the privilege of joining colleagues from around the country to present an AACTE webinar about building school-university partnerships to support stronger preparation of school leaders. A recording of the webinar is now available here.
03 Nov2015
By Hannah Maes
The immediate value of taking part in AACTE’s Online Professional Seminars is obvious: You get to enhance your peer network while gaining knowledge on crucial issues in the field, from assessment and data use to quality assurance systems and the nuts-and-bolts of preparing for national or regional accreditation. But there are other, long-term advantages to participating in the seminars offered through AACTE’s Quality Support Initiative.
The OPSs provide a framework that allows you and your institution to focus on your faculty. The professional development offered through the seminars strengthens your performance in your current position and prepares you for future ones. By developing participants’ skills regarding assessment and accreditation, the OPS series builds individuals’ confidence and enhances their competence.
03 Nov2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Ed Prep Matters is featuring “Stories of Impact” to showcase AACTE member institutions with educator preparation programs that are making a positive impact in their communities and beyond through innovative practices. We are committed to sharing members’ success stories and encourage you to do the same.
Schools of education across the country take a variety of innovative approaches to improving the preparation of teachers in partnership with local schools. One example that recently won the attention of a local news channel is a lab school of Butler University (IN), which is part of the state’s largest school district, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS). Providing its elementary students a unique opportunity to guide their own learning, this school is centered on the Reggio Emilia approach—a project-based style of teaching and learning designed to build students’ critical thinking and democratic ideas.
02 Nov2015
By Teri Langlie
Minnesota requires all teacher candidates to take edTPA as part of the state’s program review and approval process. At the state’s annual edTPA conference October 7, educators from across the state joined in invigorating conversations about the changes the assessment has spurred and the common language it has given educators to communicate about effective teaching.
During the session I helped moderate on how programs can use edTPA components and candidate performance data to “back map” their course work, the exchange was both lively and informative. Panelists shared stories about how they are getting edTPA performance data to more faculty, identifying needs, and developing instructional resources such as new observation rubrics that adjunct faculty can use to better understand teaching skills that edTPA asks candidates to demonstrate.
30 Oct2015
By Roxanne Pickle
The sixth annual edTPA Minnesota Summit, held October 7 at St. Cloud State University, focused on an issue that is essential to high-quality, comprehensive teacher preparation: securing and maintaining partnerships among higher education institutions and PK-12 school districts.
The summit brought together nearly 100 Minnesota educators to discuss strategies and best practices for creating strong bonds between educator preparation programs and the schools that will host and hire their students.
27 Oct2015
By Guneev Sharma and Kristin McCabe
A new study out of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) helps debunk the oft-repeated assumption that half of new teachers leave the profession in the first 5 years. Overall, some 77% of participants in the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study continued teaching for 5 straight years, and the rate was even higher (80%) for those who had a mentor or participated in an induction program—just two of the many influences on teachers’ career paths studied for the report.
Career Paths of Beginning Public School Teachers first scrutinizes both broad and detailed career paths of 155,600 teachers who began their classroom career in the 2007-08 academic year. Then it looks at a subset of 1,440 teachers’ characteristics in their first and in their final year of teaching, covering personal demographics, student and school factors, and professional preparation and in-school supports.
27 Oct2015
By Deborah Koolbeck
On Saturday, October 24, the U.S. Department of Education released a fact sheet on the Department’s Testing Action Plan in recognition of the vast amount of testing our nation’s PK-12 students undergo. This plan was released concurrently with a report from the Council of Great City Schools that examines student testing via an inventory and preliminary analysis.
The proposed teacher preparation program regulations, still expected to be finalized in December, are included in the Department’s plan:
27 Oct2015
By Jerrica Thurman
The AACTE 68th Annual Meeting will take you to The Mirage Hotel, conveniently located on the Vegas Strip in the center of the city’s attractions. You won’t have to travel far to experience the area’s rich offerings, as The Mirage provides a full menu of restaurant options and headlining entertainment.
From fine dining to casual, you’ll discover a range of flavors to satisfy your appetite at The Mirage. Choose the perfect restaurant for you from these diverse venues:
27 Oct2015
By Jeff Carpenter and Scott Morrison
Many education policy makers and advocacy groups are busy using Twitter to disseminate various narratives about education and teacher preparation. Is your voice part of the conversation? Learn how to make the most of this platform in a free AACTE-sponsored webinar next week on how teacher educators can use Twitter more effectively, particularly in advocating for their programs and for the profession. We will present the webinar, Educator Preparation Programs Taking Twitter to the Next Level, for AACTE members only on Thursday, November 5, at 1:00 p.m. EST.
27 Oct2015
By Kristin McCabe
Last week, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) voted unanimously to approve revised standards for education leaders. The 2015 Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, formerly known as the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards, are currently available in summary form and will be published officially next month.
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which owns the standards’ copyright, worked closely with other members of NPBEA to refresh the ISLLC standards, which were first published in 1996 and last updated in 2008. The revision was supported by a grant from the Wallace Foundation and informed by multiple public comment periods and focus groups, culminating in an NPBEA working group charged with finalizing the standards based on feedback from more than 1,000 principals, superintendents, and others in the field.
20 Oct2015
By Arlinda J. Eaton
Meaningful and purposeful collaboration among multiple agency heads is something that many states aspire to do. Georgia is among those that have been successful in forming such alliances, which provides a supportive environment for the work of the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (GACTE).
The collaborative culture is well established in the Georgia Alliance of Education Agency Heads, which over the past decade has been successfully fulfilling its mission to collaborate, innovate, and achieve while addressing three strategic goals: (1) increase the percentage of students reading at grade level by completion of third grade; (2) increase the percentage of graduates from high school and postsecondary institutions prepared for the demands of college, workplace, a global economy, and responsible citizenship; and (3) increase the percentage of effective teachers and educational leaders. The alliance includes the state’s universities and technical colleges, the governor’s office, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and other education agencies.
20 Oct2015
By Hannah Maes and Kristin McCabe
A new video in AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series shows education leaders from Fort Collins High School and Colorado State University discussing their work to prepare teacher candidates for special education situations and other diverse student needs. From understanding IEPs to tapping school-based counseling resources to differentiating instruction in both mainstreamed and self-contained classrooms, the program strives to expose candidates to a wide variety of students and settings, say Josh Richey, dean of students at the high school, and Wendy Fothergill and Juliana Searle, program advisers.
Today’s classrooms are more diverse than ever, and educator preparation programs such as those at Colorado State University (CSU) strive to give prospective teachers experiences across varied communities, in different school models, and with a broad range of students, including those with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for special education.
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.
