Call for Reviewers: AACTE’s 75th Annual Meeting

AACTE is seeking peer reviewers from a wide spectrum of backgrounds to serve in selecting learning opportunities of the highest quality for its 75th Annual Meeting, themed, “Innovation through Inspiration: Remembering the Past to Revolutionize the Future.”

This is an opportunity to volunteer your time and expertise to select session topics from this year’s proposal submissions that will shape the conversation at our 75th anniversary meeting, focused on revolutionizing and elevating educator preparation and the teaching profession. To apply, visit Call for Reviewers.

2022-23 AACTE State Affiliate Awardees Selected

Congratulations to the AACTE state affiliate organizations from Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, and Montana which were selected from among numerous excellent applicants for a 2022-23 State Affiliate Support Award. AACTE uses these awards to support state affiliate organizations in advancing the following priorities:

  • Advocacy and Policy Leadership
  • Enhancing Program Quality
  • Partnership and Communication

Can Apprenticeships Help Alleviate Teacher Shortages?

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

As much as she wanted to, Karol Harper hadn’t planned to go back to school to get her teaching license. With a full-time job and a family — she couldn’t afford it. It would have meant a loss of income and benefits.

Harper, a teacher’s aide in the special education department at Farragut Intermediate School in Knoxville, Tennessee, was interviewing a candidate for a position at her school when she learned about her state’s new teacher apprenticeship program.

The program enables participants to get licensed as teachers through an apprenticeship, instead of paying out of pocket for the degree. Many apprentices work in a school, gradually taking on more teaching responsibilities, while studying for an education degree at night. Other students, like high schoolers and college students, work as student teachers in their local districts, while taking working toward their bachelor’s degree. The tuition and fees are paid for through the program, but in addition student apprentices get tutoring and coaching.

What Kids Need in the Classroom

This article originally appeared on MSU Denver RED.

With the psychological and economic pressures of Covid-19, increased gun violence, systemic racism, political polarization and, most recently, the financial stresses of inflation, many adults are struggling with their mental and emotional health. It’s no wonder that children, too, are experiencing more trauma than ever.

Last fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association jointly declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health due to “soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality” caused by Covid-19 and other factors. Trauma such as physical abuse, bullying and witnessing violence will often contribute to higher anxiety and negatively impact attention, memory, cognition, problem solving, reading ability and academic performance, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Teacher Education Programs Desperately Seek Students

This article originally appeared on Inside Higher Ed.

As the school year gets underway, a national teacher shortage has K-12 districts scrambling and job boards lengthening. The president of the National Education Association called the lack of classroom teachers a “five-alarm crisis.” Some students are returning to full-time in-person learning only to find their instructors teaching through screens, often from hundreds of miles away. Many teachers are overburdened by large classes, and in some cases, they are teaching without a degree. Some districts will start the school year with a four-day week to accommodate a lack of staff.

The flow of new teachers through the pipeline has slowed to a trickle, in part due to years of declining enrollment in education programs. Now higher education institutions are looking for ways to reverse what has become an alarming national trend.

AACTE Participates in White House Discussion on School Staffing Shortage

Strengthening the Teaching Profession Through Public and Private Sector Actions

AACTE met with the Biden-Harris Administration today to discuss the nationwide school staffing shortages.

“It was an honor to have AACTE at the table with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and other key decision makers, such as the Secretaries of Education and Labor,” said AACTE President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone, Ed.D. “There are solutions to this crisis, and I am confident that in working together we will accelerate our work to recruit and retain highly-qualified and diverse teachers. Education is an exciting and worthwhile profession, and I believe that today’s conversations, alongside members of the talent industry, will take us far as we lead collaborative and solutions-based work. To have this spotlight today on the education profession from the White House elevates the importance of teachers and education in the U.S.”

Call for Proposals Open: AACTE 75th Annual Meeting

Be a part of AACTE as we celebrate 75 years at the 2023 Annual Meeting! Submit a proposal for AACTE’s 75th Annual Meeting February 24 – 26 in Indianapolis, IN. Help create innovation through inspiration, as we turn to our past successes to revolutionize the future of education. The deadline to submit is October 1.

Share the Power of Us Workforce Survey

In announcing the National Partnership for Student Success, a bright spotlight has been put on the adults who serve young people in communities nationwide. This is a clarion call for more adults to step up and lean in to address students’ academic, emotional, social, and mental health needs. 

In 2022, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and a constellation of partner organizations launched the Power of Us Workforce Survey, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive workforce survey to get to know the people who are already working and volunteering with youth in afterschool and summer programs, in libraries, in affordable housing, in community centers, in schools, and anywhere young people need support.

Civics Secures Democracy Act Reintroduced in the Senate

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives have introduced the Civics Secures Democracy Act, which would authorize an historic investment to support K–12 civic education and American history. AACTE urges members to reach out to their Members of Congress to encourage them to support the Civics Secures Democracy Act through the Action Alert in the AACTE Advocacy Center.

Over the last several decades, civics education in American schools has seen a significant decline. Given the divisiveness in our politics and the lack of knowledge and understanding of democratic principles, norms, and institutions, a robust investment in civics education is needed.

AACTE Applauds Biden Administration’s Decision to Forgive Federal Student Loans

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) announced its support for the Biden Administration’s decision to forgive a portion of the federal student aid debt certain individuals have incurred to attend college.

“The federal government’s decision to forgive a portion of federal student debt is long overdue,” said  AACTE President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone, Ed.D. “Many students are overwhelmed with student debt, preventing them from beginning families, purchasing homes, or achieving other life milestones. This announcement is a significant step in helping these students. However, much more needs to be done to help students interested in pursuing a career in education finance their college degree. As a nation, we must address the high cost of a college degree and the low compensation of teachers, both of which have contributed to a nationwide shortage of profession-ready, fully licensed educators.”

Local Public School Ratings Rise, Even as the Teaching Profession Loses

The 54th annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools finds record-high ratings for local public schools — but record low support among parents for their children becoming teachers. Only 37% of respondents say they would want a child of theirs to become a public school teacher in their community. This is the lowest level of support the profession has seen since 1969, when support for teaching as a career choice peaked at 75%.

Overall, 54% of adults give an A or B grade to the public schools in their community, the highest percentage in PDK Polls since 1974, up 10 points since the question was last asked in 2019.

Bellarmine will Prepare STEM teachers with $1.45 million NSF Grant

Bellarmine University will recruit and prepare highly qualified science and mathematics teachers for high-need Kentucky middle and high schools with the support of a five-year $1.45 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce program.
 
The grant will support “Noyce Knights Scholars”— students who wish to teach in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) areas of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.

Doctoral Candidate Accepted to National Fellowship to Study Test-Optional Policies

This article originally appeared on the Texas Christian University News site and is reprinted with permission.

Leslie Ekpe, a Texas Christian University doctoral candidate in higher educational leadership and Holmes Scholar, was named a fellow at the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Center for Leadership and Social Justice. Ekpe was motivated to apply after learning that the fellowship’s foundation was social justice, something that aligns with her current research work.