AACTE’s Member Spotlight features an individual from a member institution, highlighting how their work makes a difference in classrooms across the country. Nominate yourself or another member by providing a response to the following questions and sending to mgrenda@aacte.org.
Get to know Sara Skretta …
AACTE is hosting a three-session Back to School Webinar Series, which will begin in August with its first event, “The Growth and Impact of Alternative Certification: Findings from Two Studies.”
For-profit alternative educator preparation programs have seen their enrollment almost triple in the last 10 years. Join AACTE and researchers from the University of Texas, Austin, who have examined national and state trends among alternative certification programs, paint a rich — and concerning — portrait of the impact of these programs as they continue to expand across the United States.
Over the past several years, teacher residency programs have shown immense promise meeting the needs of future teachers and students across the country. However, with the range of different features offered by these programs, an exact definition of teacher residencies has been difficult to identify.
AACTE has named its annual Outstanding Dissertation Award in honor of James D. Anderson, a leading scholar of American education. Anderson currently serves as dean of the College of Education, the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Education, and affiliate professor of History, African American Studies, and Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His landmark 1988 book, The Education of Blacks in the South, transformed the field of African American educational history and also won the American Educational Research Association outstanding book award in 1990.
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
This week marked the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This landmark civil rights legislation represents the promise of inclusion and access for individuals with disabilities across our nation. While our country has made significant progress since the law was signed over three decades ago- there is more work to do to live up to the promise of ADA.
Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Draft FY2023 Funding Bills
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its proposed Democratic fiscal year (FY) 2023 funding bills along with an explanatory statement and summary for each bill. The explanatory statement comes in lieu of a Committee Report and explains the intent behind the funding values and includes an overview and descriptions of each account, list of earmarks, and a programmatic funding table at the end. The Senate bills won’t be marked up, but they will serve as a starting point for negotiations in the fall.
University of Findlay’s College of Education is able to offer the Addressing Educator Shortages Program thanks to the support of the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the University.
Findlay’s Addressing Educator Shortages Program allows post-baccalaureate students to receive up to $14,600 in scholarships towards earning a teaching license in the following areas:
The Virginia State University College of Education has announced an innovative program which will enhance the experience of future teachers serving Richmond and Petersburg, while earning a Teacher License and Masters degree “free” of charge.
In the new teacher residency program, graduate students will co-teach and earn a Master of Education within one year, while gaining real-world experience in a classroom under the supervision of a master teacher. Once the co-teacher earns the degree, they must commit to full-time teaching positions in their residency school division for an additional 3-years.
The Kansas State University College of Education is adding a new pathway to the teaching profession for career changers who want or need to work full time while pursuing their teaching license and master’s degree in education.
The Kansas State Board of Education recently approved the Master of Arts in teaching residency, which leads to elementary licensure. It is an 18-month online program with three entry points each year: August, May and December. The equivalent program for those seeking licensure for secondary classrooms was approved in March.
Last summer, the National Association for Family School and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) released, in partnership with AACTE and other vital partners, findings of our national survey of educator preparation programs. We thank many of the AACTE members who responded to the survey the purpose of which was to investigate how educators are prepared to engage families and communities in their practice. Results of the research showed that only half of educator preparation programs have a standalone course on family and community engagement and nearly all struggle to embed family and community engagement topics throughout their curriculum meaningfully. This is unfortunate, particularly in light of the teacher shortage crisis, given that strong respectful relationships with families and communities are key reasons that educators choose to stay in the profession.
AACTE announced today that it named its annual Outstanding Book Award in honor of the prominent American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator Gloria J. Ladson-Billings. Distinguished for her work in the field of education, her expertise is in cultural pedagogy and equity in educator and student instruction, including critical race theory.
The Outstanding Book Award, given annually, recognizes an author or book that makes a significant contribution to the knowledge base of educator preparation. The award, overseen by the AACTE Committee on Research and Dissemination, acknowledges those that offer a fresh lens on current assumptions or practices, reorient thinking in the field, and show potential for significant impact on policy or practice in educator preparation.
This article originally appeared on K-12 Dive.
In an effort to combat teacher shortages, the Florida Department of Education is enlisting military personnel, veterans and their spouses to teach in the state’s classrooms without a bachelor’s degree requirement.
Requirements for the five-year temporary teaching certificates for veterans include:
This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Time is winding down in Congress as Members prepare for the summer recess. While there is always much to be done- we don’t expect much movement on FY2023 appropriations until the fall. As always, your voice at the table is imperative to ensuring investments in the special educator and specialized instructional support personnel workforce remain at the forefront.
Coastal Carolina University’s Spadoni College of Education and Social Sciences has partnered with TEACH South Carolina to help recruit students to its undergraduate and graduate education licensure programs, which include the following: early childhood education, elementary education, middle-level education, physical education, special education: multi-categorical, music education, and Master of Arts in Teaching. TEACH South Carolina is a partnership between the S.C. Department of Education and TEACH, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by the U.S. Department of Education.
After seven months of meeting, listening to members, and sharing our on-the-ground experiences, the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT’s) national Teacher and School Staff Shortage Task Force — made up of 25 leaders from state and local affiliates across the country — released a report, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?, which was considered at the union’s biennial convention; the report outlines targeted solutions to ensure educators have the tools, time, trust, and training they need to do their jobs and to stay in their jobs.
This May, a group of students in the Texas Christian University’s College of Education took a week-long trip to the Holocaust Museum of Houston as part of the Warren Fellowship program. The trip was a culmination of studying the Holocaust and antisemitism in Jan Lacina’s Literacy Leadership class. Lacina is the Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education and associate dean of graduate studies in the TCU College of Education.
“I was compelled to integrate course goals, readings, and discussions about the Holocaust into my Literacy Leadership class because of recent antisemitic acts that took place in Texas,” Lacina said.