07 Dec2021
By AACTE
AACTE congratulates former AACTE Board Member Dianne L. Hall Mark on her retirement, effective January 1, 2022. Mark will receive the distinguished professor award from Coastal Carolina University during the fall 2021 commencement ceremony and receive emeritus status upon her retirement.
Mark joined Coastal Carolina University (CCU) in fall 2009 as the dean of the then Spadoni College of Education, where she became the first African American female dean in the University’s history. Since 2011, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses as a professor in the Department of Foundations, Curriculum, and Instruction.
07 Dec2021
By Katrina Norfleet
CNN’s Katie Lobosco recently reported on President’s Biden’s universal pre-K plan that would make preschool available and affordable for six million more children and the resulting challenge of hiring “tens of thousands” of new teachers. In referring to the teaching shortage, Lobosco writes, “The average number of college graduates who completed teacher preparation programs fell 24% between the 2009-10 and 2018-19 academic years, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.”
06 Dec2021
By Nicole Dunn
The third episode of AACTE’s new University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) Podcast series chronicling this Wallace Foundation multi-year principal program redesign initiative is now available. In the last episode, AACTE identified the gaps between “learning” and “doing.” In this episode, guests dive into a case study of the UPPI program at University of Connecticut (UConn ) and what they have learned from their program redesign. Episode 3 features Richard Gonzalez, who oversees the principalship and superintendency program at UConn and serves as the director of UConn’s UPPI initiative project. Gonzalez and current program candidate Symone James, explain the core assessments, how they were tied to clinical practice and what that structure accomplished in closing the “learning” and “doing” gap of principal preparation.
06 Dec2021
By Jane E. West and Kaitlyn Brennan
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide updated information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
It’s the end-of-year countdown season for Congress and a lot is at stake!
Congress Races to the Finish Line
On this past Thursday, just 36 hours before government funding was set to lapse, lawmakers rallied to unite behind a deal that will keep the government funded at its current levels through February 18. The House voted 221-212 to approve the measure. The Senate then passed the 11-week stopgap spending bill in a 69-28 vote—sending the measure to the President’s desk. The legislation, referred to as a continuing resolution (CR), will prevent a government shutdown while keeping the government funded at levels set nearly one year ago by former President Trump.
06 Dec2021
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning (CIDDL) is inviting you to join a community of higher education faculty members focused on sharing tips and tricks, research-based practices, and strategies for innovative use of educational technology in educator or leadership preparation programs. CIDDL’s mission is to influence change that supports the appropriate use of educational technology in all early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE), related services, and K-12 learning environments to improve outcomes for all students, especially those with disabilities.
03 Dec2021
By Michael Rose
Earlier this year, President Bident signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which included more than $125 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund. These funds are being used by state educational agencies and school districts to reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students.
In response, AACTE created a Toolkit to help educator preparation programs collaborate with their local partner districts to allocate the ARP ESSER funds towards strengthening the educator workforce by supporting residency models, grow-your-own programs, and other innovative approaches to develop a pathway into teaching.
03 Dec2021
By Rangasamy Ramasamy
This opinion article originally appeared in Diverse Issues in Higher Education and is reprinted with permission.
The demographics of our nation’s PK-12 student body are changing. In fact, a report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2019 as cited in Burden, 2020) projects that by 2027 the Caucasian student population will decrease to 45%, Latinx student population will increase to 29%, and the African American student population will remain at 15%. Thus, tomorrow’s student body will be more diverse than today and that trend is expected to continue. To meet the needs of the future PK-12 student population, educator preparation programs (EPPs) must attract a greater number of diverse candidates to the teaching profession—and that requires advocating for policies that promote diversity in the classroom and address critical teacher shortages.
02 Dec2021
By Diandra J. Prescod
In Fall 2020, the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education was selected to join the more than 50 higher education institutions nationwide currently sponsoring the Holmes Scholars Program. Meet the new Holmes Scholars through the following Q&As:
Meet Holmes Scholar Sandra Silva-Enos
Hometown: I was born in Lima, Peru, but grew up in both New London, Connecticut, and Waterford, Connecticut.
Which academic program are you in?
I am currently in EDCI [the Department of Curriculum and Instruction] focusing on Bilingual and Bicultural education.
Why did you seek to join the Holmes Program at UConn’s Neag School?
I sought to join the Holmes program because I believe in the power of mentorship and peer support. I think there is something so powerful in community support and mentorship, and as a student of color it is not always easy to find that community in the higher education world. The Holmes Program makes that world more of a reality.
Where were you previous to joining the program?
Prior to joining the program, I was working on a research project focused on sociocultural competence in the dual language classroom. I was and am working with a fabulous research team who are dedicated to the importance of critical consciousness and equity for our linguistically and culturally diverse students.
02 Dec2021
By Rebekah Saylors
Appalachian State University has partnered with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) as part of a five-year, $102 million initiative to prepare school principals who are capable of advancing equity in education.
The Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative, sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, supports eight large, high-needs school districts in building evidence-based principal pipelines—with the goal of developing principals who can advance each district’s own vision of equity.
02 Dec2021
By Kimberly White Smith
AACTE thanks you for being a valued member. Your membership strengthens our collective voice to advance high-quality educator preparation and helps shape the future of education in America.
As a fellow AACTE member, I know that AACTE is committed to providing us with tools and resources to help prepare educators for meeting the challenges in schools today. We can connect with peers on Connect360, learn how to collaborate with local district partners to allocate ESSER funds with the ARP Funding Toolkit, and access the AACTE Advocacy Center—our one-stop shop for member advocacy at the state and federal level. Membership also has cost-saving benefits including:
29 Nov2021
By Michael Rose
AACTE recently posted two action alerts, which are a quick and easy way for you to urge your members of congress to support legislation pending before Congress.
The first action alert calls on Senators to include funding for educator preparation programs in the Build Back Better legislation it is currently negotiating. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed legislation that included more than $1 billion for these programs, an investment that is long overdue. However, it is unclear if the Senate will include this funding in their version of the bill. Your voice can help determine the fate of this critical funding.
29 Nov2021
By Deirdre Smith
In a bonus episode of the Next Education Workforce podcast, former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. tells Brent Maddin of Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College about the impact public school had on King’s life and how his work today has been shaped by his experiences as a student, classroom teacher, civil servant and policymaker.
29 Nov2021
By Linda Minor
Want to know everything that is happening at the 2022 AACTE Annual Meeting? The Event Planner has the entire schedule for each day (all times listed in the Event Planner are Central Time).
Once you have logged in to the Event Planner, you will be able to
- Browse the Full Schedule – Use the search field at the top to locate sessions by presenter name (first or last), title, keywords, and other fields.
- Access Session Information – See a session you might be interested in? Just click on the session title to access a description and list of presenters.
- Share Your Work with Other Attendees – Want to get other attendees interested in your session? If you are the presenter of a session, upload your slides, handouts, and other documents at any time. Just click on your session and then click the “manage handouts” button on the bottom.
29 Nov2021
By John Henning
Clinical experience is critical to the success of teacher candidates. It allows them to receive real classroom experience while they foster relationships with students and build their own instructional skills.
But, even with the skills they learn leading up to the clinical experience, teacher candidates can’t just enter the field and be expected to succeed. There’s a whole host of skills that cannot be taught in a college classroom or via a textbook. And, teacher candidates—just like classroom teachers themselves—need ongoing coaching and feedback to continuously improve their practice.
29 Nov2021
By Joshua P. Starr
Educators Rising, a national Grow Your Own career and technical education (CTE) program that inspires high school students to become educators, announced a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education to expand to 30 schools across the state, with an emphasis on serving high-needs areas and recruiting diverse students into the profession. The partnership, partially funded through a generous grant from the Walton Family Foundation, more than doubles the potential footprint of the program in the state.
With chapters in all 50 states, Educators Rising offers students the opportunity to develop necessary classroom skills and experience teaching through co-curricular learning and supervised clinical experiences while still in high school. The program can be set up as an extra-curricular activity or as a co-curricular experience and offers a classroom-ready curriculum that can also be implemented at the school level. Educators Rising helps increase teacher diversity through tools and resources designed to address the needs of diverse students and broaden the types of students who explore teaching as a profession.
