Discover How to Make the Most of AACTE Connect360

By Jerrica Thurman

• How to setup your community profile
• How to join a community and post a discussion
• How to connect with colleagues
• How to use the community libraries and explore shared resources and documents from community members
• How to engage in rich discussions with peers
• And more!

Pilot the PlanWise™ Tool That Delivers Formative Assessment Strategies

By Jacqueline Rodriguez

Don’t miss your opportunity to pilot test PlanWise™ tool, a Chrome Extension developed by ETS and focused on delivering formative assessment practices and strategies.

AACTE, in collaboration with ETS, is excited to provide all of its members with this exciting opportunity. The PlanWise™ tool meets teachers where they are in a number of ways, such as providing suggestions for formative assessment strategies to teachers and teacher candidates while they are lesson planning in Google Docs. After an initial pilot with K-12 teachers, novice teachers noted the value and the utility of the tool in identifying a variety of new formative assessment strategies and indicated that the strategies increased their use of formative assessment with students.

Diversity in the Classroom: Why Representation Matters

By Jacqueline Rodriguez

This article originally appeared in Diverse Issues in Higher Education and is reprinted with permission.

Teacher diversity is invaluable for all students. Having a teacher of color at the helm of a classroom benefits all learners, both academically and through deep and enriching social emotional connections. However, according to The White House’s fact sheet for The American Families Plan, while teachers of color can have a particularly strong impact on students of color, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only one in five teachers are people of color, compared to more than half of K-12 public school students. That is why President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $9 billion in American teachers, addressing shortages, improving training and supports for teachers, and boosting teacher diversity.

Why teacher diversity matters

Representation in the classroom matters. Having a diverse teacher workforce connects cultures, sets high expectations, and reduces implicit bias. Far too often, students of color feel isolated, underrepresented or mistreated, which leads to lower graduation and higher dropout rates. Decades of research has demonstrated that teachers of color can help close access and opportunity gaps for students of color while being vital to the well-being of students of all races. With a teacher of color leading a classroom, students of color see themselves represented and identify with them as role models. A diverse teacher workforce not only supports a student’s academic and social and emotional outcomes, it can lead classroom students to consider becoming educators themselves.

AACTE Combating Racism Webinar Focuses on Authentic, Action-Oriented Allyship

By Nicole Dunn

A panel of experts who have dedicated their careers to the pursuit of equity in education will present AACTE’s first webinar produced for a “White Racial Justice” informal affinity group as part of AACTE’s in Combating Racism in Educator Preparation series. Join your like-minded peers and attend the webinar, “Combating Racism in Education Prep: An Introduction to Authentic, Action-Oriented Allyship as Educators” on July 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Through the panelists’ diverse background and experiences, the presenters will introduce language, frameworks, resources, and strategies for the audience to use in their learning and reflection to be anti-racist educators and learn discussion and advocacy techniques to use in their professional and personal lives.

This is an opportunity for anyone who is an educator or education advocate to learn more about and/or re-energize and re-frame the conversation on creating equitable educator preparation programs that prepare teachers to enter the country’s schools armed with not just an understanding of how we got here, but also with strategies to be advocates for themselves and their students who may have less institutional agency. 

Washington Update: Education Spending Bill and Changes to TEACH Grants

By Jane E. West and Kaitlyn Brennan

House Appropriations Committee Set to Move on Education Spending Bill

While many Members of the Senate traveled home this week for a scheduled state work period, Members of the House of Representatives kept things moving on Capitol Hill setting funding levels for the FY2022 appropriations bills.

The House Appropriations Committee voted on allocations for each of the FY2022 appropriations measures which are moving through the House with hopes of meeting the September 30 deadline. Referred to as 302(b) allocations—these numbers reflect how much money is available for each of the 12 appropriations bills. Essentially, this is the House Democrats’ opening offer for proposed funding levels for FY2022. The Senate has not yet taken a position on 302(b) allocations for their versions of the bills and that could delay movement down the road.

Practicing Radical Self-Care to Thrive in Scholarship and Life

By Paul Massy

The pandemic has impacted every dimension of the human spirit. Therefore, the recent session of the Holmes Program Summer Webinar Series was timely. When I signed up for the session titled, “Practicing Radical Self-Care to Thrive in Scholarship and Life,” I wondered what was radical self-care and why was it essential? The presenters’ knowledge, skills and dispositions eventually answered the question resoundingly with their stories and activities.

Kimberly-White Smith, dean of the LaFetra College of Education at the University of La Verne, reminded us of the critical context we are currently experiencing. Many of us are engaged in activities that have us navigating different spaces and experiences, especially doctoral students with a clear goal to graduate. Therefore, in the session, we were exposed to tools that will allow us to monitor our trajectory as we continued our scholarship.

Complete Your Entry for the 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award

By Linda Minor

The deadline is approaching for the AACTE 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award. Applications can be submitted through the online submission system now through August 20. This award includes a $1,000 cash prize, as well as special recognition at AACTE’s 74^th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, March 4-6, 2022.

The Outstanding Dissertation Award, overseen by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination, recognizes excellence in research (or its equivalent) that contributes to the knowledge base of educator preparation or of teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation.

New for Members: AACTE Connect360 Guide and Webinar Tutorial

By Jerrica Thurman

AACTE Leads Task Force on Teacher Preparation in Higher Ed

By Michael Rose

Earlier this year, AACTE reconstituted the Higher Education Task Force.  The task force, which was previously led by AACTE, will share information about the policy work underway in the teacher preparation world with our higher education colleagues and inform Congress and other key officials about important developments related to the field.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the change of administrations and other factors, the task force was dormant for a short time. But AACTE’s colleagues eagerly accepted our invitation to rejoin.

Task force participants are from the major associations of higher education, whose members are presidents of institutions of higher education. Members include the American Council on Education (ACE), American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and UNCF. 

AACTE Summer Savings on Office and Classroom Supplies for Members

By Meghan Grenda

As a member of AACTE, you have access to discounted on Office Depot pricing wherever business takes you. Your discount never expires and can be used for personal, school, or business purchases such as ink, toner, paper, and cleaning and classroom supplies!

Find all the essential items you need to keep running as efficiently as possible. With free next-business-day shipping, AACTE make sure you have what you need, when you need it.

Register Early for 2021 Washington Week

By Linda Minor

Registration for AACTE’s 2021 Washington Week is now open. Take advantage of the virtual rates and join AACTE’s efforts to advocate for educator preparation programs in a post-pandemic world. Each session will take place during the month of September. 

Holmes Policy Institute – September 8-9

AACTE Holmes Scholars will learn how to advocate for their profession by participating in interactive policy discussions and briefings.

Holmes Scholar – $25

Holmes Program Advanced Policy Short Course – September 14-15

This short course is intended as an introduction to begin equipping you with the knowledge, desire, and skills to be an effective advocate and resource in the policy making process.

Holmes Scholar – $25

Attend the ETS Webinar on Educating for American Democracy

By Trisha DiZio and Jacqueline Rodriguez

There is wide recognition that history and civics have been neglected disciplines in American K-12 education. Recent events, including the January 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, underscored this point and the need to elevate learning in these essential disciplines.

The Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative has garnered broad cross-partisan and stakeholder support as a way to re-imagine and re-prioritize the important civic mission of K-12 public education. AACTE became an EAD organizational Champion in 2021 and is developing professional development that addresses inquiry-based civic instruction in our member educator preparation programs. AACTE is participating in the upcoming webinar, Monitoring Civic Learning Opportunities and Outcomes: State of the Field and Future Directions, on July 13

See the Latest Discussions with AACTE Connect360 Updates

By Jerrica Thurman

 

 

 

Log into your account on aacteconnect360.org and visit your profile page. You may access your profile by selecting your avatar at the top right of the page. Select the “My Account” tab and use the dropdown menu to see your email preferences, as well as communities to which you belong. Edit your notification preferences for each community, including opting to receive real time updates or daily digests.

 

Introducing the Updated AACTE State Affiliate Leaders Manual

By Ward Cummings

AACTE is happy to announce the release of the newly updated State Affiliate Leaders Manual. As with previous versions of this important resource, the purpose of the manual is to advise AACTE state officeholders on how best to use their leadership roles to support and guide their state affiliates, as well as to help them channel their efforts toward improving teacher quality and the education profession in their state, in their region, and nationally. 

Assuming the leadership of an AACTE state affiliate can be a daunting experience for any newly elected president.  Not only must new leaders attend to all the sundry responsibilities associated with the proper functioning of a state chapter, they must also attend to regional duties—such as the responsibility to participate in AACTE regional meetings and activities and the national AACTE State Leaders Institute.  As a guide on how to perform these and other functions, this updated manual is a resource not just for newly elected state leaders, but also for long serving ones.

AACTE’s ‘Combating Racism is Educator Preparation Series’ Offered to Informal Affinity Groups

By Nicole Dunn

You are invited to register for the upcoming BIPOC affinity webinar and White Racial Justice affinity webinar offered as part of the “AACTE Racism is Educator Preparation” series.

AACTE’s “Combating Racism is Educator Preparation Series’ began in 2021 with three specific objectives for our membership, audience, and the field at large:

1. Contextualize the role of racism in structural oppression and how the education system at large maintains and promulgates these oppressive systems.
2. Engage with you, our audience, to understand you and your organization’s understanding and capacity to address racism using antiracist, abolitionist, inclusive, and intersectional policies.
3. Normalize and humanize critical conversations around racism within the field that will lead to collaborative action around structural oppression in education.