Join the Webinar: Discover How to Make the Most of AACTE Connect360

By Meghan Grenda

AACTE invites you to attend a webinar to introduce you to the new members-only AACTE Connect360 resource, walk you through how to access its many features, and provide resources to help get you better acquainted.  Topics will cover how to setup your community profile, how to join and post a discussion to a community, how to connect with colleagues, and how to explore the unique community libraries where member can upload resources, share documents, and participate in the ongoing conversation. 

Connect360 is an engaging and interactive virtual platform that brings together AACTE’s community in an exciting way. Featuring over 20 unique communities, a community of over 15,000 individuals, and dozens of discussion posts, members can begin discussions, ask questions of fellow AACTE members, provide insight on each other’s posts, and share best practices.  

Turning a Crisis into an Opportunity to Invest in Teachers

By Jane E. West

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Rahm Emanuel, Former Mayor of Chicago

In the past year, our nation’s educational system faced an epic crisis brought about by the pandemic, leaving education leaders wondering when relief would be in sight. That relief arrived on March 11, 2021, when the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) was passed by Congress, allocating approximately $130 billion for the K-12 education system and nearly $40 billion for the higher education system. As the Biden-Harris administration launches into action with the massive rollout of unprecedented education funding, school districts now have the financial resources and the opportunity to collaborate with educator preparation programs (EPPs) to tackle a long-standing crisis—the shortage of professionally qualified educators.

The Consumer’s Guide to Data: New resource from DQC

By Blair Mann

As advocates, we want data to be used for accountability and transparency, to tell stories, and to inform impactful, equitable policies. But without context, clarity, transparency, the stories data could tell about school, student, and teacher experiences can be lost to misinformation and distrust.

Last week, the Data Quality Campaign released a new resource that breaks down what it means to build trust in data for both those who share it and those who consume it—providing tips to make meaning from the numbers that you see so you can demand clarity, uncover biases, understand how to foster trust in data, and take action armed with full information.

This Consumer’s Guide to Data is an especially great resource for producers of data (such as state or district leaders) and consumers of data (parents, families, or interested community members), but it can also be valuable to advocates who are looking to support good decision making and storytelling at every level.

Download the guide.

Congress Faces Packed Summer Agenda

By Jane E. West

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. 

 Congress Will Sprint to the Fall with a Packed July Agenda

As we head into the final week of June, Congress is poised for an intense July. Between the upcoming July 4 recess and the coveted month-long August recess, there are only a few legislative weeks in which to complete action on critical measures to keep the wheels of the federal government in motion. This week, the House began marking up the first two (of 12 in total) appropriations bills. Many insiders report that the House is on track to pass most, if not all, of the appropriations bills in July. But the Senate is still lagging well behind with no set plans for markups or floor consideration. However, the markups and floor considerations of appropriations bills are just one piece of the larger, more complicated summer Congressional agenda.

Access AACTE 2021 Annual Meeting Videos

By Linda Minor

• Strand 1 – Preparing Educators In and For the Future
• Strand 2 – Renewing Democracy through Activism and Collaboration
• Strand 3 – Addressing Public Concerns for the Future of the Profession
• Strand 4 – Confronting the Challenges Facing Our Programs and Institutions

ETS and AACTE Seek Member Input: Pilot PlanWise™ Formative Assessment Tool

By Jacqueline Rodriguez

AACTE is excited to announce a new opportunity for members to pilot the PlanWise™ tool, a Chrome Extension developed by ETS and focused on delivering formative assessment practices and strategies. The PlanWise™ tool meets teachers where they are in a number of ways, including by 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, there is increased interest in expanding use of the PlanWise™ tool to teacher candidates. Many novice teachers in the initial pilot valued 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.

AACTE 2021 Leadership Academy Registration is Open

By Linda Minor

Registration is open for the 2021 Leadership Academy Series designed for educational leaders navigating the challenges of the current global environment. This three-part series will augment your leadership skills during these unprecedented times. The first of these virtual series will take place August 11^.  The second will be held in October and the final session of the series is scheduled for January 2022.

AACTE Launches New Podcast ‘Revolutionizing Education’

By Jerrica Thurman

 
In this episode, we hear from AACTE members Kyle Harrison, Kelly Hayek, and Irene Ann Resenly from the University of Wisconsin who explore the role of joy in teacher education.

Findings from the National Survey of Colleges and Universities Preparing Educators for Family Engagement

By Margaret Caspe and Weade James

“Teacher education programs need more guidance on how to include family engagement.” Department Chair, Early Childhood/Elementary Education, Public University

“We have recently hired faculty for whom family engagement is a focus. We will be incorporating more family engagement activities and opportunities for learning more about how to engage families.” Department Chair, General Education, Public University

 “Graduates feel moderately prepared [for family engagement].  They remark that more focus in this area would be useful. Employer surveys confirm this.” Department Chair, Early Childhood and Special Education, Private University

These are just some of the many ideas and insights that higher education faculty and department chairs shared with the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) via its National Survey of Colleges and Universities Preparing Educators for Family Engagement.  Our thanks to everyone who completed the survey, which was designed to understand how educator preparation programs are preparing education candidates to engage and work with families and communities.  The survey was conducted in partnership with AACTE, CAEP (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation), MAEC (Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium), NEA (National Education Association), and faculty and state leaders who are part of NAFSCE’s Pre-service Family Engagement Consortium.

Congress Moves Forward on Education Funding for FY 2022

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.  

Congress Cranks into Gear to Move Budget and Appropriations Bills 

This week, education advocates were pleased to learn that the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee in the House will be marking up their FY 2022 spending bill on July 12.  This represents the first significant move toward the September 30 finish line when new funding levels need to be determined.  Education advocates are holding their breath, hoping to see the massive education spending investments requested by President Biden reflected in the House bill. His request includes a 41% increase for the Department of Education and significant new investments to address issues in the teacher pipeline, including unprecedented increases in funding for educator preparation programs.

Register Now and Save with Early Bird Rates for AACTE 2022 Annual Meeting

By Linda Minor

Registration is now open for the 2022 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, March 4-6, 2022.  The AACTE Annual Meeting is an opportunity to gather together each year to advance the profession through education, networking, exhibitor interaction, and much more. Register now to receive discounted rates.

Nakisha Whittington Named June Holmes Scholar of the Month

By Leslie Ekpe

Congratulations to Nakisha Whittington, Holmes Scholar of the Month for June 2021. Whittington is a scholar at Pennsylvania State University and recently defended her dissertation, “Exploring the Digital Literacy Practices of Black Elementary Students in a New Orleans Charter School.”

As an educator, Whittington has experience in K-12 classrooms and instructing undergraduate students in the Elementary Education program at Penn State.  

 Whittington’s research interests are centered around digital literacy practices of urban youth. She has published several articles on effective instructional practices to meet the needs of diverse learners, including Scaffolding inclusivity through making: A preliminary analysis of diverse learners’ meaning making through complex systems. Whittington also serves as a reading specialist and editorial assistant for an educational research journal.

AACTE Teacher Stories: How Elementary School Students Found Their Voice and Became Changemakers

By James Loy

Ed Prep Matters features the “AACTE Teacher Stories,” series to spotlight the experiences of K-12 educators who are attending or are alumni of AACTE member institutions. AACTE invites preservice and in-service school teachers to reflect on how they are applying the practices, frameworks, and strategies they acquired during their educator preparation program (EPP) studies to assure student success. Email stories to knorfleet@aacte.org.

In this article, Miami University’s James Loy profiles Alli Huff, an alumna of the university’s teacher education program, who shares how she applied concepts like “inverting the curriculum” that propelled students to become co-curriculum creators. Huff was introduced to the student-centered approach by her teacher preparation program educators. The article originally appeared on the University of Miami website and is reprinted with permission.

Federal Funding Is Available for States to Address the Challenges of COVID-19

By Ward Cummings

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), a law providing $122 billion for the ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER), was established to help state educational agencies and school districts address safety and sustainability concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.  Among other things, the funding provided by the measure is being used by state education systems to accelerate and sustain a safe return to in-person instruction, to expand access to vaccination for staff and students, to fund summer school and to help students cope with the loss of classroom time.   

In June of 2021, the U.S. Department of Education made public an online resource detailing how states plan to use the ARP ESSER funding. The online resource describes, for example, how New Jersey will use the funds to provide state-level support for school nurses and how New Mexico is setting up a $6 million joint program with local municipalities to provide summer internships for middle and high school students. Massachusetts will use the funds to offer summer school matching grants for school districts, and Oklahoma will use approximately $35 million to hire new school counselors, licensed mental health professionals and licensed recreational therapists.

AACTE Celebrates Juneteenth

By Michael Rose

AACTE will close its offices tomorrow in recognition of Juneteenth, which honors the day when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to enforce the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Until that day, June 19, 1865, Black men, women, and children in Texas remained enslaved, despite the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth, as named by the newly freed citizens, is celebrated annually on June 19. Congress voted this week to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

AACTE staff pauses its work to reflect on the violence, including murder, that our Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian-American Pacific-Islander, and Transgendered populations are particularly experiencing, in addition to the long history of violence against these groups of people. AACTE condemns, in the strongest terms, this violence and invites all its colleagues to work together to create a society in which no one should fear for their lives based on the color of their skin or gender identity.