04 Oct2022
By AACTE
Education systems must adapt and tailor its programming to meet the needs of every learner. The Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR), a technical assistance center, aims to successfully educate and train educator and leader preparation programs to support inclusive education. The center’s aim is to create quality education for every student — with a focus on preparing students with disabilities to achieve college and career-ready standards. This is done by implementing evidence-based practices within multi-tiered systems of support.
CEEDAR, an AACTE partner organization, recently announced two new resources based on evidence-based practices:
30 Aug2022
By AACTE
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.
22 Aug2022
By Natalie Khairallah
Teacher residency programs seek to offer an innovative approach to teacher certification, shifting the landscape of education to better recruit and retain high-quality teachers. These residencies can help attract a diverse pool of teachers — aiming to offset the shortage crisis and address the immediate staffing needs — by offering a supportive and affordable path to teaching.
02 Aug2022
By Natalie Khairallah
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.
26 Jul2022
By Margaret Caspe and Reyna Hernandez
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.
19 Jul2022
By Natalie Khairallah
As school districts prepare for the 2022-23 school year, policymakers are determined to prioritize comprehensive solutions to address staffing shortages, a long-standing issue exacerbated during the pandemic.
AACTE President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone recently shared insight on this topic at a virtual session hosted by the National Governor Association’s (NGA) Community Renewal Task Force. Led by Co-chair and Missouri Governor Mike Parson, the discussion also included Penny Schwinn, Tennessee commissioner of education, and Roberto Rodriquez, assistant secretary of planning, evaluation, and policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.
11 Jul2022
By Kate Cochran and Jacqueline Rodriguez
The National Partnership for Student Success is a public-private partnership committed to providing the supports that will help our students succeed and specifically addresses the ability for students to thrive post-COVID. AACTE has proudly joined the National Partnership for Student Success as a Champion of the initiative.
30 Jun2022
By Natalie Khairallah
Educators in the United States and Japan are invited to register for the Japan-U.S. Teacher Education Consortium’s 32nd conference, JUSTEC 2022, which will take place September 23 – 25. This year’s three-day conference is supported by AACTE; the U.S. Embassy, Tokyo; and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan. It will draw its focus on the theme, “Collaborative Teacher Education in the United States and Japan in the Era of Uncertainties.” Register by August 15 to reserve your spot.
28 Jun2022
By Natalie Khairallah
The Council of State Governments (CSG) is partnering with the Department of Defense and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification to develop the Interstate Teaching Mobility Compact (ITMC) — a new interstate compact — to help offset the steep shortage of teachers across the nation.
The ITMC is a legal contract between two compact member states that will allow teachers greater mobility and more employment opportunities inside the classroom by eliminating additional licensing and testing barriers that would be typically required.
28 Jun2022
By Natalie Khairallah
Among the many challenges K-12 educators are gearing up for this upcoming academic year, building more equitable, inclusive schools is of utmost priority. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is proposing a new project for the U.S. Department of Education’s Innovation and Research program to implement and test a whole-school program called “Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practice.”
MIT invites all district school administrators, teachers, and staff to participate in this 12-16 hour online course — and share with any partnering district.
17 Jun2022
By Lisa Bisogno
AACTE’s 2022 Washington Week was by far the most productive, inspirational, and collaborative Washington Week than those I previously attended. The culmination of Holmes Scholars, State Leaders Institute (SLI), and Day on the Hill allowed scholars, deans, faculty, and state affiliate leaders to discuss and gather new perspectives on the three strands:
- Censorship
- Educator shortage
- Educator diversity
A sense of unity and gaiety could be felt as state teams worked together to plan their discussion about legislation priorities and strand topics during congressional visits with senators and congressmen/women.
10 Jun2022
By James Minichello
The 17 organizations above representing the full breadth of the national K-12 education community, including school superintendents, administrators, educators, school mental health providers, school staff and parents, call on Congress to swiftly pass legislation that will address the senseless epidemic of gun violence in this country.
Schools and educators alone cannot bear the full burden of addressing the public health crisis of gun violence. The answer to stopping gun violence in our schools is not to arm our educators or to focus solely on better addressing the mental health crisis. As a nation, we must take a hard look at the various societal factors that are contributing to our high rates of gun violence and suicide and commit to meaningful action.
08 Jun2022
By AACTE
The Center for American Progress (CAP) and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) today released The Alternative Teacher Certification Sector Outside Higher Education. The report, which builds upon CAP’s 2020 study of this sector, updates and extends the analysis to include more recent student data and a historical look at patterns in the teacher preparation program landscape.
In response to the teacher shortage, some states allow non-traditional models for preparing teachers, including alternative certification programs run by organizations other than colleges and universities. According to the report authors Jacqueline King, senior consultant to AACTE, and Jessica Yin, former policy analyst for the K-12 Education Team at CAP, The Alternative Teacher Certification Sector Outside Higher Education provides information for policymakers, education researchers, and leaders in educator preparation seeking to better understand this sector and identify necessary legislation, regulations, or opportunities for additional research. It tracks enrollment and completion trends in this sector over the last decade, with particular attention to fast-growing programs run by for-profit companies that account for nearly 70 percent of all students enrolled in the sector as of academic year 2018-19.
07 Jun2022
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
On June 8, the EdPrepLab, a collaboration between the Learning Policy Institute and Bankstreet College, will host its annual Spring Convening. Registration closes Tuesday, June 7.
Speakers will discuss research on new design principles for educator preparation based on the science of learning and development. We will kick off the discussion with a keynote address by Pamela Cantor, MD, founder and senior science advisor of Turnaround for Children, on the importance of using the science of learning and development to design learning environments for PK–12 students. We will then turn to a conversation about how EdPrepLab is using the science of learning and development to craft principles for the preparation of teachers and leaders. These principles will sharpen EdPrepLab’s focus on the structures and practices educator preparation programs need to enact in order to prepare teachers and leaders focused on deeper learning and equity. Speakers will discuss the critical role these principles should play in designing preparation programs that develop the educators all our students need and deserve.
07 Jun2022
By Matthew Wales
Today, representatives from several AACTE member institutions, along with AACTE staff, representatives from both the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), and colleagues from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE), committed to leveraging their resources to support the adoption of the EPP Digital Equity and Transformation Pledge.
In a signing ceremony at the U.S. Department of Education with Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten, the following AACTE members, on behalf of their respective institutions, committed their educator preparation programs to expanding and scaling digital equity and transformation in learning:
