Indiana’s ‘Global Gateway for Teachers’ to Be Recognized With AACTE Best Practice Award

By Kristin McCabe

AACTE has selected the Global Gateway for Teachers, offered through the School of Education at Indiana University (Bloomington), to receive the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives. The award will be presented at the 68th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Tuesday, February 23, at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

The Gateway program, in existence in various forms for over 40 years, aims to enhance and engage the professional preparation of future educators by offering them experiences in schools, homes, and communities of culturally and linguistic diverse groups in 18 countries and in domestic placements on Navajo reservations and in urban Chicago. Participants are engaged in 18 weeks of student teaching abroad as well as domestically where they immerse themselves in the language, the culture, and the educational system of that nation or community.

The program is directed by Laura L. Stachowski and enjoys strong support from the School of Education’s administration, including Dean Emeritus Gerardo Gonzalez and Interim Dean Terrence Mason.

Join the Conversation at AACTE Town Hall Meeting

By Jerrica Thurman

As you join the nationwide conversation on the future of educator preparation at the AACTE 68th Annual Meeting next week, don’t miss your chance to interact with the Association’s leadership during the Town Hall Meeting. Members of the AACTE Executive Committee will take the stage to discuss topics of interest to the field and answer your questions on Wednesday, February 24, at 11:45 a.m. PST.

“The vision for having a town hall meeting was to get the members actively involved in the issues we are facing,” said Fayneese Miller, who served as chair of the AACTE Board of Directors during 2013-14 and is now president of Hamline University (MN). “How can we as a community begin to solve some of the questions? How do we work collaboratively? How do we ensure that a variety of different voices are heard?”

Take advantage of the opportunity to ask tough questions and receive candid answers from these current AACTE leaders on how the Association is working to support members in meeting the demands of the profession:

Taking Charge of Change in Teacher Education: Confronting the Problem of Coherence

By Deborah Ball and Simona Goldin

“Teaching is a high-stakes practice—there is no more powerful position to hold than that of teaching,” said University of Missouri Kansas City Professor Etta Hollins at her November 2015 TeachingWorks streaming seminar series talk. What’s more, Professor Hollins described coherence as a series of opportunities to learn teaching, “like glue” that makes the opportunities to learn teaching work.

Hollins’ statements capture the commitments that inform the 2016 TeachingWorks/AACTE “Preparing Teachers for Practice” strand of the AACTE Annual Meeting, including a warrant to work together on the problems of change, improvement, and coherence in teacher education. This year’s strand confronts critical obstacles to change in teacher education. We ask boldly: Can we as the profession of teacher education stand up and take charge of change? What—if anything—would you argue should be common in teachers’ preparation across programs? Are there things that we can agree are crucial for any beginning teacher to be committed to and be able to do? Is there a way to reach some common professional ground in ways that are sensitive to contexts and respectful of difference? Is there a way to do this that does not silence or dominate diverse perspectives? What would you argue must vary, and why? Can such difference avoid exacerbating inequality?

Major Forum to Feature Collaborative Approach to Addressing Teacher Shortages

By Nadene Davidson

As chair-elect of AACTE’s Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR), I invite you to join me in an engaging, thought-provoking, and solutions-oriented panel discussion about school-staffing challenges during AACTE’s Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, February 23, at 1:45 p.m., ACSR will host the major forum “A Regional Lens to Addressing Teacher Shortage and Distribution by Subject and Location,” focusing on factors contributing to the western region’s teacher shortages and to the inequitable distribution of effective educators. (You can add the session to your personal schedule in the Online Event Planner).

Learning in 3-D: Shared Perspectives Bring Practice Into Focus

By Sharon Robinson

Have you tried walking around with just one eye open? It’s tough: Your field of vision is limited; your balance suffers; you lack depth perception. Our brains need a variety of signals to bring the world into focus—and of course, this holds true not only for eyesight, but for our comprehension of just about everything.

Educator preparation is no exception. To help us meet the demands of professional practice, we form partnerships that span varying perspectives. One-dimensional views issued from the academy are as unhelpful as those emanating from the state house. But we find meaning and make progress on the tough questions when we tackle them from many angles at once, embracing complexity as an element that is essential to moving forward.

AACTE’s upcoming Annual Meeting—a convening primarily for teacher educators—will bring in these key viewpoints with significant participation from the world of practice and beyond. Beginning with preconference events and running through sessions large and small, this conference will provoke new insights on problems of practice through multidimensional views.

Major Forum to Tackle Tough Questions on ‘Digital Divide’

By Gail Richmond

The editors of the Journal of Teacher Education are pleased to be organizing our annual major forum for AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting.  This year’s session, “Equity, Access, and the Digital Divide: Challenges for Teacher Education,” will be held Wednesday, February 24, 9:00-10:15 a.m. (Be sure to add it to your personal schedule in the Online Event Planner!)

Our goal is to bring together representatives of stakeholder institutions and organizations to discuss how AACTE members, working together, might effectively respond to the challenges teachers face in using technology to meet the needs of all students despite the inequities posed by the digital divide.

68th Annual Meeting Overview

By Jerrica Thurman

Tomorrow is your last chance to register at a discount and to book your hotel room at The Mirage Hotel for the AACTE 68th Annual Meeting! Complete your conference registration by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on January 27 and save up to $40.

Next month, AACTE will hold its 68th Annual Meeting February 23-25 at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Be there to experience the full lineup of conference activities around the conference theme, “Meeting the Demands of Professional Practice: Tough Questions, Tough Choices,” supported by four strands:

Addressing Teacher Shortages at AACTE’s Annual Meeting: A Team Approach

By Sungti Hsu

As the Every Student Succeeds Act rolls back the direct federal involvement in improving student achievement and hands over much of that authority to states, lawmakers throughout the country will be examining a range of issues related to PK-12 education during their 2016 legislative sessions. One of the most pressing concerns on many states’ lists is teacher shortages.

At AACTE’s 2016 Annual Meeting next month in Las Vegas, a three-part series of panel discussions on the topic has been organized with the help of the Advisory Council of State Representatives:

Deans Academy at Annual Meeting to Offer Dedicated Programming for Administrators, Share Survey Results

By Rodrick Lucero

You spoke, and we listened! Many of you have asked AACTE to add programming to the Annual Meeting for education deans. This year, we are pleased to do just that when we host a Deans Academy for education administrators during the Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

This set of sessions, scheduled for 1:45-4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, has been put together by member deans and staff at AACTE for the purpose of providing meaningful information, space for dialogue, and an opportunity to explore solutions to the problems of practice inherent in leading schools, colleges, and departments of education.

Go Green—and Even Win a Contest—With AACTE’s Event Planner

By Jerrica Thurman

Event apps for conferences are no longer a novelty. Businesses and associations everywhere are adopting this technology to facilitate interaction with their audiences—and AACTE is no exception! In response to member requests, and to keep AACTE’s meetings up to speed with industry standards, the Association now offers a custom-designed online Event Planner with full mobile functionality.

“We developed the Event Planner to help our members better manage their time and receive real-time updates during AACTE events,” said Alexandr Gumbar, AACTE’s director of information technology, who created the platform 2 years ago and recently completed its mobile version.

The online planner takes the place of a printed conference program. A digital planner is not only more environmentally friendly than a printed one, but also more accurate: It can nimbly reflect the latest scheduling changes to provide the most up-to-date information during the event. AACTE’s application also guides you around the conference, assists with creating your agenda, notifies you of important announcements, and facilitates your feedback through surveys.

Stories of Impact: University of Nevada, Reno Responds to Local Workforce Needs

By Melissa M. Burnham and Cece Zhou

Ed Prep Matters is featuring “Stories of Impact” to showcase AACTE member institutions with educator preparation programs that are making a positive impact in their communities and beyond through innovative practices. We are committed to sharing members’ success stories and encourage you to do the same.

Teacher shortage is an issue nationwide but especially in Nevada, where 955 classrooms were without licensed teachers at the start of the 2015-16 school year. Now with engineering and technology giants Tesla and Switch establishing a strong presence in northern Nevada, top-quality teachers are in more demand than ever in our community.

AACTE, Nevada EPPs to Host Press Conference on Teacher Shortage

By Jerrica Thurman

To discuss Nevada’s persistent teacher shortages and what local educator preparation providers (EPPs) are doing about it, AACTE will partner with member institutions for a press conference in advance of the 68th AACTE Annual Meeting. The event will be held Monday, February 22, at 2:00 p.m. PST on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Severe staffing shortages in Clark County, Nevada’s largest school district, have been making national headlines and spurring emergency policy changes to boost numbers in the local teaching workforce. The press conference will address how the state’s EPPs, and those in similar contexts around the country, are addressing the crisis.

Officials from Clark County School District, nearby university-based colleges of education, and AACTE will discuss factors contributing to the local shortage as well as efforts to alleviate it. The following panelists have been confirmed to date:

• Staci Vesneske, Former Chief Human Resources Officer, Clark County School District, on special assignment to the superintendent’s office
• Kim Metcalf, Dean, College of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Kenneth Coll, Dean, College of Education, University of Nevada, Reno
• Dennis Potthoff, Dean, School of Education, Nevada State College
• Thomas Reagan, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Great Basin College
• Mark LaCelle-Peterson, AACTE Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs

Promote Your Program at AACTE Job and Information Fair

By Matthew Wales

AACTE will host its second annual Job and Information Fair during the 68th Annual Meeting at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Promote your program or organization for just $150!

The event will be held Wednesday, February 24, 2016, 1:15 – 3:15 p.m. in the Conference Community Center and open to all Annual Meeting attendees.

Tables will be available in two areas:

AACTE Speaker Spotlight Session to Tackle Tough Questions

By Jerrica Thurman

A dynamic panel of education leaders will take on the most pressing questions facing educator preparation during the Speaker Spotlight Session at AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting.

This general session, to be held February 25, 2016, at 12:15 p.m., will feature the following panelists (learn more about them here):

Explore Vegas at the AACTE Annual Meeting

By Jerrica Thurman

The AACTE 68th Annual Meeting will take you to The Mirage Hotel, conveniently located on the Vegas Strip in the center of the city’s attractions. You won’t have to travel far to experience the area’s rich offerings, as The Mirage provides a full menu of restaurant options and headlining entertainment.

From fine dining to casual, you’ll discover a range of flavors to satisfy your appetite at The Mirage. Choose the perfect restaurant for you from these diverse venues: