27 Jan2015
By Linda McKee
AACTE is very pleased to welcome three new interns from George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. Amanda Bush, Christine DeGregory, and Donna Sacco will be working through May 2015 with Rod Lucero, our senior director for membership engagement and support, and me, AACTE’s senior director for performance measurement and assessment policy.
Over the next semester, the GMU interns will learn the dynamics of performance measurements, assessment policies, and clinical practice in the setting of a national association focused on continuous improvement and support. This is an exciting time for AACTE to guide the field while advocating for and building capacity for high-quality preparation programs. Cooperating with our member institutions to employ education interns has long been a goal for AACTE, and we are excited to see this aim realized.
20 Jan2015
By Sharon Robinson
This post also appears on the Public School Insights blog of the Learning First Alliance.
Last week, the White House announced a new push to protect students’ digital privacy, as ever-expanding data collection efforts heighten concerns from parents and advocacy groups about appropriate uses of the data. Institutions of higher education share the administration’s priority to protect elementary and secondary students and uphold diligent safety and privacy practices in preparing teachers for the classroom. Ultimately, safeguarding student data is everyone’s business.
13 Jan2015
By Cap Peck
Academic leaders in teacher education are currently faced with unprecedented policy pressures related to collecting, reporting, and acting on an intensifying array of program outcome measures. Moreover, many of the state and federal policies driving these pressures are saturated with paradox, attempting to address multiple and often contradictory goals. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is related to the essential tension between policy goals related to identifying and eliminating “low-performing programs,” and those related to “program improvement.” Coping with contradictory discourses and policies related to accountability, program improvement, and “data use” has become one of the facts of life experienced by virtually all contemporary teacher educators.
10 Dec2014
By Sharon Robinson
A version of this post also appears on the edTPA web site.
When Georgia begins requiring edTPA for teacher certification in 2015-16, it will be the final phase of an implementation process marked by small steps to help educators learn more about performance assessment and then bigger steps to include, inform, and support key audiences.
09 Dec2014
By Andrea Whittaker and Nicole Merino
A version of this post also appears on the edTPA web site.
A team of teacher preparation experts experienced with edTPA will be available beginning in January 2015 to support the implementation of edTPA by teacher preparation programs across the country.
The National Academy consultants will be recruited and trained by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) in partnership with AACTE.
09 Dec2014
By Jerrica Thurman
The six major forums at AACTE’s 67th Annual Meeting will be stand-alone offerings. In each of three dedicated time slots spanning February 27-March 1, 2015, participants will choose between two cutting-edge topics to explore with leaders in the field.
24 Nov2014
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE has hired two new senior directors in the Department of Policy and Programs. Linda S. McKee is the Association’s senior director for performance measurement and assessment policy, and Rodrick S. Lucero will be senior director for member engagement and support.
“We are delighted to welcome Linda and Rod to AACTE,” said Mark LaCelle-Peterson, AACTE vice president for policy and programs. “Each of them brings extensive experience in education, from public schools and higher education to work with associations. They’ll add to our ability to respond to the needs of our members in an immense way.”
12 Nov2014
By AACTE
AACTE Members Leading Efforts to Develop and Rigorously Assess Teacher Candidates
In its latest effort to cast the nation’s schools of education in a negative light, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) today released a report claiming that vague, “criterion-deficient” assignments in educator preparation programs result in too many high grades among teacher candidates, compared with students in other majors at the same institutions. The report, Training Our Future Teachers: Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them, rests on the same meager evidence—mere document reviews—as NCTQ has used in past reports. One of its underlying tenets, however, is important, if not new: that teacher candidates and their readiness to practice must be developed and assessed fully and accurately, an area that is already the subject of intense focus and innovation led by the educator preparation community.
10 Nov2014
By Omar Davis
The third annual edTPA National Implementation Conference, held last month in Los Angeles, drew nearly 400 educators and policy leaders from 28 states and more than 100 universities.
Convened at the University of California Los Angeles to accommodate record attendance, this year’s conference featured 32 plenary and breakout sessions, including a panel on how to promote and sustain partnerships between teacher preparation programs and cooperating PK-12 schools.
09 Oct2014
By Kim Murray
Want to stay current with your TAG? Looking for the latest edTPA information? Want to know about new programs that match your interests? Be sure to keep your personal AACTE profile current to reflect your areas of interest and up-to-date contact information.
Why not update your profile now? Just log in to our online Profile Manager – it’s easy and fast.
Questions? Contact the AACTE membership department at membership@aacte.org.
03 Oct2014
By Sharon Robinson
What will it take to build a better teacher? That’s the question that was recently discussed in a PBS NewsHour report featuring Elizabeth Green, cofounder and CEO of Chalkbeat and author of the new book Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (And How to Teach It to Everyone).
In her book, Green explores the qualities and experiences that impact a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, underscoring one of the most important factors in performance: their preparation. She emphasizes that effective teaching requires not only intellect, but also a strong set of skills developed through rigorous instruction and clinical experience. Green’s book pierces through the complexities surrounding program quality to ask fundamental questions about how teachers become great and how schools of education can best support that process.
30 Sep2014
By Omar Davis
The annual National edTPA Implementation Conference will be held October 24 – 25 at the University of California, Los Angeles. Preregistration closes October 13, and space is limited!
This year’s conference, titled “Implementation for and as Learning,” will convene higher education administrators, state agency representatives, clinical supervisors, and others engaged in edTPA implementation. Lorrie Shepard of the University of Colorado at Boulder will be featured as the keynote speaker.
Come share your experiences and hear others’ perspectives of how edTPA is being used in teacher preparation programs nationwide.
Visit http://edtpa.aacte.org/events for more information and to register.
30 Sep2014
By Andrea Hajek and Kristin Hamilton
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is recruiting practicing teachers as well as undergraduate and graduate preservice teachers to participate in field tests of the revised National Board certification process. This is a great opportunity to help shape the future of the teaching profession and experience a sample of the performance-based assessment that thousands of teachers have called transformative.
19 Sep2014
By Kristin McCabe
With the school year now in full swing, we know it’s a challenge to stay on top of your professional reading. Here are a few hot assignments you won’t want to miss:
1. Journal of Teacher Education
The latest issue of AACTE’s journal offers fascinating insights into the professional development and practice of teacher educators. Based on the premise that “while research on teaching informs research on teacher education, the latter needs a specialized knowledge base of its own” (see the issue’s editorial), articles address general and specific elements of that knowledge base, professional identity, core practices, and more.
Extra credit:Read the latest research to be published in future issues of the journal! It’s posted on a rolling basis in Sage’s Online First system.
15 Sep2014
By Omar Davis
Please join us September 16, 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT, for a free webinar with faculty from minority-serving institutions (MSIs) who will discuss how they have used edTPA resources to initiate change within their programs.
This webinar will be led by Fran Oates of Winston-Salem State University (NC), Felicia Mayfield of Clark Atlanta University (GA), and Patricia Steinhaus and Cynthia Valenciano of Chicago State University (IL) and moderated by me. Learn how to address issues of student achievement, curriculum reform, and educator preparation advancement from these faculty members’ unique experiences and findings. Take away solid methods for capacity building among the professional community.
Please visit the AACTE Resource Library to access a recording of the webinar.
