24 Mar2019
By Leah Wasburn-Moses
“It is a phenomenal program. It allows for all kinds of growth in both teacher candidates and high school students” – Michael Dantley, Dean, Miami University, and AACTE Board Member
“It gives students one-on-one intervention, ability to build relationships, and just increases their successes overall” – Talawanda School District Superintendent Kelly Spivey
Campus Mentors is a clinical practice model that enables teacher candidates to work with youth who are at risk. It creates classrooms on university campuses to support these young people through individualized instruction of any selected curriculum, pedagogy, technology, or assessment. The program is an evidence-based, fiscally sustainable framework that has received national recognition for its youth outcomes. Like other clinical preparation programs, Campus Mentors exposes aspiring educators to real-life challenges and rewards of the teaching profession. Schools and colleges of education, as well as partnering public schools have experienced a number of benefits from partnering with the program.
31 Jan2019
By Beth Fornauf
This article and photo originally appeared in UNH Today and are reprinted with permission.
When Kayla Croteau earned her master’s in secondary education from UNH in 2015, she never imagined that she was only three short years away from another teacher education experience — this time as a teaching mentor for the University of New Hampshire’s Teacher Residency for Rural Education (UNH-TRRE) program.
UNH-TRRE, designed to prepare elementary and secondary math and science teachers to work in rural, high-need New Hampshire schools, is working with its second cohort of future teachers. These UNH students, known as teaching residents, live, learn, teach and volunteer in rural New Hampshire communities over the course of the 15-month master’s program.
Croteau serves as a UNH-TRRE teaching mentor to Alexzandria Steiner, a native of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and current teaching resident in the TRRE program. Steiner, who is seeking secondary certification in life sciences, works with Croteau at Groveton High School, one of the UNH-TRRE partnership schools in Coӧs County.
Teaching residents, embedded in the areas in which they will teach, make connections with local families and begin to identify assets and resources each rural community has to offer.
24 Jan2019
By Caitlin Wilson
As you are making plans for the 2019 Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY next month, please consider joining us for a free preconference workshop focused on Overcoming Challenges to Developing a Quality Assurance System that will take place Thursday, February 21 from 1:00-5:00pm. Given the iterative nature of continuous improvement work, it is critical to develop a quality assurance system (QAS) that is sustained beyond an external review and provides meaningful data upon which evidence-based actions can be made.
11 Dec2018
By Jeff Rea
This article originally appeared on oswego.edu and is reprinted with permission from the SUNY Oswego Office of Communications & Marketing.
The SUNY Oswego School of Education has joined three other educator-preparation schools in Bank Street College’s Prepared to Teach-New York Learning Network, an initiative designed to develop sustainable funding pathways for residency programs that embed teacher candidates in schools and communities for two full semesters.
Prepared to Teach-NY, recipient of a $500,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, cites evidence to support a sea change in what represents "student teaching" in the state. The new model takes a page from residencies in medical professions for deeper, richer, authentic experiences linking school placements to concurrent education coursework.
21 Nov2018
By Lynn M. Gangone and Renée A. Middleton
These letters to the editor, Don’t Blame Admissions Standards and Ed. Colleges Provide Value first appeared in Education Week on November 13, 2018. Reprinted with permission from the authors.
Don’t Blame Admissions Standards
To the Editor:
Marc Tucker has helped us better understand education systems around the world. Unfortunately, in his recent opinion blog post (“Teachers Colleges: The Weakest Link,” November 1, 2018), he demonstrates less understanding of America’s teacher-preparation programs than he has about programs abroad.
15 Nov2018
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE is a national partner for the University of Florida’s Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center, which helps states and institutions of higher education to develop the ability of every teacher to prepare students with disabilities for college and careers. As a federally funded multi-million dollar project, CEEDAR works with AACTE and others to promote the preparation of all educators to have the mindset and skillset for effectively instructing students with disabilities along with all other students in the mainstream classroom.
“This initiative is about ensuring that all educators have the skills to work effectively with students with disabilities,” said AACTE Consultant Jane West, who leads the Association’s work with CEEDAR. “Special education has too often been considered a place and not a service. We are highlighting and promoting preparation for both general and special educators so they can provide effective instruction to students with disabilities in inclusive ways with an eye toward raising expectations and undermining the stigmatizing of students with disabilities.”
09 Nov2018
By Katrina Norfleet
Northwest Missouri State University was presented with the Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) at the opening session of its Annual Meeting last month in Washington, D.C. The award is named in honor of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who was killed in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster, and honors institutions for excellence and innovation.
Recipients of the award have shown evidence of top-level administrative support, alignment with its institutional mission and strategic agenda, contributions to significant institutional improvements or programming, research, and incorporated best practices.
05 Nov2018
By Brian McNeill
This article originally appeared online at news.vcu.edu and is reposted with permission.
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $4.97 million grant to expand Richmond Teacher Residency, help provisionally licensed science, technology, engineering and math teachers move toward full licensure, and provide math and science training to hundreds of local elementary and special education teachers.
Richmond Teacher Residency, a program in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education, is an intensive, school-based teacher preparation program that integrates a research-supported approach for effective teaching with real-world classroom experience. Residents teach in local schools under the mentorship of a veteran teacher, while also earning a graduate degree in either education or teaching from VCU.
15 Oct2018
By Jerrica Thurman
Nearly 40 members of the AACTE Clinical Practice Commission (CPC) and the Special Education Task Force met in Washington, DC on September 24-26 to discuss their separate and shared initiatives that serve as next steps for advancing the new CPC report. Released in January 2018, A Pivot Toward Clinical Practice, Its Lexicon, and the Renewal of Educator Preparation by the CPC offers a framework, guidance, and common lexicon to expand the operationalization of clinical educator preparation. Its 10 proclamations and tenets identify highly effective and evidence-based practices for embedding teacher preparation in the PK-12 environment.
During the planning session, the CPC developed a working plan to advance its emissary work and to create a site-based peer-coaching model. The Taskforce focused on finalizing a series of tenets that will be added to the existing CPC proclamations to provide more specific practice recommendations for special and inclusive educator preparation.
“The CPC met on the first day to discuss the next round of their work, which is to share findings of the report more broadly through focused emissary work and the development of peer coaching strategies,” said Amanda Lester, AACTE director of programs and professional learning. “This emissary work includes a defined plan that will help AACTE members learn more about how to implement the report’s research for developing or expanding their clinical practice model.”
12 Oct2018
By Ann Sebald
The AACTE Co-Teaching in Clinical Practice Topical Action Group (TAG) has awarded two scholars with funds to attend the 2018 National Conference on Co-Teaching, which is being held at St. Cloud State University in Bloomington, MN, October 24-26. The awardees, Brenda Harrison and Rhonda Mannon, are education professionals at the Ceredo-Kenova Elementary School in Wayne County, WV, who have collaborated with Marshall University over the years to implement a Professional Development School (PDS) model of educator preparation that incorporates co-teaching in clinical practice. The funding was made available from an AACTE grant to support the activities and projects of the TAG.
To learn more about the work of the TAG awardees, I invite you to attend the National Conference on Co-Teaching. The conference will examine co-teaching between pre-service and in-service teachers during the student teaching experience and how it enhances the induction and mentoring of teacher candidates, as well as enriches the practice of veteran teachers who have found new energy in teaching and working with students.
09 Oct2018
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) named the 2018 recipients of the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant program on Friday, September 28. In total, the DOE funded 17 grantees from the $43.1 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress in the Fiscal Year 2018 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill.
The TQP grant program is the only federal initiative dedicated to strengthening and transforming educator preparation at institutions of higher education (IHEs). To be an eligible grant recipient, the IHE must offer a baccalaureate or graduate program in education, and collaborate with PK-12 partners. Other requirements include the IHE’s educator preparation program and college of arts and sciences work in partnership with a high-need school or schools in a local, high-need district. This helps prepare teacher candidates to teach in high-need fields by providing practical experience in these schools during their training. The innovative partnerships between IHEs and PK-12 schools transform educator preparation programs as well as provide benefits to teachers in the classroom.
14 Aug2018
By Christina Tschida, Ann Sebald and Kristen Cuthrell
As leaders of AACTE’s Coteaching in Clinical Practice Topical Action Group (TAG), we are pleased to invite applications from PK-12 personnel to secure funding to attend the National Conference on Coteaching in Bloomington, Minnesota, October 24-26. Applications are due September 1 so don’t delay!
About the National Conference on Coteaching
31 Jul2018
By Kristin McCabe
Four final videos are now available in the AACTE Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series focused on the district and community partnerships of the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach. (View these and others in the series on AACTE’s Video Wall.)
The videos capture interviews with faculty, administrators, teacher candidates, and other partners in the Long Beach College Promise and the UTEACH residency program.
24 Jul2018
By Kristin McCabe
In this week’s featured videos in the Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series, participants in the education partnerships of California State University, Long Beach, discuss the hurdles they’ve faced, supports they’ve implemented, and advice to others interested in starting a similar program.
Strong communications and trust lie at the heart of both the Long Beach College Promise and the UTEACH residency program, stemming from the well-developed relationships as well as enabling new collaborations to solve evolving problems.
17 Jul2018
By Kristin McCabe
The AACTE Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series continues this week with its focus on the Urban Teaching Academy (UTEACH) residency program of California State University, Long Beach. The latest video interviews feature members of the Long Beach College Promise Steering Committee and several participants from the university, Long Beach City College, and the Long Beach Unified School District.
