12 Oct2016
By Carlos Richardson
Congratulations to October Holmes Scholar of the Month Cara Gafford!
Gafford is a 4th-year doctoral student at Bowie State University (MD). She is also academy director (vice principal) of the Academy of Information Technology at Friendship Collegiate Academy, a college preparatory high school in Washington, DC.
Her research interests include science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and student achievement in STEM learning at high-poverty schools.
04 Oct2016
By Amanda Lester
AACTE is excited to launch a new webinar series highlighting the experiences and findings of each of the 10 institutions in the AACTE Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative Networked Improvement Community (NIC). Kicking off Thursday, October 20, 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. EDT, the inaugural webinar is “Diversifying the Teacher Pipeline at MidAmerica Nazarene, Western Kentucky, and UConn: Lessons From AACTE’s NIC.”
The goal of this NIC is to identify and test strategies to increase the percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino men receiving initial teaching certification through educator preparation programs. This webinar series will provide an inside look at the path of inquiry guiding the NIC’s work and process and how that has shaped and changed recruitment and retention of Black, Hispanic, and Latino male teacher candidates at each institution.
27 Sep2016
By Sarah Pistella
Tampa, Florida, is short 1,000 teachers this year. Nine out of 10 low-income schools have staffing deficits in special education. Across the United States this year, classrooms are in need of 60,000 teachers, and the number could reach 100,000 by 2018. These are among the sobering statistics presented at a national policy forum I attended September 15, sponsored by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI).
The event, “Solving Teacher Shortages: Attracting and Retaining a Talented and Diverse Teaching Workforce,” presented the latest staffing and enrollment data and what they mean for education – ranging from fewer classes and larger class sizes to the hiring of underqualified teachers. Various high-profile speakers explained that shortages are driven largely by attrition of teachers for reasons such as lack of respect and autonomy, poor working conditions, and inadequate pay and administrative support.
15 Sep2016
By Terrance McNeil
Congratulations to September Holmes Scholar of the Month Emily Rose Aguiló–Pérez, who just completed her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at Pennsylvania State University!
Aguiló–Pérez’s research interests are in children’s literature, girlhood studies, and Latino studies. The emphasis of her course of study was language, culture, and society in children’s literature, with a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Her dissertation, Tracing Puerto Rican Girlhoods: An Intergenerational Study of Interactions with Barbie and Her Influence on Female Identities, was led by adviser Jacqueline Reid–Walsh.
15 Sep2016
By AACTE
Today, the Learning Policy Institute released a set of reports that present the latest data on U.S. teacher supply and demand and promote comprehensive recruitment and retention strategies to alleviate persistent shortages. AACTE commends the reports’ attention to the steep cost to students of understaffed schools, particularly in low–income communities, as well as the proposed solutions centered on high-quality clinical preparation of new teachers and reducing the attrition rate among practicing teachers.
School districts across the nation are struggling to staff classrooms with adequate numbers of skilled teachers, forcing them to make tough choices that shortchange students. Many educator preparation programs have stepped up recruitment and developed innovative partnerships with districts to meet local needs. Although these efforts are seeing some success, adjustments to the production end of the educator pipeline cannot compensate for the “leaky bucket” of practicing teachers who, according to the Learning Policy Institute, leave at a rate of nearly 8% per year.
01 Sep2016
By Zachary VanHouten
A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and the Brookings Institution explores the teacher diversity shortages that persist throughout the United States. To illustrate the current imbalance between teacher and student demographics, the report notes that in order to reach uniformity between the two populations, some 1 million White teachers currently in the profession would need to be replaced with approximately 300,000 African American teachers and over 600,000 Hispanic teachers.
Pointing to problems that exist throughout the teacher pipeline, the authors predict that resolving the imbalance in teacher demographics will continue to be challenging. As the nation’s diversity continues to grow, so too will the pressure and struggle to address teacher workforce diversity, they say, requiring a long-term approach to improving it.
16 Aug2016
By Rodrick Lucero
Are your teacher candidates prepared to work with LGBTQ students? We’d like to learn about your perspectives and practices in our joint survey with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), which closes September 15.
In educator preparation, we continually strive to prepare teachers to be more inclusive of and responsive to the range of human diversity their students bring. To help inform this work, it’s useful to survey the field periodically to monitor trends in practice and define a course for moving forward.
25 Jul2016
By Mia Hines, Dominique Battle-Lawson, Ann Traynor, Mark Kohan, Rene Roselle and Dorothea Anagnostopoulos
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Like other programs, our teacher preparation program at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education has long struggled to recruit as many students of color as we’d like. That’s why we joined AACTE’s networked improvement community (NIC) in 2014 to collaborate with other institutions on strategies to bring more Black and Latino men into our programs. Already, we have nearly doubled the percentage of students of color in our program, going from roughly 12% of students to 20% of our entering cohort this fall.
15 Jul2016
By Terrance McNeil
Congratulations to July Holmes Scholar of the Month Adrianne Taylor! Taylor is a third-year doctoral candidate at Florida A&M University (FAMU). She is also a reading coach at Griffin Middle School, a Title I information technology school in Tallahassee, Florida. Her research interests include principal leadership at Title I schools, student achievement at high-poverty schools, and cross-curricular reading.
Taylor exudes the qualities of a Holmes Scholar not only within the organization (including writing for the Scholars Report newsletter) but also within her university and her school district. As vice president of the FAMU Holmes chapter, she facilitates professional development with preservice teachers focused on building capacity in using technology to enhance instruction. Most recently, Taylor was a presenter at the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers Annual Meeting.
06 Jul2016
By Sharon Robinson
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the consideration of race in admissions in its Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin decision. In our contemporary policy context of expanded civil rights—and their accompanying backlash—this ruling prompts reflection on the fundamental value of cultivating a diverse community, especially in educational settings, that includes but also extends beyond race.
Why is it important to give college students the opportunity to learn with peers from both similar and different backgrounds? For all students, having at least a “critical mass” of peers with shared characteristics boosts self-efficacy and academic success. Meanwhile, being situated in a heterogeneous learning community, particularly one that supports interaction both within and across groups, builds students’ interdependence, empathy, and fluency with “otherness.”
30 Jun2016
By Terrance McNeil
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
As practitioners in the field, we know that great things are happening every day in teacher preparation and school leadership. We are also keenly aware of some of the statistics revealed in the recent report of data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The results are disconcerting, and as Secretary John King articulated, reveal the necessity for continued attention to this issue.
13 Jun2016
By Francisco X. Gaytán
When considering the trends in college degree attainment among students of color, there appears to be a tale of two genders, and something must be done about it. In April, I was part of a group of educators from across the country that convened in New Jersey at William Paterson University’s College of Education to consider the issue. The attendees have been working together over the past 2 years as members of AACTE’s Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Initiative Networked Improved Community (NIC), drawing upon the collective expertise of the member institutions to increase representation of Black and Hispanic/Latino males in the teacher workforce.
09 Jun2016
UPDATE: Submission deadline for Best Practice and Professional Achievement Awards has been extended to October 26
By Kristin McCabe
Nominations for all of the 2017 AACTE awards are now open on AACTE’s online submission site. To read detailed submission information, please refer to the official Call for Entries.
Now in its 21st year, AACTE’s awards program recognizes member institutions’ exemplary programs as well as individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to education preparation. For an overview of last year’s winners, see this press release.
24 May2016
By Omar Davis
Holmes Scholar alumna Bridget Steele
Participation in the AACTE Holmes Program produces tangible results for students through many local and nationwide channels of support. These benefits include not only success in completing a course of study but also mentoring and professional networks that extend well past graduation. The following testimonial from program alumna Bridget Steele, who graduated from the University of Central Florida 4 years ago, conveys how being a Holmes Scholar can shape a student’s experience through graduate school and beyond:
17 May2016
By Gail Bozeman
Several members of AACTE’s Member Engagement team attended the U.S. Department of Education’s May 6 National Summit on Teacher Diversity. The event, held at the conclusion of Teacher Appreciation Week, provided a forum to examine the need for a more diverse teaching workforce and to share best practices for recruiting, supporting, and retaining teachers of color.
Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr., offered opening remarks about the importance of diversifying the educator pipeline. “Students of color would benefit from having more educators and role models who look like them,” he said. “And White students would benefit from seeing more people of color in leadership positions in their schools.”
