22 May2017
By Ciera Simms and Kristin McCabe
As this spring’s graduates march across stages and celebrate their newly earned teaching licenses, 14 students in the College of Education at Rowan University (NJ) still have a few years of work before heading to their first teaching jobs. But as participants in Rowan’s Project Increasing Male Practitioners and Classroom Teachers (Project IMPACT), they are well on their way to not only graduating but also remedying the persistent shortage of male teachers of color.
Majoring in education fields from early childhood to music, math, science, and more, these young men from the South Jersey area receive an annual $4,000 scholarship, mentoring and study supports, and hands-on experiences in schools in exchange for their commitment to return as teachers for at least 3 years in high-need public schools. The program is designed to equip candidates with the skills and supports to persist in their high-attrition field while effectively enhancing student learning.
09 May2017
By Kristin McCabe
Cynthia B. Dillard
Are you developing, implementing, or evaluating policies or practices that help increase the numbers and improve the experiences of teachers of color? The Department of Teacher Education at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) wants to hear from you! Paper proposals are due May 15 for a September event, “Teacher Diversity Matters: A National Symposium on Preparing, Recruiting, and Retaining Teachers of Color.”
The symposium, to be held September 15 at NKU, will feature a keynote address from Cynthia B. Dillard of the University of Georgia titled “You Are Because I Am: The Necessity of Identity, Mutuality, and Equity in Teacher Education.” Other sessions will highlight accepted papers from researchers, practitioners, and students based in PK-12 and higher education.
01 May2017
By Sharon Brennan
The author and her collaborators presented a free AACTE webinar last month, “Building Teachers’ Cultural and Global Awareness to ‘Reach and Teach’ All Students”; the webinar recording and slides are available here. See also her earlier blogs on this topic, “Preparing Teachers to ‘Reach and Teach’ All Students” and “The Nature of Cultural and Global Learning: Key Concepts for Teacher Preparation.” The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
The University of Kentucky has been working to transform education programs to better prepare teachers for the diversity of their future classrooms. But we are hardly alone – educator preparation programs, state agencies, accrediting bodies, and others are all directing energy and support toward ensuring the education workforce is prepared to reach and teach all students.
04 Apr2017
By Amanda Lester
A major forum at last month’s AACTE Annual Meeting highlighted actions under way to diversify the teaching workforce and advance social justice at universities across the country. Titled “Meeting the Needs of All Learners: Advancing Social Justice and Diversity in Teacher Preparation,” the forum featured panelists from four Association initiatives working toward these objectives: the AACTE Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Teacher Initiative Networked Improvement Community (NIC), the Diversified Teaching Workforce: Recruitment and Retention AACTE Topical Action Group, the AACTE Holmes Program, and the AACTE Committee on Global Diversity.
The forum was moderated by Sharon Leathers of William Paterson University (NJ) and included the following panelists, each of whom is a member of one or more of the four initiatives: Lora Bailey of New Mexico Highlands University, Traci Baxley of Florida Atlantic University, Jacob Easley of Eastern Connecticut University, Conra Gist of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Reyes Quezada of the University of San Diego (CA).
03 Apr2017
By Sharon Brennan
The author and her collaborators will be presenting a free AACTE webinar Wednesday, April 12, 3:00-4:00 p.m. EDT on “Building Teachers’ Cultural and Global Awareness to ‘Reach and Teach’ All Students” (see this blog for more information). The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Various education-oriented groups have sounded the call for increasing attention to global competence among our nation’s PK-12 students. Recent reports from the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Asia Society, the Longview Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have underscored the need to prepare all students to live and work in an interconnected, interdependent world. What does this mean for the preparation of their teachers?
21 Mar2017
By Conra D. Gist and Tim Mahoney
On March 1, the AACTE Diversified Teaching Workforce Institute convened more than 150 teacher educators, aspiring teachers, school leaders, and deans from across the nation to address one of the most pressing issues in educator preparation today: increasing the racial/ethnic diversity of the teacher pipeline.
The event was organized by leaders of the Diversified Teaching Workforce (DTW) Topical Action Group (TAG), with assistance from AACTE’s Department of Member Engagement and Support. Members of the DTW TAG were joined at this inaugural institute by participants from the AACTE Holmes Program, the Black & Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative Networked Improvement Community, and dozens of others from the broader education community. (See the PDF program for the schedule of sessions, panelists, and other information.)
21 Mar2017
By Sharon Brennan
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Classrooms today are more diverse than ever. Students come with a wide array of learning modalities, interests, and life experiences and represent increasingly varied socioeconomic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. As of 2014, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, “minorities” now constitute the majority of PK-12 students in U.S. public schools, and more than 10% of students are considered English language learners (ELLs). How can we better prepare our candidates to “reach and teach” all children in today’s schools?
27 Feb2017
By Debra Cano Ramos
This article originally appeared in the Winter/Spring 2017 edition of Titan Magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Cal State Fullerton education alumna and camp teacher Alex Lehrer leads her students in acting out a scene from the poems that they created about rainforest animals during a Rainforest Safari Camp.
24 Feb2017
By Conra D. Gist and Tim Mahoney
Are you coming to Tampa for the AACTE Annual Meeting, and looking for activities March 1? Please consider joining a free daylong institute exploring a variety of efforts to diversify the teaching workforce, organized by the AACTE Diversified Teaching Workforce topical action group. We’ll be in the Grand Ballroom Salon E of the Tampa Marriott Waterside starting at 8:00 a.m.
The Diversified Teaching Workforce (DTW) Institute will convene a group of national leaders at colleges and universities across the United States to spotlight and explore innovative efforts for addressing racial/ethnic teacher diversity across five key areas: recruitment and retention, teacher preparation, mentorship, induction and professional development, and advocacy. Recognizing the need to create spaces within professional networks to discuss and unpack the challenges and possibilities for increasing teacher diversity, the institute offers presentations on current research, opportunities to plan in working groups, and panel sessions focused on best practices from teacher preparation and teacher diversity pipeline leaders.
13 Feb2017
By Amanda Lester
On February 22, AACTE will host the third installment of a four-part 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). The webinar, “Diversifying the Teacher Pipeline at Boston University, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and William Paterson University: Lessons From AACTE’s NIC,” will be held Wednesday, February 22, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST.
The webinar will provide an inside look at the path of inquiry guiding the NIC’s overall work and how that process has shaped and changed recruitment and retention of Black, Hispanic, and Latino male teacher candidates at three participating institutions. Presenters will share specific initiatives and strategies developed through their participation in the NIC process to demonstrate how NIC-developed approaches can be adapted locally to advance a common goal – in this case, to increase the percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino men receiving initial teaching certification through educator preparation programs.
02 Feb2017
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has chosen Transforming Teacher Education for Social Justice, by Eva Zygmunt and Patricia Clark of Ball State University, to receive the 2017 AACTE Outstanding Book Award. The award will be presented at the 69th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Thursday, March 2, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.
Published by Teachers College Press in 2015 with a foreword by the late Peter C. Murrell (and with contributions from additional authors Jon Clausen, Wilfridah Mucherah, and Susan Tancock), this volume highlights the award-winning “Schools Within the Context of Community” partnership between Ball State and the Whitely neighborhood of Muncie, Indiana. The authors explain the situated-learning philosophy that undergirds the program and how it meshes with clinical teacher preparation, community engagement, and service-learning to both develop culturally responsive educators and elevate student learning in the partner schools.
02 Feb2017
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has chosen the College of Education and Allied Studies at Bridgewater State University (BSU) to receive the 2017 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives. The award will be presented at the 69th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Thursday, March 2, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.
BSU will be honored for its Global Learning Opportunities for Bridgewater Educators (GLOBE) program, which sends teacher candidates overseas to participate in faculty-led service-learning, student teaching, and educator exchange programs. Participants are exposed to many international sites, such as Belize, Ecuador, England, Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico. (An overview of last year’s STEM-themed trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, includes video highlights and plans for this spring’s expanded visit.) BSU student teachers who choose international placements chronicle their experiences by contributing to their international student teaching blog, BSU Teaches.
02 Feb2017
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has selected the Ball State University Teachers College (IN) “Schools Within the Context of Community” (SCC) program to receive the 2017 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity. The award will be presented at the 69th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Thursday, March 2, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.
SCC takes an innovative approach to preparing culturally responsive, community-engaged candidates. In partnership with a local neighborhood and the Muncie Community School District, the university’s Department of Elementary Education immerses both teacher candidates and faculty into the community and provides opportunities for unique mentoring relationships, service-learning projects, family engagement, and more. Both the community and the university students have benefited in numerous ways since the program started in 2009, ranging from higher elementary student achievement to cultural immersion for teacher candidates to grant funding for community improvements, such as a shared walking path on the grounds of the elementary school.
02 Feb2017
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has chosen Anna Lees of Western Washington University to receive the 2017 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article Award for her article “The Roles of Urban Indigenous Community Members in Collaborative Field-Based Teacher Preparation,” published in the November/December 2016 issue of the journal. The award will be presented at the 69th AACTE Annual Meeting Speaker Spotlight Session, Saturday, March 4, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.
The qualitative case study presented in this article used Indigenous Postcolonial Theory as a lens to explore the process and outcomes of a partnership between Indigenous community members and a teacher preparation program. The article offers scholarly insights and a model for the design and implementation of community-university partnerships in the support of preparing novice teachers to effectively work with Indigenous children and their families in urban environments.
24 Jan2017
By Mark LaCelle-Peterson
The demographic diversity of the teachers in America’s classrooms does not reflect that of the students they are teaching. In light of this persistent gap, many teacher preparation programs have bolstered their efforts – or developed new strategies – to recruit, admit, and support teacher candidates from underrepresented groups. Several AACTE member institutions are participating in a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to boost the number of Black and Latino men in their teacher preparation programs, for example, and many others are at work in other national efforts and local partnerships.
Earlier this month, I was interested to learn of a related research project under way at Educational Testing Service (ETS) to explore efforts to diversify the teacher pipeline. As one part of this research, ETS hopes to identify successful strategies in postsecondary educator preparation programs and to help disseminate information to others. (AACTE is partnering with ETS to help support our members using performance assessments, but this research is not related to our partnership.)
