29 Mar2016
By Melvin Bogard
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.
New Jersey’s Rowan University has a new initiative poised to make an impact in increasing the number of men of color going into teaching, aiming to diversify the educator pipeline to better reflect the nation’s demographics. In fact, the program’s very name is IMPACT—Increasing Male Practitioners and Classroom Teachers.
21 Mar2016
By Whitney Watkins and Omar Davis
During last month’s AACTE Annual Meeting, the Holmes Program preconference events brought together 74 Holmes Scholars, at least 15 coordinators, and numerous alumni from across the nation. The events, facilitated by the Holmes Scholars Council, AACTE, and the National Association of Holmes Scholars Alumni (NAHSA), included participants from 17 member institutions, more than a dozen presenters, and the program’s first cohort of undergraduate students, known as Holmes Honors students. Attendees shared their research, held a variety of formal and informal meetings, and elected new leaders for the coming year.
While attending, we observed the act of relationship building during program sessions and after hours where the new relations began to take root. Participants were clearly excited about the opportunities to connect with peers from around the nation and to participate in conference sessions that were inspiring and powerful. Representatives from AACTE and NAHSA answered what seemed like endless inquiries about program implementation and growth strategies. Considering the overall feedback from participants, all in attendance walked away with a wealth of knowledge as well as new friends and colleagues.
14 Mar2016
By Jerrica Thurman
The Welcoming Session kicked off the AACTE 68th Annual Meeting with a keynote from Pedro Noguera, distinguished professor at the University of California Los Angeles and one of the nation’s most important voices on education and equity issues.
Noguera challenged the audience to take a closer look at what it means to be a highly effective teacher. As the American student population becomes increasingly diverse and opportunities remain profoundly unequal, he argued that more teachers must have the ability to teach effectively across race, class, language, and cultural differences.
“The best teachers teach the way students learn rather than expecting students to learn the way they teach,” Noguera said.
08 Mar2016
By Melvin Bogard and Amanda Lester
Holmes Scholar Whitney Watkins shares a student’s perspective during a major forum at the AACTE 68th Annual Meeting
Over the past few years, AACTE has been leading efforts to advance teacher diversity in the education workforce through the establishment of the AACTE Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative Networked Improvement Community (NIC) and the expansion of the AACTE Holmes Program. Both initiatives are dedicated to increasing the recruitment and retention of educators from historically underrepresented groups into the education profession. The NIC’s work is identifying and testing strategies to increase the recruitment and retention of Black, Hispanic, and Latino males in the teaching workforce, and the Holmes Program supports aspiring educators at various points in their education careers to enter teaching, administration, policy, and the professoriate.
18 Feb2016
By Kristin McCabe
AACTE has selected the Loyola Marymount University School of Education (CA) to receive the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity. The award will be presented at the 68th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Tuesday, February 23, at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
All of the education programs at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) are grounded in principles such as the promotion of social justice, cultural responsiveness, inclusion, value and respect for all individuals, and leadership that is moral, intellectual, responsible, and caring. Their effectiveness is evident in the conceptual framework, curriculum, commitment of faculty and staff, and the culturally and linguistically diverse teacher candidates and students throughout the programs.
18 Feb2016
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.
16 Feb2016
By Melvin Bogard
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.
As America and its school-age population grow increasingly diverse, educator preparation programs are striving to recruit and prepare more teachers from historically underrepresented groups. Statistics show that by 2050, the United States will have no clear racial or ethnic majority, yet the educator workforce remains largely White—a mismatch decried as violating students’ educational civil rights.
16 Nov2015
Congratulations to November Scholar of the Month Leonard D. Towns!
By Whitney Watkins
Towns is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology at Auburn University (AL). His research interests include educational theory, policy, and program evaluation.
His role as an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at Tuskegee University (AL) has allowed him to mentor future scholars and professionals. His encouragement of research has resulted in conference presentations by his students.
10 Nov2015
By Jerrica Thurman
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.
The Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) addresses today’s pressing workforce need for highly qualified math and science teachers who also have a strong understanding of diverse student populations, high-need school environments, and urban communities. Graduates of the program teach in Baltimore and throughout Maryland.
10 Nov2015
By Hannah Maes
The AACTE Holmes Program recently welcomed nine new participating institutions, joining dozens of other educator preparation programs across the country that are providing targeted support to historically underrepresented students in education.
The following institutions signed up this fall to participate in the program, signifying their commitment to diversifying the teacher workforce:
10 Nov2015
By Amanda Lester and Omar Davis
Please join AACTE November 17 for a free webinar highlighting three AACTE member and partner initiatives that are developing strategies and action to increase diversity in the teaching workforce.
A recent report by the Albert Shanker Institute, The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education, identifies teacher diversity in our nation’s schools as “an educational civil right for students” that is not adequately represented in the current educator workforce. In AACTE’s webinar, “Advancing Diversity in the Teaching Workforce: Three Initiatives Working Toward Solutions,” participants in three initiatives will “tell the story” of their work, providing the background for their initiative, the key issues and challenges they are addressing, and the progress they have made to identify solutions.
20 Oct2015
By Hannah Maes and Kristin McCabe
A new video in AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series shows education leaders from Fort Collins High School and Colorado State University discussing their work to prepare teacher candidates for special education situations and other diverse student needs. From understanding IEPs to tapping school-based counseling resources to differentiating instruction in both mainstreamed and self-contained classrooms, the program strives to expose candidates to a wide variety of students and settings, say Josh Richey, dean of students at the high school, and Wendy Fothergill and Juliana Searle, program advisers.
Today’s classrooms are more diverse than ever, and educator preparation programs such as those at Colorado State University (CSU) strive to give prospective teachers experiences across varied communities, in different school models, and with a broad range of students, including those with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for special education.
13 Oct2015
By Conra D. Gist and Tim Mahoney
Topical action groups (TAGs) are groups formed within AACTE to provide a forum for individuals with common interests to network, collaborate, conduct research, and develop policy with the support of AACTE, which provides operational funds, publicity, meeting space at the Annual Meeting, and support that comes from affiliation with the Association. For more information, visit http://aacte.org/professional-development-and-events/tags.
In 2014, a group of teacher educators focused on teacher diversity convened to form the AACTE Diversified Teacher Workforce (DTW) TAG, which, although relatively new, has already begun a number of ambitious initiatives. DTW had its first formal meetings at the 2015 AACTE Annual Meeting and developed a mission statement.
13 Oct2015
By Amanda Lester and Omar Davis
Participants in the inaugural Project LEAD Summit of the Associated Colleges of Illinois
On September 25, AACTE staff had the privilege of taking part in the inaugural Project LEAD (Leaders in Education Advocating for Diversity) Summit in Chicago, Illinois. The summit was a daylong conference conducted by the Associated Colleges of Illinois Center for Success in High-Need Schools to engage teacher candidates and faculty in interactive discussions focused on increasing diversity in the teacher workforce.
02 Oct2015
By Whitney Watkins
Congratulations to September 2015 Holmes Scholar of the Month LaMarcus Hall!
Hall is a second-year doctoral candidate in the curriculum and instruction program at Purdue University. His research interest is cultural spaces for underrepresented minorities in higher education.
Since joining the Holmes Scholars Program at the beginning of this summer, Hall has made a breakout performance in his role as a Holmes Scholar at his institution. His nominator was incredibly impressed with his contributions to the field, as well as his array of other accomplishments.
