07 Dec2015
By Mary Bold
As questions arise in your work to prepare for accreditation, have you wished for a chance to engage in a Q&A session with someone from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP)? You’re in luck: AACTE’s upcoming Online Professional Seminars (OPS) #3, #4, and #5 will include just such an opportunity.
A CAEP representative will be available for asynchronous conversation, not directly “in” our courses but through them, using a Google Doc to ensure anonymity in relaying OPS participants’ questions. The CAEP staffer will be able to post answers in the document through an external link, but he will not have a view of participant discussions.
01 Dec2015
By Jerrica Thurman
Join AACTE for a free webinar featuring recent work to prepare educators to teach the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics. “Preparing Teacher Candidates for Common Core State Standards in Mathematics: The Sequel” will be held Tuesday, December 15, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
With support from the Learning First Alliance’s Get It Right campaign, AACTE is offering a two-part webinar series highlighting the work of educator preparation programs to develop teachers ready to prepare PK-12 students for CCSS . The first webinar, held in October, focused on a successful effort to implement the standards in programs throughout Kentucky (view the recorded webinar here).
The December webinar is the second in the series and also serves as a sequel to a major forum held at AACTE’s 66th Annual Meeting in 2014. Learn about successful methods, models, and technology tools used in preparing preservice teachers to implement CCSS mathematics standards in their classrooms.
05 Nov2015
By Sharon Robinson
As the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their kindred iterations continue to gain traction in schools around the country, staff development efforts have been bringing in-service educators up to speed, and colleges of education have been adjusting their curricula to ensure that the field’s newest professionals are also ready for the new standards. Nowhere has this shift seen greater success than in Kentucky, which was the first state to adopt and implement CCSS. A recent AACTE webinar sponsored by the Learning First Alliance’s “Get It Right” campaign highlighted the remarkable progress made by institutions in the state.
03 Nov2015
By Angela Maynard Sewall
What are the assessment and evaluation challenges related to the development of great principals? A free webinar next week will explore the assessment of progress, the benefit of standards, and outcomes that have led to change and greater focus on the preparation and professional development of school leaders in the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative.
On Thursday, November 12, the third webinar in AACTE’s series on the initiative will feature the following participants:
03 Nov2015
By Susan Korach
While the impact of partnerships is not yet fully understood, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that school districts that partner with local principal training providers are more likely to leverage programmatic changes that result in principals who are better equipped to lead schools to improve student performance.
— Cheryl King, Quality Measures: Partnership Effectiveness Continuum (2014)
Last month, I had the privilege of joining colleagues from around the country to present an AACTE webinar about building school-university partnerships to support stronger preparation of school leaders. A recording of the webinar is now available here.
30 Oct2015
By Roxanne Pickle
The sixth annual edTPA Minnesota Summit, held October 7 at St. Cloud State University, focused on an issue that is essential to high-quality, comprehensive teacher preparation: securing and maintaining partnerships among higher education institutions and PK-12 school districts.
The summit brought together nearly 100 Minnesota educators to discuss strategies and best practices for creating strong bonds between educator preparation programs and the schools that will host and hire their students.
13 Oct2015
By Guneev Sharma
Twitter can be used in a variety of ways, from celebrity stalking to news tracking to simply sharing life’s events with friends. As more and more people create accounts and become active users, Twitter’s application in teaching and learning also is growing. On September 29, Jeff Carpenter and Scott Morrison of Elon University (NC) and Michael Maher of North Carolina State University presented the second in their series of three free webinars for AACTE members on Twitter’s potential for use in teacher preparation programs.
06 Oct2015
By Angela Maynard Sewall
In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker advised, “Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present.” How helpful this wisdom is for everyone in the education field, whether PK-12 or higher education! For our students and our society, the future is now. Participants in the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative have taken that advice to heart as they have worked on practical, deployable strategies to improve how principals are recruited, prepared, and supported in urban schools, right now. The six districts and multiple higher education partners already are seeing improvement in student learning as a result of their work over the past few years.
On Thursday, October 15, the second webinar in AACTE’s free series on the Principal Pipeline Initiative will explore “Building the Partnerships” to bridge the differences among institutions and programs in the pursuit of their common goals. Like the first webinar, which discussed “Laying the Foundation,” this event will feature a panel of school and university leaders who’ve participated in the initiative. Panelists will discuss inputs needed, agreements and protocols, and the impact and outcomes of building new and stronger partnerships among the key groups.
06 Oct2015
By Hannah Maes
The first webinar in AACTE’s series on the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative drew some 110 participants last month. (The second, which will also be free of charge, will be held October 15; read Angela Sewall’s post about it here.) As they heard from the initiative’s panelists about their ongoing work to reform principal preparation through collaborations among higher education institutions and school districts, the webinar participants began to echo the presenters’ enthusiasm for the model’s potential if brought to a larger scale.
24 Sep2015
By Jennifer Knox
Now through October 15, the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education (AILACTE) is accepting session proposals for the 2016 AILACTE Annual Meeting and Conference to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 22-23, 2016.
The conference theme is “Collaboration as a Cornerstone of Teacher Education.” We seek proposals—60-minute workshops and 30-minute presentations (to be coupled with similar themed presentations)—that help us deliberate on collaboration—big and small—in teacher education.
22 Sep2015
By Jeff Carpenter, Michael Maher and Scott Morrison
Education is no longer a profession in which teachers retreat to their classrooms and close their doors to work in isolation. Today, many teachers are involved in their professional associations, school-based professional learning teams, and increasingly in virtual collaboration of different kinds. Using a variety of technology tools such as Edmodo, Google Hangouts, Twitter, and more, many teachers are reaching out beyond their schools, districts, and even countries, to develop virtual networks that provide both professional challenge and support.
15 Sep2015
By Mark LaCelle-Peterson and Rodrick Lucero
Last month, we were honored to participate and speak at a convening to support teacher educators in their work to prepare teachers to educate all learners, including students with disabilities. At the meeting in Indianapolis in August, the University of Florida’s Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center convened educator preparation leaders from the center’s partner states to support their shared reform agenda.
11 Sep2015
By Jerrica Thurman
The AACTE 68th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas will provide a forum for you to engage in meaningful deliberation, share the latest research and best practices, and become better equipped to drive change in your field. Each year, thousands of educators come from around the country to discuss their challenges, discover new strategies, and join the nationwide conversation on the future of the profession. Don’t be left out of the largest gathering of educator preparation professionals—everyone will BE THERE!
01 Sep2015
By Angela Maynard Sewall
On Thursday, September 10, AACTE will offer the first free webinar in a series focused on preparing effective principals through collaborations among higher education institutions and school districts. Please register now to join us at 1:00 p.m. Eastern!
The webinar, Principal Pipeline Initiative: Laying the Foundation, is offered with support from the Wallace Foundation as part of its multiyear effort to strengthen the development and support of principals in large urban districts. For this webinar, participating district representatives will be on tap to provide their insights and to engage in discussion with a faculty member from a higher education institution to compare their experiences and to discuss goals and results from the partnership work.
10 Aug2015
By Christine Tambini
Registration is now open for AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 23-25, 2016. Take advantage of discounted registration by the Early Bird deadline of October 14.
As a profession, educator preparation faces hard questions and tensions that challenge programs’ ability to pursue a common vision of quality. Together, educator preparation providers will tackle these issues as they converge in Las Vegas for AACTE’s 2016 Annual Meeting – the premier event for the profession. Get empowered with proven strategies and unconventional approaches for building a stronger workforce, institution, and community.
