Posts Tagged ‘events’

Interest in Performance Assessment Abounds at AACTE National Conference

The discussion about developing and integrating high-quality teacher performance assessments across the continuum of teacher preparation was the highlight of several sessions offered at AACTE’s recent Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

An audience poll during the AACTE Town Hall Meeting illustrated that most of us work in states that either have policies regarding performance assessments in place or are considering implementing such policies in the near future. It’s no wonder, then, that related sessions were well attended.

Reaffirming the Importance of All Voices: Universities and PK-12 Partners

One of the things I appreciate most about conferences is how the small groups of teacher educator voices residing within our home institutions can join together with others to create an impressively large chorus—one whose collective power can provide needed volume and attention to important issues.

At the AACTE Annual Meeting in Atlanta, I was encouraged to have my quiet voice as a future teacher educator amplified, thanks to the company of so many colleagues who share my passion about creating a developmental continuum that recognizes, values, and utilizes the expertise of classroom teachers in preservice teacher preparation and induction.

AACTE Board, ACSR Name New Leaders

During their meeting February 26, members of AACTE’s Board of Directors chose officers for the coming year to serve with new Board Chair Mark Ginsberg (see related press release).
Effective March 1, the Executive Committee includes the following leaders:

  • Chair: Mark Ginsberg, George Mason University (VA)
  • Chair-Elect: Jane Bray, Old Dominion University (VA)
  • Past Chair: Julie Underwood, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Secretary: Renée Middleton, Ohio University
  • At-large: Grant Hayes, University of Central Florida, and Tim Wall, Northwest Missouri State University

Call for Proposals, Reviewers for 2016 Annual Meeting: ‘Tough Questions, Tough Choices’

Now through May 29, AACTE is accepting session proposals for the 68th Annual Meeting, to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 23-25, 2016. We also invite applications by May 15 from AACTE member faculty to review proposals.

The conference theme is “Meeting the Demands of Professional Practice: Tough Questions, Tough Choices,” conceptualized as follows in the call for proposals.

JTE Article on Context-Specific Preparation of Urban Teachers to Win AACTE Award

AACTE will honor authors Kavita Kapadia Matsko of the University of Chicago and Karen Hammerness of the American Museum of Natural History with the 2015 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article Award for their article “Unpacking the ‘Urban’ in Urban Teacher Education: Making a Case for Context-Specific Preparation,” published in the March/April 2014 issue of the journal. The award will be presented at the 67th AACTE Annual Meeting Welcoming Session, Friday, February 27, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.

Online Program Book Available for AACTE Annual Meeting

In just 10 days, AACTE will be kicking off its 67th Annual Meeting. If you’re planning to join us at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis February 27-March 1, you have a new tool at your disposal: an online program book.

This program book provides an eye-catching traditional layout for the conference events and makes it easy to browse sessions, presenters, and the exhibitor list. Remember, AACTE is “going green” for 2015, so the program book won’t be printed this year.

Sarah Brown Wessling to Keynote Spring CAEP Conference

Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 National Teacher of the Year
Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 National Teacher of the Year

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has announced that 2010 National Teacher of the Year Sarah Brown Wessling will be a keynote speaker for the 2015 Spring CAEP Conference in Denver, Colorado. The theme of the conference, which takes place April 9-10, is Preparing Effective, Classroom-Ready Teachers: An Evidence-Based Approach.

In 2010, Wessling took a short break from her post teaching English at Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa, to come to the White House to be named National Teacher of the Year. Wessling, a National Board Certified Teacher, has since leveraged this title to give her students and peers a voice.

NAHSA to Present Tenure Academy for Doctoral Students

Are you a doctoral student seeking a tenure-track position? Or maybe you have a faculty post but would like guidance navigating the promotion and tenure process? Plan to attend a Tenure Academy in Chicago, April 15-16, being held as a preconference event of the American Educational Research Association annual meeting.

Presented by the National Association of Holmes Scholars Alumni (NAHSA), this second annual event will provide the latest strategies for navigating the tenure and promotion process.

Goodwin to Speak at AACTE Welcoming Session

AACTE is pleased to announce a new speaker for the 67th Annual Meeting Welcoming Session. A. Lin Goodwin of Teachers College, Columbia University, will join Marc Tucker of the National Center on Education and the Economy at this kick-off general session, Friday, February 27, at noon.

Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, originally scheduled to speak at the session with Tucker, is no longer able to attend the conference.

Goodwin brings her extensive experience in international education reform to this keynote duet for a thought-provoking discussion of economic imperatives and successful systems of educator preparation around the world.

‘The Iceberg Effect’—Not Just About Asking Questions

Upon arriving at AACTE last month to begin our semester-long internship, we were whisked off to the National Press Club for a press briefing on The Iceberg Effect, based on the new studySchool Performance in Context: Indicators of School Inputs and Outputs in Nine Similar Nations. For three doctoral students who are dedicated to promoting social justice in and out of the classroom, this could not have been a more fitting introduction to our work at AACTE.

The report, released by the National Superintendents Roundtable and the Horace Mann Foundation, casts new light on U.S. students’ performance on international assessments, controlling for social and economic factors that have not been previously studied alongside student achievement on this scale. The results highlight the relatively strong academic achievement of America’s students in spite of our nation’s poor performance in providing supports to help offset the widespread social and economic effects of poverty.

Free Webinar From CEEDAR: ‘Innovation Configurations in Action’

The Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center (CEEDAR Center) will sponsor a free webinar, “Innovation Configurations in Action,” this Wednesday, January 28, at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Developed last year, innovation configurations are program evaluation tools that help determine the extent to which evidence-based practices are taught, observed, and applied in teacher preparation and professional development programs.

Holmes Scholars Opportunities at AACTE’s 2015 Annual Meeting

The AACTE Holmes Scholars® Program is one of the Association’s hallmark offerings on diversity and will be featured in a variety of sessions at the 67th Annual Meeting in Atlanta, February 27-March 1.

In addition to dedicated preconference programming, attending Holmes Scholars will participate in the full range of Annual Meeting offerings under the theme Advancing the Imperative, from major forums and general and concurrent sessions to the town hall meeting and the job fair.