06 Jul2023
By Tunara Moore
A reminder that the prestigious James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award nomination period is quickly approaching. As the leading voice on educator preparation, AACTE is dedicated to recognizing excellence in our member institutions and the individuals who have made remarkable contributions to the field.
Learn more about the Dissertation Award, and submit your nomination by July 28. All other award nominations are due by September 1. This is your chance to shine a spotlight on the remarkable programs, practices, writing, research, and achievements that shape the future of educator preparation.
29 Jun2023
By AACTE
Since its founding in 1948, AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) has been committed to advancing the field of educator preparation and ensuring that those preparing to be teachers, principals, and other professional educators represent the diversity of the children they educate. Today’s Supreme Court of the United States decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard University is contrary to our collective efforts to build an educator workforce that is diverse and representative.
Diversity in the college student population is important to recruiting a cadre of teachers, principals, and other education professionals who reflect the diversity of the K-12 student population. Today, 79% of public school teachers identify as white while the majority of public school students are students of color.
26 Jun2023
By Nicole Dunn
Pride month is more than a celebration; it’s an opportunity to reignite the fight for equality within the LGBTQ+ community and other historically marginalized communities in allyship with all those who believe that our P-20 schools should be safe and inclusive spaces for all youth. As Pride Month comes to a close, AACTE is sharing its updated toolkit, Resources to Support LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Ed Prep and P-20 Schools, which can be found on AACTE’s Racial and Social Justice Hub.
16 Jun2023
By Nicole Dunn
On June 19, 1865, the emancipation of enslaved Black people in the United States was realized when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to enforce the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation for these citizens. The newly freed people called this day “Juneteenth.” Also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth is the commemorations of Black and African American people in the United States seizing their freedom that was denied to them despite their contributions to the growth of the nation’s economy and culture. While organizations around the country, including AACTE, will close their offices to give time to celebrate, reflect, and appreciate this history, more than half of the states in the country have introduced or passed legislation to prohibit teaching about structural racism, and you cannot fully teach and appreciate Juneteenth without acknowledging structural racism.
15 Jun2023
By Cole Hatcher
This article was originally published by Ohio Wesleyan University.
Ohio Wesleyan University’s Sarah Kaka, Ph.D., has testified before Ohio lawmakers, collaborated on research, and presented to peers on the impact of so-called “divisive concepts” teaching laws now adopted in more than half of the nation.
The chair of OWU’s Department of Education, Kaka also has been discussing the topic with multiple media, including The Columbus Dispatch, Education Week, and the “TeachLab with Justin Reich” podcast.
“I think it depends on who you talk to what they say the goal of the legislation is,” Kaka told Reich during their June 8 podcast, “but the reality is that all of the laws – divisive issues concepts – seek to limit what teachers can say or do in their classes.”
06 Jun2023
By Christine Gentry
With the crucial need for diverse representation and inclusivity in education, two innovative teachers are making an impact in their fields of teaching. I had the pleasure of working with Linden, a science educator from Boston, and Bill, an English language arts teacher in San Francisco, during their residency years spanning from 2017 to 2020.
In honoring trans/nonbinary educators, I captured our discussions, highlighting key themes on the challenges and opportunities they have faced, as well as how they have both transformed their classrooms into safe and supportive spaces for their students.
29 May2023
By Nicole Dunn
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. AACTE joins the nation in celebrating the values, culture, and contributions of Jewish people by encouraging all educators to think broadly and critically about how to teach the diverse and complex history and experience of Jewish people. This is more critical than ever, as noted by Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon in Dear Colleague Letter issued in conjunction with the Biden-Harris administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism; in which Lhamon reminds us of the nationwide rise in reports of antisemitic harassment, including in schools.
09 May2023
By Rachel Endo and Nicholas Hartlep
In honor of AANHPI Heritage Month, Asian American leaders in educator preparation programs (EPPS) Rachel Endo and Nicholas D. Hartlep, share their collective experiences that caused their interest in collaborating on researching and writing a critical inquiry paper that explores the experiences of current and former Asian American leaders in EPPs in the United States. Endo is dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington, Tacoma and Hartlep is chair of the Education Studies Department at Berea College.
Our paper seeks to answer the following questions:
- What are the intersecting social identity markers within the current pool of Asian American leaders?
- How do Asian/American EPP leaders describe their trajectory into leadership positions?
01 May2023
By Nicole Dunn
In May, AACTE joins together with cultural institutions, school districts, municipalities, state legislatures, public servants, and non-profit organizations around the country to celebrate the immeasurable contributions of the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Heritage (AANHPI) community and recommit to the work of making sure that all people have the opportunity to be a part of the nation’s exceptional and equitable education system. AACTE encourage members to share the history, culture, and achievements of those who identify as AANHPI in their classrooms and on their campuses in observance of AANHPI Heritage Month.
25 Apr2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
The “In the States” feature by Kaitlyn Brennan is a weekly update to keep members informed on state-level activities impacting the education and educator preparation community.
Last week, the Texas State Senate approved a bill that would largely restrict how the state’s public universities can promote equitable access to higher education and cultivate diversity among students, faculty and staff. The bill, SB17, would require universities to close their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices; ban any mandatory training surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion; and eliminate the completion of diversity statements as part of the hiring process.
25 Apr2023
By Christina Wright Fields and Dana A. Gathers
The authors of this article write from a positionality as Black women teacher-educators who value the cultural identities K-12 students bring into the learning space. As such, they prepare teacher-candidates to value, respect, and include the cultural identities and experiences of students. Much of teacher-candidates’ preparation includes modeled teaching and learning practices infused throughout their courses.
Teachers are often looked upon to develop and sustain classroom spaces that include and value the cultural identities and experiences of students. However, many teachers do not share similar cultural identities and experiences with their students. Muhammad suggests, “youth need opportunities in school to explore multiple facets of selfhood, but also to learn about the identities of others who may differ (Muhammad, 2020, p. 67).
18 Apr2023
By National Center for Teacher Residencies
The National Center for Teacher Residencies’ (NCTR) Black Educators Initiative (BEI) recently released a report focused on state, higher education, and school district recommendations to support the recruitment and preparation of Black educators.
Informed by the work and impact of NCTR’s BEI-supported teacher residency programs, the report, “Doing Better for Black Educators: Six Policy Recommendations for Improving the Recruitment and Preparation of Black Educators,” provides six policy recommendations and action steps that are meant to help teacher preparation programs, school districts, and states use what BEI grantees are learning in order to improve the recruitment, preparation, and support of Black educators across the country.
11 Apr2023
By Nicole Dunn
This month, AACTE joins together with cultural institutions, school districts, municipalities, state legislatures, public servants, and non-profit organizations around the country to celebrate the immeasurable contributions of Arab Americans to our nation. As part of National Arab American Heritage Month this April. AACTE recommits to the work of making sure that all people have the opportunity to be a part of an exceptional and equitable education system as part of the American dream. AACTE encourages its members to share the history, culture, and achievements of Arab Americans in their classrooms and on their campuses during the month of April, such as the Arab American National Museum offers Educator Resources for free.
As part of its strategic plan to increase access and opportunities for diverse voices in educator preparation programs, AACTE will set up a database where members — faculty and teacher candidates — can post their research and publications to be cited by the field. If you identify as Arab or Arab American, you are encouraged to share your educator preparation research with your peers. This form also provides you with an opportunity to create a profile so that people can learn more about your research interests and other works.
Please take a moment to fill out the AACTE Cited Research Database Form or send it to your Arab/Arab American colleagues who may want to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight their work on AACTE’s website.
11 Apr2023
By Joe Gutierrez
Students participating in the Project Impact program during an event in May 2022 at the James R. Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson College of Education.
The goal of California State University, San Bernardino’s Project Impact, a community outreach initiative of the James R. Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson College of Education, is direct: Help close the academic achievement gaps in the state’s K-12 schools, which will ultimately pay dividends in the classroom and its students through the recruitment, training and deployment of minority male teachers into California’s classrooms.
Project Impact was a vision that Watson College of Education Dean Chinaka DomNwachukwu brought with him when he came to CSUSB. It was born out of his own educational journey as a public school teacher in East Los Angeles in the 1990s. He knew firsthand how it felt to be the only Black male teacher on campus at the K-12 schools where he worked.
04 Apr2023
By Alice Ginsberg, Marybeth Gasman and Andrés Castro Samayoa
While the majority of U.S. K-12 students are children of color, only 20% of teachers are people of color — and 40% of the nation’s public schools do not have a single teacher of color on record. Despite a now decades old, nationwide effort to diversify the teaching profession, there is obviously still much work to be done. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) hold great promise towards the goal of bringing more teachers of color to the profession. They also provide teacher candidates opportunities to do their student teaching in schools and communities that are racially diverse. Of importance, these teacher candidates share a common interest in remaining in multicultural and high-needs schools after getting certified.
A related, but significantly less prominent issue, concerns the diversity of teacher educators. Across higher education, 75% of professors are White and teacher educators are over 76% White, demonstrating that many teacher candidates will not have a single professor of color as they make the transition through their teacher preparation programs. This challenge has huge ramifications for what happens in teacher education programs, including how candidates are recruited, how the curriculum is designed, and how urgently a program works to address critical issues of race and equity. Moreover, as Galman, Pica-Smith, and Rosenberger note: “It’s important that teacher educators have examined their own implicit biases before asking preservice teachers to engage with [them].”
A reminder that the prestigious James D. Anderson Outstanding Dissertation Award nomination period is quickly approaching. As the leading voice on educator preparation, AACTE is dedicated to recognizing excellence in our member institutions and the individuals who have made remarkable contributions to the field.