Posts Tagged ‘inclusion’

Doctoral Candidate Accepted to National Fellowship to Study Test-Optional Policies

This article originally appeared on the Texas Christian University News site and is reprinted with permission.

Leslie Ekpe, a Texas Christian University doctoral candidate in higher educational leadership and Holmes Scholar, was named a fellow at the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Center for Leadership and Social Justice. Ekpe was motivated to apply after learning that the fellowship’s foundation was social justice, something that aligns with her current research work.

VCU School of Education Develops Statewide DEI Training

Research has shown that addressing unconscious bias will contribute to creating a more equitable society. A team at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education is leading statewide diversity, equity and inclusion training for those who work with people with disabilities — a training that is open to all.

The Partnership for People with Disabilities in the School of Education is collaborating with the School of Education’s Office of Strategic Engagement to lead a six-session online training course on diversity, equity and inclusion this fall, aimed primarily at employees of Medicaid home- and community-based organizations.

PVAMU Welcomes Students with Aldine ISD, Impact Leadership Academy Partnership

Prairie View A&M University students, faculty and staff were on hand bright and early to help welcome students to the first day of school at Aldine ISD’s Impact Leadership Academy (ILA), the district’s first all-boys school. PVAMU is partnering with the ILA to cultivate learning experiences rooted in identity, leadership, community, and activism, all designed to address academic achievement and support social and emotional needs for young Black and Latino male students.

Pathways Alliance to Release Seminal Report Defining Teacher Residency Programs

The Pathways Alliance, a coalition of education organizations dedicated to supporting and implementing diverse and inclusive educator preparation pipelines, announces the release of their latest report, “Towards a National Definition of Teacher Residencies.” Based on input from teacher residency programs and other education leaders from across the country, this groundbreaking first-of-its-kind report offers a condensed yet thorough definition to guide policies that can support high-quality residencies to attract, prepare, and retain a robust and diverse teaching workforce. The report was written by the Pathways Alliance Teacher Residency Working Group, co-chaired by the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) and Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College. The working group participants included state education departments, educator preparation programs, and national nonprofit organizations. In addition, more than 40 organizations gave feedback and reviewed the report and definition.

Department of Education Releases New Discipline Guidance for Students with Disabilities

This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

Time is winding down in Congress as Members prepare for the summer recess. While there is always much to be done- we don’t expect much movement on FY2023 appropriations until the fall.  As always, your voice at the table is imperative to ensuring investments in the special educator and specialized instructional support personnel workforce remain at the forefront.

Literacy Leaders Undergo Transformative Experience Through Warren Fellowship

This May, a group of students in the Texas Christian University’s College of Education took a week-long trip to the Holocaust Museum of Houston as part of the Warren Fellowship program. The trip was a culmination of studying the Holocaust and antisemitism in Jan Lacina’s Literacy Leadership class. Lacina is the Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education and associate dean of graduate studies in the TCU College of Education.

“I was compelled to integrate course goals, readings, and discussions about the Holocaust into my Literacy Leadership class because of recent antisemitic acts that took place in Texas,” Lacina said.

The Importance of Community Engagement and Freedom of Expression in Higher Ed

Educational institutions must engage with their communities to illuminate the systemic injustices experienced by those hypermarginalized, including people and communities of color.

In the Spring 2022 issue of AAC&U’ magazine, Liberal Education, AACTE member Tania Mitchell reflects on the killing of George Floyd to highlight these structural inequities. She urges those in higher education to rethink how community can be created and how to engage differently within the context of racism, economic inequality, and COVID 19:

“Our community engagement work of colleges and universities should be revealing. It should illuminate the systemic injustices that reify and deepen the marginalization already experienced. Moreover, it should focus on the policies, practices, conditions, and experiences that shape the everyday realities of the poor and people of color.”

Georgia State University Awarded State Department of Education Funding to Support Dyslexia Endorsement Programs

Georgia State University’s College of Education & Human Development received a $106,928 grant from the Georgia Department of Education to help teachers earn their dyslexia endorsement.

Georgia State is one of 14 universities and regional education service agencies to receive state funding, which can be used to cover tuition, fees and exam costs for teachers in dyslexia endorsement programs or to improve and expand those programs, according to the Department of Education’s website.

New UH Program Transforms STEM Pros into STEM Teachers

$1.2 Million Grant from National Science Foundation Funds Alternative Certification Program

Photo credit: Getty

Some people are born to be teachers, even if early career choices lead them down other paths first. For professionals working in STEM fields, a new University of Houston program offers a fast track to earn a place at the head of a secondary school STEM classroom – and change their own lives in the process.

Applications are currently being accepted for the first cohort of STEMPro, an intensive nine-month alternative teaching certification program and a collaboration between UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and College of Education. The addition of this post-baccalaureate outreach, which focuses on already established professionals, expands the existing teachHOUSTON program, which serves undergraduates seeking teaching certificates. It also supports the UH focus on training quality teachers ready to serve in communities where they are needed most.

FAU Receives $1 Million Grant for Equity in Instructional Performance

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education School Leaders Program has been awarded a three-year, $1,039,041 grant from Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) to support two graduate degree programs as part of the Teacher School Leader Equity for Instructional Performance (EQUIP) grant project initiative. BCPS is the sixth largest public school system in the United States and the second largest in Florida.

SFA Partners with Galena Park Independent School District for Paid Internships

Stephen F. Austin State University’s James I. Perkins College of Education has partnered with the Galena Park Independent School District to staff up to five paid internships during the 2022-23 academic year.

The program, which launches this fall, will let students use clinical teaching assignments to gain valuable classroom experience before entering the education workforce. While all teaching areas are available, GPISD particularly needs interns in early childhood through sixth grade, special education, bilingual education, math and English language arts.

Department of Education Updates Title IX Rule

On June 23, the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Biden Administration released a new rule (read the fact sheet) for how colleges should respond to cases of sexual harassment.

Title IX is the law that protects students, faculty, and staff from sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal aid.  Since its inception, it has opened scores of opportunities in classrooms, athletic fields, and elsewhere on campus for traditionally underrepresented students. However, the rule has been silent until now on how to protect students that identify as LGBTQ+ as well as pregnant students and employees.

Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Proposed FY2023 Labor-Education-HHS Funding

This weekly Washington Update is intended to keep members informed on Capitol Hill activities impacting the educator preparation community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

All eyes were on Washington Friday morning as news broke that the Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe. V. Wade. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued a statement:

Representation Matters: The Necessity of LGBTQ+ Content in Schools

GLSEN’s 2019 National School Climate Survey (N=16,636)the most recent for which results are available—provides an alarming overview of the state of LGBTQ+ inclusive education. According to GLSEN, only 16.2% of participants reported engaging with positive representations of LGBTQ+ content, and fewer than 20% stated that LGBTQ+ topics appeared in their textbooks and curricular resources.