07 Oct2024
By Learning Policy Institute
High teacher turnover undermines student achievement, and replacing teachers consumes valuable staff time and resources. Turnover also has an important impact on teacher shortages because most open positions each year are created by teachers leaving the profession before retirement.
The research used to create the teacher turnover calculator indicates that larger districts can, on average, spend nearly $25,000 on replacing a departing teacher when school and district expenses related to separation, recruitment, hiring, and training are factored in. High turnover can have additional fiscal impacts, as the investments made for hiring do not pay their full dividend when teachers leave within a few years.
30 Jan2024
Registration is Open
By AACTE
AACTE is co-hosting the 2024 National Symposium for Educator Preparation, Policy, and Leadership. The symposium will bring together teachers, university/college faculty, education deans, teacher leaders, school district personnel and superintendents, state licensure and certification professionals, education leaders, and state and federal policymakers to identify and highlight effective and equitable strategies, resources, policies and practices to recruit, prepare, and retain an effective teacher workforce with a focus on teachers from historically marginalized communities.
19 Jul2023
By Kaitlyn Brennan
On behalf of AACTE, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to those who attended the recent policy and advocacy event in Washington, D.C. Your presence and active participation made it a resounding success, and I’m thrilled that we had the opportunity to discuss and advocate for programs that strengthen and expand the education workforce. Additionally, please take a moment to watch the brief video from AACTE’s President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone. She encourages us to stay connected so that we can remain active and engaged in the work of advocating for educator preparation.
11 Jul2022
By LaDerrington Baldwin
AACTE’s Washington Week was a “a life-changing experience.” The event was a revelation that highlighted the courageous leadership we have within our nation. These leaders are devoted and determined to make sure education is not forgotten nor are educators overlooked. I have always had respect for the leaders that made the decision to go into education. I have even more appreciation for those who do not sweep the issues in education under the rug and tell it like it is.
10 Jun2022
2022 Washington Week Attendee Recaps Her Experience
By Christine Gentry
This year, AACTE’s Washington Week event (Educating the Future: Policy and Advocacy as Levers of Change) was held in person for the first time in three years. The energy in the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel was high as colleagues met and reunited with each other.
The week opened on Monday with a warm welcome by Lynn M. Gangone (AACTE’s president and CEO), followed by a plenary session on AACTE’s legislative priorities by Mike Rose (AACTE’s senior director of government relations) and members of AACTE’s Committee on Government Relations and Advocacy (including myself), who offered tips on having successful meetings with public officials.
24 May2022
By Brooke Evans
For the first time in three years, AACTE will be hosting its 2022 Washington Week in-person in Washington DC, June 6 – 8. This annual educational policy and advocacy event draws together AACTE’s State Chapter Leadership, Holmes’ Scholars, deans, and faculty for an opportunity to learn and advocate for education and high quality educational preparation programs throughout the country.
This year, AACTE is combining the best programming from three separate events — State Leaders Institute, Holmes Policy Institute, and Day on the Hill — into one reimagined mini-conference for enhanced collaboration and networking. The 2022 Washington Week program includes shared keynotes and strand-based sessions on today’s most critical issues in education and teacher preparation: censorship, educator shortage, and educator diversity. Attendees can choose to align with a particular strand throughout the event or select sessions from among the three strands.
Holmes Scholar and Ph.D. student from Ohio University, Shauna Torrington attends Washington Week because she loves how the training has helped her to find her voice, “I have been better able to articulate my views to support my stance on any subject.” Torrington shares the rest of her thoughts about Washington Week with AACTE.
16 May2022
By Brooke Evans
For the first time in three years, AACTE will be hosting its 2022 Washington Week in-person in Washington DC, June 6 – 8. This annual educational policy and advocacy event draws together AACTE’s State Chapter Leadership, Holmes’ Scholars, deans, and faculty for an opportunity to learn and advocate for education and high quality educational preparation programs throughout the country.
This year, AACTE is combining the best programming from three separate events — State Leaders Institute, Holmes Policy Institute, and Day on the Hill — into one reimagined mini-conference for enhanced collaboration and networking. The 2022 Washington Week program includes shared keynotes and strand-based sessions on today’s most critical issues in education and teacher preparation: censorship, educator shortage, and educator diversity. Attendees can choose to align with a particular strand throughout the event or select sessions from among the three strands.
AACTE Holmes Scholar and Hofstra University adjunct instructor, Angeline Dean, successfully defended her dissertation recently. But Dean isn’t just a faculty and scholar, she is also an activist studying at Rowan University, eager to share her enthusiasm for Washington Week and how it served as the catalyst for her new role as campaign manager. “We [Candidate Armstrong and I] are working to dismantle the status quo in our communities, says Dean, “If you believe in all of this, you have to fight back.” Read below for the rest of Dean’s interview with AACTE.
29 Apr2022
By Michael Rose
AACTE is hosting its second Public Policy in Action webinar, “How Educators Can Better Manage their Federal Student Loans,” on May 19 at 1:00 p.m. (EDT). These public policy events are designed to help members understand critical policy updates originating from Congress or the Biden Administration. May’s webinar is focused on two critical items related to the educator workforce: the potential restart of payments on Federal student loans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. We hope that attendees will also share policy developments related to student financial aid in their states.
25 Apr2022
By Michael Rose
Join AACTE in Washington, DC, June 6 – 8, for this year’s annual signature event, 2022 Washington Week, “Educating the Future: Policy and Advocacy as Levers of Change.” AACTE and ACSR state affiliate leaders, Holmes Scholars, and deans and faculty will join together in the nation’s capital to advocate for education and teacher preparation.
With legislative and other critical challenges facing educators and students throughout the country, this is the year to get involved and make your voice heard.
What’s new and different?
This year, AACTE combines the best programming from three separate events—the State Leaders Institute, Holmes Policy Institute, and Day on the Hill—into one reimagined mini-conference.
07 Mar2022
By Michael Rose
AACTE is excited to announce that it is offering its members monthly public policy webinars to learn about critical policy updates impacting education preparation. The inaugural AACTE Public Policy in Action webinar will take place March 17 at 1:00 p.m. (EST). We hope that attendees will also share policy developments in from their states during the member-only briefings.
During the March discussion, attendees will learn about a new and innovative way to address the nation’s teacher shortage by utilizing the Department of Labor’s apprenticeship program. The U.S. Department of Labor recently approved Tennessee Department of Education’s application to include teacher residencies as a qualified apprenticeship program, opening the door to additional federal funds to help address the state’s teacher shortage. The program will provide candidates with high-quality, in-classroom experiences while learning from a mentor teacher as part of their clinical experience (known as student teaching in some states) and will increase the quantity and diversity of teachers in Tennessee’s classrooms; other states are expected to pursue this option to address teacher shortages in their classrooms.
17 Feb2022
By Ward Cummings
AACTE worked with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) to craft the EDUCATORS for America Act, a bill to update Title II of the Higher Education Act. The bill will help state and local communities address educator pipeline challenges by channeling national resources to states and localities so local leaders can build a diverse, profession-ready army of teachers, principals, librarians, counselors, and specialized instructors. Nearly 50 national organizations have endorsed the EDUCATORS for America Act.
Having played a leadership role in drafting the bill, AACTE looks forward to its passage. AACTE encourage you to join in advocating for the bill. The investments called for in the measure are long overdue and AACTE needs your help to ensure that students are taught by well-prepared, diverse educators. Please follow this link, to fill out an advocacy form to send emails to your members of Congress urging the passage of the EDUCATORS for America Act.
03 Feb2022
By AACTE
In commemoration of her retirement, AACTE sat down with Jane West, Ph.D., former AACTE senior vice president and current senior consultant, for a candid interview about her life, career, and the change she has inspired within education and educator preparation.
Jane West’s career illustrates her passion for education and her pursuit to ensure equitable access for all students. This commitment may be written into the very fabric of her DNA, as she was inspired early in her childhood through her mother’s example. An incredible advocate in her own right, her mother was the youngest of 10 children from a small town in North Carolina and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1936. Her mother’s principal belief that public education is an essential core aspect of our society had a profound impact on West. This belief sparked the beginning of her efforts in both advocacy and education.
01 Feb2022
By Anna Merod
This article originally appeard in K12 Dive and is reprinted with permission.
Dive Brief:
- Supporting teacher prep programs through regulatory relief is key to addressing the ongoing teacher shortage that is impacting districts nationwide, said Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, during EdPrepLab’s Second Annual Virtual Policy Summit
- One potential pending policy solution is the EDUCATORS for America Act, introduced by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., in December to invest $1 billion annually for states to enhance teacher preparation programs and provide grants for strategies to meet K-12 workforce needs, said Lynn Gangone, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
- Funds from the $122.7 billion awarded to school districts nationwide through the pandemic-relief American Rescue Plan can also be used to fuel innovative, collaborative solutions between higher education and K-12 leaders to fix teacher shortages, according to Roberto Rodriguez, assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.
03 Dec2021
By Michael Rose
Earlier this year, President Bident signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which included more than $125 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund. These funds are being used by state educational agencies and school districts to reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students.
In response, AACTE created a Toolkit to help educator preparation programs collaborate with their local partner districts to allocate the ARP ESSER funds towards strengthening the educator workforce by supporting residency models, grow-your-own programs, and other innovative approaches to develop a pathway into teaching.
29 Nov2021
By Deirdre Smith
In a bonus episode of the Next Education Workforce podcast, former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. tells Brent Maddin of Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College about the impact public school had on King’s life and how his work today has been shaped by his experiences as a student, classroom teacher, civil servant and policymaker.
