13 Feb2020
By Katrina Norfleet
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) recently updated its Supporting Inclusive Schools for the Success of Each Child: A Guide for States on Principal Leadership guide. Developed in collaboration with AACTE and other education partners, this online guide strengthens principals’ capacity to lead inclusive schools to ensure each student has an equitable opportunity to succeed. The updates include additional resources and a new policy to practice section, showcasing the work of the four states—Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio—involved in CCSSO’s Advancing Inclusive Principal Leadership (AIPL) State Initiative, of which AACTE is also a partner. The four states are refining their school leader preparation and development efforts to ensure there is a focus on supporting the academic and social and emotional success of each learner, with an emphasis on those with disabilities.
05 Feb2020
By Jenay Scribner-Brown
We are a couple of weeks away from AACTE’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA, and AACTE is just as excited as you are. Get ready to accomplish your educational leadership goals by attending the Preconference Luncheon sponsored by The Wallace Foundation, Food for Thought: How to Successfully Develop and Support School Leaders, February 27, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
AACTE welcomes all preconference participants to attend an interactive discussion while enjoying their meal. The luncheon is free to all registered preconference participants. Attendees will hear from educational leaders:
- Andy Cole will highlight important work being done in the school leadership space to enhance the school leadership pipeline.
- Hayward Jean will share his journey to school leadership and the role of mentorship along the way.
Luncheon attendees also are invited to participate in a networking discussion on how to start planting seeds early to grow effective school leaders.
16 Dec2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
AACTE President and CEO Lynn Gangone addressed more than 150 education stakeholders at the recent collaborative meeting of the Wallace Foundation’s University Principal Preparation Pipeline Initiative (UPPI). Gangone’s address, How teacher and leader preparation can work together to further principal pipelines, is available to view online for those who were unable to attend the convening.
The UPPI focus is on inclusive principal preparation, and builds on 15 years of Wallace-supported research and experience about what makes for effective principals and their “pre-service” training at colleges and universities. AACTE maintains a strong commitment to these initiatives including principal and leader preparation in inclusive and clinical placements.
Learn more about AACTE’s principal preparation initiatives, supported through its Wallace Foundation partnership.
10 Dec2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
“Clinical learning experiences for candidates must include real-time work with real data and in real settings,” said Janis Carthon, an associate professor at Albany State University in response to AACTE’s Twitter chat question focused on the use of data to support principal preparation for 21st century learning. Carthon joined other experts in the area of principal and leader preparation during AACTE’s second Twitter Town Hall on December 5.
AACTE is hosting four Twitter Chat Town Halls in 2019 aligned with its Wallace Foundation Webinar Series. All AACTE members and education stakeholders are encouraged to follow the Twitter hashtags noted below to participate in the Twitter chats, where experts join the public in dialoguing about principal and leader recruitment, retention, support, and successful clinical experiences.
The next Twitter Chat Town Hall will take place December 10, and will addresses the From Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems that AACTE partner the Wallace Foundation developed in collaboration with their University Principal Pipeline Initiative. Follow @AACTE and use #principalpipeline to join the conversation from 5:00 – 6 p.m.
05 Dec2019
By Caitlin Wilson
The role of today’s principal is changing. Now, more than ever, school leaders need to be prepared from day one to succeed in a complex and ever-evolving school context. But what does quality principal preparation look like? How can principal preparation programs ensure that school leaders are ready to meet the demands of the job? Join us for our final webinar in the four-part series on principal preparation, a collaboration with the Wallace Foundation, to hear a panel of researchers and practitioners dig into the answers to both of these questions.
26 Nov2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
In collaboration with the Wallace Foundation, AACTE is launching a Twitter Chat Series in December dedicated to elevating Inclusive Principal Preparation. The four Twitter chats align with our ongoing Inclusive Principal Preparation Webinar Series. The Twitter chats will provide ample space to continue discussing principal preparation with you—our leaders in the field of principal and leader preparation.
Twitter allows participants to engage in conversations, follow exchanges, and locate chats through a dedicated hashtag. To participate, use the hashtags below to locate and participate in the Twitter Chat Series.
The dates for the upcoming Inclusive Principal Preparation Twitter Chat Series are also below. Each Twitter chat will take place from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. The associated webinars are accessible via the provided links. Remember, the fourth webinar is still open for registration!
- Tuesday, December 3 – The Challenges and Successes of Principal Recruitment and Retention
#principalrecruitmentandretention
- Thursday, December 5 – Successful University and District Partnerships for Preparing Principals #principalpartnerships
- Wednesday, December 11 – From Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems
#principalpipeline
- Wednesday, December 18 – What Should High-Quality Principal Preparation Look Like?* (*Link to register for the final webinar.)
#principalprep
26 Nov2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
You are invited to join The Wallace Foundation’s ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC) and University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) Professional Learning Community (UPPI PLC) livestream event on December 2, 2019, where AACTE’s President and CEO Lynn Gangone will present the Plenary address.
The livestream event begins at 1:45 p.m. ET. Gangone’s address will focus on how schools of education help further principal pipelines. The ELLC-UPPI professional learning community meeting will bring together representatives from 17 states to discuss principal pipeline policies and engage together in team planning.
AACTE is proud to partner with the Wallace Foundation to support the UPPI’s robust, clinically oriented principal preparation.
Watch the livestream event: How teacher and leader preparation can work together to further principal pipelines
Featuring AACTE CEO and President Lynn M. Gangone
Monday, December 2, 1:45 – 2:15 p.m. ET
29 Oct2019
By Caitlin Wilson
Join AACTE for a webinar, Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems, which will take a closer look at the leader tracking systems created as part of the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative. Nicholas Pelzer, program officer from the Wallace Foundation will provide an overview on how the leader tracking systems were developed. Leslie Anderson, managing director of Policy Studies Associates and Tricia McManus, assistant superintendent of leadership, professional development, and school transformation, Hillsborough County Public Schools, will share their perspectives and experiences on how data-driven decision making can inform the recruitment, preparation, and placement of principals.
Please register and attend this webinar on November 6 at 1:00 p.m. to consider how leader tracking systems can strengthen both teacher and leadership pipelines through partnerships with local school districts.
11 Oct2019
By Caitlin Wilson
Last week, AACTE and National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) kicked off National Principals Month with the first webinar in a four-part series highlighting principal preparation, titled The Challenges and Success of Principal Recruitment and Retention. The webinar series is developed in partnership with the Wallace Foundation. The premier webinar focused on the challenges and successes of principal recruitment and retention. Three panelists shared their experiences and research related to principal preparation and retention: Ed Fuller from Pennsylvania State University, David Wick, president of NAESP, and Jamon Flowers, currently a doctoral student at William & Mary and former principal.
Collectively, the panelists stressed that context matters when it comes to principal preparation, placement, and retention. One size does not fit all when it comes to recruiting and retaining principals. In addition to leadership best practices, principal preparation programs should be helping principals to understand what it means to lead in specific settings and provide them with the necessary skills to be successful. Furthermore, the turnover rate for principals is high, especially in high-poverty schools. For insights into the potential causes contributing to this high turnover rate and for additional recommendations for principal preparation, watch the webinar recording.
07 Oct2019
By Danny Carlson
October is National Principals Month —a month to honor our nation’s principals and the important work they do leading schools. Led by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), and the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), this annual celebration recognizes our nation’s principals for their tireless dedication to their students and the schools they serve.
To effectively lead a school, today’s principal must fulfill the role of instructional leader and create the learning conditions to support teaching and learning. To do this, principals are in classrooms, observing instruction, engaging with teachers in the nuts-and-bolts of leading learning communities, and connecting teachers with professional learning opportunities. Thus, principals are now more than ever multipliers of effective teaching and possess an enormous capacity to impact student achievement.
Simply put: You can’t have a great school without a great principal. Whether it’s supporting their teachers, ensuring students have access to nutritious meals, or making parents and families feel engaged and welcome their child’s school, principals make it happen.
Despite the many rewarding aspects of the principalship and its importance in improving teaching quality and boosting student outcomes,
24 Sep2019
By Ana-Maria Gutierrez
Research has shown high-quality principals play a key role in the effectiveness of public schools and are second only to teachers in their impact on student achievement. The development of a principal’s leadership skills and disposition is critical to their effectiveness as a school leader. Educational leadership programs across the country are working to improve their programs and prepare principals for the challenges school leaders face today. AACTE invites you participate in an upcoming webinar series, developed in partnership with the Wallace Foundation and focused on research that highlights the role of building the principal pipeline, university and district partnerships, educational leadership tracking systems, and standards for ensuring high-quality preparation programs. Each webinar will be followed by a corresponding Twitter chat for a chance to ask more in-depth questions of the presenters and keep the conversation going.
The first webinar in the series will kick off in October to coincide with National Principals Month. It will focus on the challenges and successes of principal recruitment and retention. Recruiting and retaining highly effective principals is an ever-growing
31 Jul2019
By Katrina Norfleet
The Wallace Foundation has launched Series Two of The Principal Pipeline podcast with it seventh episode, A District Strategy to Improve Student Achievement. The episode features Linda Chen, chief academic officer for the New York City public schools, and Susan Gates, co-principal investigator of the Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, Affordable, and Effective Way for Districts to Improve Schools study. Chen and Gates walk listeners through important findings on student outcomes and their significance. Also spotlighted in the podcast is Wanda Luz Vazquez, a New York City principal, who discusses her experience as a “pipeline” principal.
“It is true that a principal has to do everything under the sun,” said Chen, “But, at the end of the day, the purpose is to advance learning and instruction for every student and that is what we really focus our efforts on.”
The Principal Pipeline podcast features principals, district and state leaders, and university officials who have developed strong principal pipelines and are eager to share their lessons learned with the broader field. While Series One explored how these efforts proved to be feasible and affordable in six large school districts, Series Two examines the effectiveness of building principal pipelines. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
View the full list of podcast episodes, and learn more about the Wallace Foundation principal pipeline strategy.
01 Jul2019
By Joanna Masingila
The journal of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 
, has successfully navigated from a print journal with a subscription price to an online, open access journal that is free. Our new co-editors, Christine Ashby and Julia White have just published their first issue. The journal welcomes submissions from all interested teacher and leader educators.
Excelsior is the key outlet for publishing work in teacher preparation for the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. For over a decade, it has reported research across content disciplines, research methodologies, theoretical perspectives, and current issues in the field.
In addition to presenting authors the opportunity to publish in an open access journal, we want to increase the diversity of manuscript topics, including the diversity of research methods, and extend the range of researchers and practitioners publishing in Excelsior. To meet this goal we will routinely solicit submissions from:
27 Jun2019
By Lynn M. Gangone
This article by President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone was originally published in the “Empowering Our Educators” supplement to USA Today and on the Education and Career News website. The article and photo are reprinted with permission.
Effective educators are developed, not born. Their preparation begins in colleges and schools of education and persists through the professional development during their careers. As the needs of student learners evolve, so too must our development of educators.
23 Jun2019
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide update information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Today makes summer official! The House has certainly given us something to celebrate!
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- Massive Spending Bill Passes House with Large Increases for Education!
Education advocates are taking a moment to rejoice in a funding bill (H.R. 2740) that passed the House this week (with a vote count of 226-223) calling for a record high level of spending for the Department of Education bringing total investments to $75.9 billion. Big winners in the bill include Title I, special education and social emotional learning. Notably, the bill cuts funding for charter schools by 10%.
The rejoicing is tinged with the knowledge that this is as good as it will get for education spending. Unfortunately, the Senate will not have numbers this high, as the budget caps, which are yet to be determined, will undoubtedly require lower figures. And the Trump Administration has indicated that it would veto this bill.
The focus now turns to the Senate where Appropriations chair Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has indicated that they will begin moving bills in July. But that pesky budget deal lurks around the corner.
See the CEF charts on individual education program funding.
