30 Sep2016
By Angela Maynard Sewall
When we are faced with changes in standards or other expectations for our programs, we often worry about their impact on our work. But sometimes revisions are needed to improve our processes and outcomes, informed by our ever-growing body of research and experience with partners in the field. How can new rules or laws enhance rather than upend our work?
Please join me October 5 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for a free webinar, How Accrediting Organizations and Standards Can Improve Principal Quality, made possible with support from The Wallace Foundation. Panelists will discuss their varied viewpoints on these parameters for improvement and lessons they’ve learned in national and state agencies, PK-12 districts, and higher education.
09 Sep2016
By Angela Maynard Sewall
On Tuesday, September 13, AACTE will host the second free webinar in its series on partnerships for principal and supervisor preparation. Please join us 12:30–1:30 p.m. EDT for “Successful University–District Partnerships to Prepare School Principals.”
This event will feature participants in two of The Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative districts, Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL) and Tulsa Public Schools (OK), and two partner universities in Florida, Saint Leo University and the University of South Florida. Because the Tulsa district is working within a slightly different framework to assist principals via role and structural changes, its participation lends an “outside” voice to this webinar.
15 Aug2016
By Kristin McCabe
In a new report issued August 10, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) calls for reorganizing schools to better cultivate deep learning for all students. The report, What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning, lays out an ambitious vision for educator-driven improvements buttressed by a coordinated system of policy and community supports.
11 Aug2016
By Angela Maynard Sewall
On Wednesday, August 17, AACTE will present the first webinar in a new series called “Raising the Bar and Enhancing Partnerships for Principal and Supervisor Preparation.” This event will look at how colleges of education can engage with state legislators and agencies responsible for standards implementation, program approval, licensure, professional development, and school improvement.
26 Jul2016
By Abigail Mercadante
Ed Prep Matters is featuring “Stories of Impact” to showcase AACTE member institutions with educator preparation programs that are making a positive impact in their communities and beyond through innovative practices. We are committed to sharing members’ success stories and encourage you to do the same.
At Ohio’s Miami University, a partnership program is providing clinical experiences to teacher candidates while supporting at-risk secondary students through highly individualized instruction and mentoring. With a successful track record that mutually benefits all participants, the program’s low price tag and high regard in the community are like icing on the cake.
22 Jul2016
By Rodrick Lucero
We are excited to announce the second webinar in the AACTE clinical practice series: “Advancing Educator Preparation Through Clinical Practice: The Dean’s Perspective,” to be held August 19, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT.
Please join AACTE moderators Tim Finklea and Amanda Lester for a conversation with deans and directors representing five diverse universities as they explore the role clinical practice has played at their institutions through the lens of leadership. The panelists:
11 Jul2016
By Mark LaCelle-Peterson
Ask any new teacher what part of their preparation was most important, and the answer will almost always be the final clinical component—the student teaching, internship, or residency experience. But while everyone seems to agree that high-quality clinical experience is critical to high-quality preparation, a persistent set of challenges have stood in the way of widespread implementation: identifying excellent clinical faculty, providing adequate time in clinical placements, and helping candidates, particularly those of limited means, navigate the full-time demands of unpaid student teaching or internships.
07 Jul2016
By Abigail Mercadante
Ed Prep Matters is featuring “Stories of Impact” to showcase AACTE member institutions with educator preparation programs that are making a positive impact in their communities and beyond through innovative practices. We are committed to sharing members’ success stories and encourage you to do the same.
The importance of clinical practice in teacher preparation is well known. Increasingly, preparation programs are getting teacher candidates into PK-12 settings earlier and more often to enhance their readiness to enter the field. At Minnesota’s Winona State University, that means building a clinical practice model supported by a state-of-the-art “Education Village” slated to open in spring 2018, pending final state funding.
28 Jun2016
By Abigail Mercadante
I was honored to attend AACTE’s Clinical Practice Summit earlier this month, where the common theme was creating a unified profession to improve teacher preparation programs. It was wonderful to see so many passionate educators working to make improvements for future educators like me.
During the summit, I was able to sit in on the conversations of various groups and heard about roadblocks facing education policy. One that was mentioned repeatedly is the fact that many policy makers have no experience in education to inform policies that are truly helpful. There is also a persistent disconnect between higher education institutions and PK-12 schools. One participant noted that many principals still do not know what edTPA is, for example, making it hard to implement. This is just one of the many examples that show the necessity of better communicating and operating as a unified profession.
27 Jun2016
By Jerrica Thurman
The TeachNY Advisory Council, convened last year by the State University of New York (SUNY), published last month a set of recommendations to address the most pressing challenges facing the state’s teacher development pipeline. The dozens of policy recommendations and innovative strategies for teacher recruitment, preparation, and career support are now providing a roadmap for a collaborative campaign between SUNY and the New York State Education Department (NYSED).
“If we take our 60 recommendations and the really hot buttons that we’re talking about right now in terms of policy and execution, and we take them to scale across the SUNY system, we will do good for New York,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education. What’s more, Zimpher said, the system hopes to “work with other states and with other policy makers, too, to take what we’re learning across the country.”
27 Jun2016
By Rodrick Lucero
AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series on the Patton College of Education at Ohio University is coming to a close. We’ve enjoyed sharing the successful partnership work of the college and its network of professional development schools (PDSs) in a series of videos and blogs over the past 2 months, and now we’ve posted one final video – a longer clip with some great insights from the college’s leaders about their clinical practice model.
13 Jun2016
By Melvin Bogard
A new set of brief videos in AACTE’s Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series focuses on operationalizing clinical practice through the award-winning partnerships of Ohio University’s Patton College of Education (see this article introducing the series, this overview of the first three videos, and this summary of the next four videos). Today’s article highlights messages from the next three segments, which feature faculty and administrators from the partner schools as well as Patton College students.
09 Jun2016
By Amanda Lester
AACTE is excited to announce the launch of a new webinar series on clinical practice beginning this month. Kicking off Thursday, June 16, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT, the series will highlight examples of AACTE members’ clinical programs and partnerships and will provide updates on the work and progress of AACTE’s Clinical Practice Commission (CPC), which plans to release a white paper in early 2017.
The inaugural webinar, “Building the Pathway From Theory to Practice: The AACTE Clinical Practice Commission” will feature members of the CPC presenting an overview of their work during the past year. Learn about the commission’s efforts to establish a clearly defined pathway between the research and theory supporting clinical teacher preparation in order to operationalize and support best practice in the field. The overview will include–
31 May2016
By Deborah Koolbeck
Last month, AACTE held a briefing in Washington, DC, on the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program. Titled “Investing in Solutions,” the briefing featured several grant recipients from New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia in order to showcase the program to congressional staff and members of the higher education community. One of the featured grantees, New Jersey’s Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency (NMUTR), shared lessons and best practices published in the recent book A Year in the Life of a Third Space Urban Teacher Residency: Using Inquiry to Reinvent Teacher Education. I invited the book’s authors, Monica Taylor and Emily J. Klein of Montclair State University, to highlight some of these lessons for Ed Prep Matters:
24 May2016
By Deborah Koolbeck
The U.S. Department of Education has announced a new competition for the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant program. After consultations with tribal communities and officials, the Department has designed this grant cycle to focus on improving the outcomes of students in tribal and rural populations.
For this competition, the Department expects to award three to five grants averaging $1 million each. Interested parties have until June 22 to submit their notice of intent to apply; completed applications are due by July 7.
