Watch Livestream of the 2018 NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy Release

By Jerrica Thurman

AACTE invites you to view a livestreamed panel discussion about the second release of the NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) results by the National Assessment Governing Board and the National Center for Education Statistics. The livestream is on Tuesday, April 30 from 2:00-4:00pm EDT. Register now!

In response to the increasing role of technology in students’ lives, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administers the Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment—the first one of its kind in the United States. TEL adds valuable information to what NAEP reports for science and mathematics. This assessment measures students’ capacity to understand technology and how to design objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs. During the livestreamed event, presenters will discuss how the 2018 results compare to the 2014 debut of TEL and show how this assessment breaks the testing mold.

Scholarships Available to Teachers for Code.org computer science professional learning program

By Kirsten O'Brien

Code.org is offering scholarships for thousands of eligible middle and high school teachers to attend professional learning workshops. The workshops prepare teachers from all backgrounds to teach computer science in their classroom—no prior computer science experience is necessary. The workshops begin with a 5-day, in-person summer workshop and continue with 4 single-day follow-up workshops throughout the year. Dates and locations are assigned by region.

The lack of a computer science teacher is the biggest barrier to offering the subject in most schools, even though computer science is among the fastest growing industries in the United States. Currently, just 35% of U.S. high schools teach it and only 10% of STEM graduates study it. What’s more, computing and computer science are plagued by tremendous underrepresentation of African American, Latinx, and female students, despite the fact that these groups represent 65% of the entire U.S. population.

Richmond Teacher Residency Receives Nearly $5M Grant to Expand, Provide STEM Training

By Brian McNeill

This article originally appeared online at news.vcu.edu and is reposted with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $4.97 million grant to expand Richmond Teacher Residency, help provisionally licensed science, technology, engineering and math teachers move toward full licensure, and provide math and science training to hundreds of local elementary and special education teachers.

Richmond Teacher Residency, a program in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education, is an intensive, school-based teacher preparation program that integrates a research-supported approach for effective teaching with real-world classroom experience. Residents teach in local schools under the mentorship of a veteran teacher, while also earning a graduate degree in either education or teaching from VCU.

Radio Interview Highlights Emerging Technologies in Educator Preparation

By Katrina Norfleet

AACTE members Vanessa Anton and Barbara Fuller of Northeastern State University’s (NSU) College of Education were recently featured on the EduTalk radio show to highlight their Robotics Academy of Critical Engagement (R.A.C.E.) program, which won the 2018 AACTE Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology. During the interview, Anton and Fuller shared that NSU’s R.A.C.E. program is the only one of its kind housed in a college of education in the U.S. and around the world.

After a successful pilot of the program, NSU opened its first robotics lab in 2012 on its Tahlequah campus, followed by a second lab on its Broken Arrow campus—which both have educator preparation programs. Every pre-service teacher at NSU is required to take an emerging technologies course that includes the robotics unit where the candidates build and program their own robot. The course prepares teacher candidates of every subject to enter the classroom ready to use robotics as part of their curriculum if they choose to do so. Most importantly, the process of learning how to work together well and improve critical thinking provides a gateway for the candidates to teach those same skills to their students.

Research Empowers Principals

By Matt Smith

This article originally appeared online at news.ecu.edu and is reposted with permission.

ECU research group studying effects of school leadership secures $9.7M grant

A group of East Carolina University researchers studying the effects of school leadership has secured a five-year, $9.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Member Voices: Learning to Navigate New Spaces at Washington Week

By Melissa Cuba

AACTE Consultant Jane E. West and the author at the Holmes Summer Policy Institute in Washington, DC

I often ask myself, “How can I use my work as an emerging researcher and scholar to help inform educational policy and practice?” Sadly, the implications section of the manuscripts I have produced and even read often feels distant and unattainable, especially without an audience that is empowered to take action. Thankfully, this month’s AACTE Holmes Summer Policy Institute helped me see how I could navigate a new space and translate my work to impact change.

During the sessions, I realized the importance of building relationships, knowing the agenda, and sharing my work in multiple mediums. I learned the importance of branding and using social media to promote the work I am doing and also to inform my community in ways that are accessible. While that may feel foreign to some, including me, I know I can post a section of a paper I am working on or some key data that might get some people to think twice about an education-related topic.

Effective Features of Video-Based Professional Development for Math Teachers

By JTE Insider

Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the authors of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online–just log in with your AACTE profile here.

The January/February 2018 issue of JTE contains an article by Mary Beisiegel of Oregon State University, Rebecca Mitchell of Pine Manor College (MA), and Heather C. Hill of Harvard University (MA) titled “The Design of Video-Based Professional Development: An Exploratory Experiment Intended to Identify Effective Features.” The article is summarized in the following abstract:

Eliciting Student Thinking in Elementary Math: What Skills Do Preservice Teachers Bring?

By JTE Insider

Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the authors of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online—just log in with your AACTE profile here.

In the January/February 2018 issue of JTE, Meghan Shaughnessy and Timothy A. Boerst of the University of Michigan authored an article titled “Uncovering the Skills That Preservice Teachers Bring to Teacher Education: The Practice of Eliciting a Student’s Thinking.” The article is summarized in the following abstract:

JTE Author: Teacher Preparation Programs Must Do More to Alleviate Teachers’ Math Anxiety

By JTE Insider

Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the author of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online – just log in with your AACTE profile here.

This interview features insights from the article “Preservice to In-Service: Does Mathematics Anxiety Change With Teaching Experience?” by Gina Gresham of the University of Central Florida. The article, which appears in the January-February issue of JTE, is summarized in the following abstract:

Conceptual Analysis: What Coaching Activities Actually Improve Instruction?

By JTE Insider

Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the authors of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online – just log in with your AACTE profile here.

This interview features insights from the article “Focusing on Teacher Learning Opportunities to Identify Potentially Productive Coaching Activities,” by Lynsey K. Gibbons of Boston University (MA) and Paul Cobb of Vanderbilt University (TN). The article, which appears in the September/October issue of JTE, is summarized in the following abstract:

AACTE Tech Committee Joins Fall Summit, Plans Preconference Symposium for #AACTE18

By Jon Clausen, Guy Trainin and Arlene Borthwick

Members of AACTE’s Committee on Innovation and Technology at the 2017 National Technology Leadership Summit in Washington, DC

AACTE and its Committee on Innovation and Technology (I&T) are committed to being a leading voice in the preparation of educators to integrate technology within teaching and learning. The latest examples of this commitment include active participation in the 2017 National Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS) and plans for a preconference symposium at the 2018 AACTE Annual Meeting.

AACTE hosted the 18th annual NTLS September 28-29 at the Association’s headquarters building in Washington, DC. AACTE President/CEO Lynn M. Gangone welcomed NTLS attendees, acknowledging the importance of the work to be done during the summit. Six members of the I&T committee attended the event, including Chair Arlene Borthwick (National Louis University, IL), Jon Clausen (Ball State University, IN), Elizabeth Finsness (Minnesota State University-Mankato), Charles Hodges (Georgia Southern University), Lara Luetkehans (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), and Guy Trainin (University of Nebraska-Lincoln).

Study Suggests Early Childhood Teacher Candidates Need More Support to Create Mathematical Modeling Problems

By JTE Insider

Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the following interview with the authors of a recent article. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles themselves in the full JTE archives online – justlog in with your AACTE profile here.

This interview features insights from the article “An Examination of Preservice Teachers’ Capacity to Create Mathematical Modeling Problems for Children,” by Catherine Paolucci of the State University of New York at New Paltz and Helena Wessels of Stellenbosch University (South Africa). The article, which appears in the May/June issue of JTE, is summarized in the following abstract:

UNC Greensboro Celebrates Continued Funding for Tech-Focused TQP Work

By Jemima Cabedo

In 2014, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) received a federal Teacher Quality Partnership grant for a proposal called Transforming Teaching through Technology (TTtT), winning Year 1 funding of nearly $1.7 million, renewable for up to 5 years. Now, as the partners move into their fourth year of grant-funded collaboration, I asked Principal Investigator and Project Director Christina O’Connor for an update on their work and what it takes to secure continued funding from the U.S. Department of Education year after year.

The partnership among UNCG, Guilford County Schools, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools aims to prepare 300 teacher candidates per year with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to incorporate technology to promote academic learning for all students. The idea is to produce teachers who can embed technology and hands-on, problem-based instruction across all content areas. By approaching this work through partnerships, O’Connor noted, the strategies and lessons benefit not only preservice teachers but also the school-based educators and UNCG faculty.

Podcast Interview Explores Implications of New Science Standards for Preparing Teachers

By Kristin McCabe

What does strong preservice preparation look like for teaching the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)? This question is explored in an article published in the May/June 2017 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education, an issue that also includes several other articles on the topic of the implications for teacher preparation of the Common Core and other new PK-12 learning standards.

A recent podcast interview for the JTE Insider blog provides insights from Mark Windschitl of the University of Washington and David Stroupe of Michigan State University, authors of the article “The Three-Story Challenge: Implications of the Next Generation Science Standards for Teacher Preparation.” JTE Graduate Assistant Bernadette Castillo conducted the interview.

How Teacher Education Can Elevate Teacher Quality: Highlights From Sept./Oct. JTE

By Erisel Cruz

Have you read the September/October 2017 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) yet? It is now available online and hitting desks around the country. See what Volume 68 Number 4 has to offer!

• In this month’s editorial, “How Teacher Education Can Elevate Teacher Quality: Evidence From Research,” members of the JTE editorial team at Michigan State University highlight the issue’s four articles. Robert E. Floden, Gail Richmond, Corey Drake, and Emery Petchauer note the papers’ findings and the significance of their topics to various stakeholders in teacher preparation.