15 May2023
By UNC Charlotte
University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Cato College of Education, a leader in literacy instruction and research, has been selected by the Mebane Foundation to help continue its legacy of supporting innovation in literacy education in North Carolina and beyond through a five-year grant and potential endowment of up to $23 million.
The decision follows a competitive statewide search to identify a partner to continue to carry on founder Allen Mebane’s commitment to support inventive educational endeavors as the foundation winds down operations over the next decade.
21 Mar2023
By Simon Wesson
Young children who are taught by a teacher of the same ethnicity as themselves are developing better learning and problem-solving skills by the age of seven, new research suggests.
The effect was most pronounced in Black and Latinx children, the findings – looking at more than 18,000 pupils across the US – showed.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Education and Development, the study revealed that if the ethnicity of children is shared with that of their teachers, the children are more likely to go on to develop better working memory. This is the ability to hold and process information in your mind – a skill which is essential for learning and problem solving.
24 Jan2023
By Anne Tapp
Quality real-world Science Technology Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) educational resources are needed within programs of teacher education and P-12 classrooms. The National Association of Manufacturing (2018) reported that the United States will need to fill 3.5 million jobs by 2025, with more than two million going unfilled due to lack of highly skilled in-demand candidates. The US Defense Industrial Base Industrial Capabilities Report (2021) showed a need for STEM education by stating that the STEM shortage is quickly approaching crisis status. This report is a congressionally-mandated, annual requirement in which the Secretary of Defense informs the armed services committees on the actions, investments, and overall health of the U.S. defense industrial base.
07 Nov2022
By Kaitlyn Brennan
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.
We have finally made it to mid-term election week. Congress remains on recess until after the elections, but important work continues. It is my hope that by the end of the week we will have the complete results of the mid-term elections and I will provide an analysis on the makeup of the 118th Congress in our next Washington Update.
21 Oct2022
By Lisa Buie
This article originally appeared on reimaginED, the policy and public affairs communications platform for Step Up For Students and is reprinted with permission.
The Early Learning Residency Program at Austin Peay University proved to be what recent graduate Malachi Johnson was looking for: a college education and a guaranteed job.
In her 20s, Heather Fracker set her sights on becoming a respiratory therapist. But as John Lennon observed, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
Fast forward two decades, and Fracker, a 43-year-old single mom to two middle schoolers, is pursuing a new dream. In two years, she will be a fully credentialed elementary school teacher thanks to an accelerated program that began in her hometown.
19 Oct2022
By Saginaw Valley State University
Saginaw Valley State University is seeing gains in the number of students pursuing teacher certification at the university for the fall 2022 semester. In addition, SVSU’s award-winning residence halls are completely filled, as student interest in living on campus has rebounded.
SVSU has 146 students pursuing teacher certification, up from 126 last year, including 23 new students who are employees of Saginaw Public Schools and enrolled through a new partnership between SVSU and the school district. All of these students have previously completed bachelor’s degrees and want to become certified teachers.
14 Oct2022
By Kristien Zenkov
The Teacher Educators’ Journal (TTEJ) is published by the Virginia Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (VACTE), a state unit of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). The journal aims to stimulate discussion and reflection about issues related to teacher education; authors need not be based in and research need not be conducted in Virginia for manuscripts to be considered for publication. Manuscripts submitted for consideration may be research/empirical reports and analyses, position papers, book reviews, or conceptual essays.
To facilitate collaboration amongst teacher education scholars and practitioners and improve teaching, research, and student learning, the Fall 2023 special issue of the journal will call on authors to address two related sub-themes in two distinct sections.
- Section I: The sub-theme for this section is “Opportunity Gaps and Collaborative Inquiry: Structures, Explorations, and Early Outcomes of the ATE Inquiry Initiative.”
- Section II: The sub-theme for this section is “From Policy to Practice: Striving for Inclusive Excellence through Personal Reflection, Connectivity, and the Building of Support Systems for Leaders, Educators, Students, and Families.”
23 Sep2022
University will be only UNC System institution to operate two lab school programs
By Anna Oakes
Courtesy of Marie Freeman
Appalachian State University is partnering with Elkin City Schools to open the university’s second laboratory school aimed at enhancing student education, improving outcomes and providing high-quality teacher and principal training.
Under the plan — which was developed in collaboration with Elkin City Schools leaders and approved by the Elkin City Schools Board of Education on Dec. 13, 2021 — a lab school will open at Elkin Elementary School in August. The “school-within-a-school” model will serve approximately 100 students in second through fourth grades.
12 Sep2022
By Rachel Besharat Mann
Rachel Besharat Mann will share her experience in translating learning sciences into practice using the Digital Promise Learner Variability Navigator tool during the webinar co-hosted by AACTE, “Learning Sciences Research for the Classroom” on September 26, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Below, Mann offers a preview about her experience using the web app for whole child learning.
You can read all of the teaching books and take all of the courses but being in the classroom is a completely different experience. You are working with individual people with varied backgrounds and needs and their behaviors; strengths, and needs can change based on a variety of factors outside of a teacher’s control. There is no roadmap to tell you how students learn differently or even if they are learning at all. This is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way over the years and have vowed to help my higher education students avoid the same pitfalls in K-12 classrooms that I did.
12 Sep2022
By Learning First Alliance
On September 1st, 2022, the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics released the mathematics and reading results of 9-year-olds from the 2022 NAEP long-term trend assessment. The following summary is from NAEP’s Highlights report:
In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students to examine student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020. This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics.
30 Aug2022
By AACTE
In announcing the National Partnership for Student Success, a bright spotlight has been put on the adults who serve young people in communities nationwide. This is a clarion call for more adults to step up and lean in to address students’ academic, emotional, social, and mental health needs.
In 2022, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and a constellation of partner organizations launched the Power of Us Workforce Survey, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive workforce survey to get to know the people who are already working and volunteering with youth in afterschool and summer programs, in libraries, in affordable housing, in community centers, in schools, and anywhere young people need support.
19 Jul2022
By Kaitlyn Brennan
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.
This week, the 87th biennial American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention is taking place in Boston, where the city will welcome more than 3,000 members and leaders of the labor group. Today, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will address the AFT with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey scheduled to take the stage as well. The AFT convention comes as districts across the nation are beginning to prepare for a return to school in the fall while in the midst of a critical shortage of educators and specialized instructional support personnel. An all-hands-on-deck approach will be needed, which includes comprehensive, full preparation coupled with support from federal, state, and local governments in order to address this crisis.
11 Jul2022
By Kate Cochran and Jacqueline Rodriguez
The National Partnership for Student Success is a public-private partnership committed to providing the supports that will help our students succeed and specifically addresses the ability for students to thrive post-COVID. AACTE has proudly joined the National Partnership for Student Success as a Champion of the initiative.
28 Mar2022
By U.S. Department of Education
Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued a nationwide call to action for states, higher education leaders, and schools to tap federal resources and work together to address the teacher shortage and aid student recovery. Today’s announcement builds on President Biden’s call in the State of the Union encouraging leaders to use American Rescue Plan funds to address this critical challenge schools and districts across the country are facing. The call to action coincides with Secretary Cardona’s participation in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Summit on Improvement in Education in San Diego.
“I have always known that a well-prepared, well-supported, well-compensated, and diverse educator workforce is the foundation for student success. Educator vacancies and other staff shortages represent a real challenge as our schools work to recover, falling hardest on students of color, students in rural communities, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and multilingual learners. That’s why I’m proud that the American Rescue Plan has equipped states, school districts, and colleges and universities that prepare our educators with unprecedented financial resources to help overcome this challenge,” said Secretary Cardona. “Today, I am calling on states, districts, and institutions of higher education to use ARP funds to address the teacher shortage and increase the number of teacher candidates prepared to enter the teaching profession. My team will continue to advise state and local leaders on how they can seize this moment; put COVID relief dollars to work in our schools; and achieve a lasting, equitable recovery for our students.”
21 Mar2022
By Molly Davis
This article originally appeared on Illinois State University website and is reprinted with permission.
Illinois State University (ISU) is coordinating the Illinois Tutoring Initiative in partnership with the Governor’s Office, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), and the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB). The program will provide tutoring for approximately 8,500 Illinois students during the two-year period. This is one of four state initiatives aimed at learning renewal following COVID disruptions in schooling.
Six institutional partners across the state including ISU, Governor’s State University, Illinois Central College, Northern Illinois University, Southeastern Illinois Community College, and Southern Illinois University, manage tutoring in their area of the state.
