Month: July 2017

GLOBAL
AACTE. JTE Authors Propose Inquiry-Oriented Standards to Capture Complexity of Teaching  This research was prompted by recommendations from a New Zealand Government Education Workforce Advisory Group. The group recommended, in 2010, a number of structural changes to improve the quality of initial teacher education and induction into the profession.

Blog on Learning Development. “Differential education is a competitive factor”  Finnish educator and author Pasi Sahlberg predicts a backlash against global standardization and says teachers need different training and skills to succeed. It’s not enough to have a “reform”. We need to change several things simultaneously and it starts with teacher training.

PRNewswire. Collaborative Effort Between Educators From Singapore and India to Build Capacity in Early Childhood Education in Mumbai  …through the following initiatives: A teacher resource guide which will be produced by both the SIVs and master trainers and used in teacher training programmes to teach pedagogy skills

UNESCO. Investigating Teacher Agency in Implementing the Early Primary Curriculum of Ugandan Schools  This study shows the potential of ICTs in supporting sustainable teacher training programmes whose potential is immense though not yet tapped fully in Uganda. 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE Chapter Develops Statewide Student Teacher Observation Tool
2) Applying for Federal Research Funding? View On-Demand Webinars From IES for FY18

CAEP. Family Engagement: Practice that Empowers & Motivates  …family engagement is important – both conceptually and technically – for teacher candidates and inservice teachers alike.

Chalkbeat.
1) 6 problems the NAACP has with charter schools — and 5 of its ideas for how to reshape the sector  “Charter schools should not be permitted to waive any licensing requirements for teacher and leaders working in their schools,” the NAACP report says…
2) Schools near state lines perform worse — and rules discouraging teachers from moving may be to blame  …states that require prospective teachers to clear a high bar to become certified may worry that making it too easy for an out-of-state teacher to receive a license could reduce teacher quality.

Early Childhood Education Degrees. America’s Typical Teacher  42.5 years old, female, holds Masters degree or higher, underpaid, teaches 21-27 students per class, not allowed enough time to collaborate with other teachers…

Education Week.
1) Are Charter Schools Bad for Black Children? The NAACP Asked, Here’s What It Found  The group lays out a formula for improving charters that includes: Requiring all teachers be certified.
2) Betsy DeVos Is a K-12 Advocate. So Why All the Action in Higher Ed?   The feds have far more authority over colleges…than they do over K-12 schools…  And the Higher Education Act has been due for a facelift for several years now. DeVos, in fact, has said she’d like to scrap the HEA and start from zero.
3) Computer Science Teachers Needed. But Who Will Pay to Train Them?
4) Don’t Mourn or Applaud the End of $2 Billion in Teacher-Training Money Just Yet
5) To Attract Teachers, More Cities Eye Discounts on Housing  Memphis has a teacher residency program that provides teachers in training with free housing in the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. building, which is now a mixed-use high-rise.
6) The Many Ways We Are De-Professionalizing Teaching [Blog] …the professional preparation and advancement of teaching looked very different 25 years ago … The talk then was about full-year field experiences and paid internships for prospective teachers.
7) Two Years Is the Worst Amount of Time to Teach  Teach for America turned 25 last year and continues to treat teaching as more stepping stone than career. 

EdTech. As Connectivity Improves, The Digital Divide Persists in Teacher Tech Preparation

Education First. Transforming How We Prepare Our Teachers …new brief on how teacher preparation programs are innovating.

Marzano. Marzano Research to Support U of W’s Future Educator Development

NPR Ed. Teachers With Student Debt: These Are Their Stories  You need a bachelor’s degree …increasing pressure to get a master’s degree and the many ways to repay loans or apply for loan forgiveness.

Penn GSE. HBCU Schools of Education: at the Forefront of Teacher Education for a Diverse Teacher Workforce

Teaching/Math/Culture [Blog] Teacher Education In The New Economy

The Atlantic. Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color.  …the onus is also on teacher-prep programs to ensure aspiring educators know how to address these controversial topics.

Washington Post. NAACP report: Charter schools ‘not a substitute’ for traditional public schools and many need reform  The task force recommended … the following procedures: Require charter schools to hire certified teachers. Many states allow charters to hire the uncertified at far higher rates than traditional public schools.

NEW YORK STATE
The Atlantic. How Teachers Are Taught. But Dirck Roosevelt, a visiting associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, says … “To know mathematics sufficiently to design a bridge or to supervise the construction of a bridge is not remotely the same thing as to know it in such a way that you will know what your sophomore algebra student is going to find difficult,”

New York State Register. Governance, Structure and Operations of SUNY Authorized Charter Schools Pertaining to Teacher Compliance [p. 23 ff]
Public comment will be received until Sept. 9.
Ralph A. Rossi II, SUNY Charter Schools Institute, 41
State Street, Suite 700, Albany, New York 12207, (518) 455-4250, email: [email protected]
Current SUNY Charter Schools. 165 total, over 140 in NYC.

NYTimes. Proposal Would Let Charter Schools Certify Their Own Teachers  Kate Walsh, …said that charter schools are not set up to focus on the difficult work of training teachers, nor are they in a position to offer the kind of coursework even very talented teaching candidates need to receive.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. New York City has sent its first offer letters for 3-K for All. Here’s a look at the new pre-K initiative by the numbers  …the education department is also providing teacher training, social workers and other support for existing centers run by ACS.

NYCDOE. Application & Hiring Process  Our schools have high hiring needs for teachers in specific subject areas: Bilingual Education; Early Childhood Education; English as a New Language; Mathematics; Physical Education; Science (all subjects); Special Education

Teachers College.Some New York charter schools could soon be allowed to certify their own teachers. What could that look like?  Teachers College Visiting Associate Professor Dirck Roosevelt was quoted in the… story on regulations recently proposed by SUNY that would enable some charter schools to design alternative certification programs.

GLOBAL
Buriram Times. Thailand Still Lagging Behind Other Countries In Education  Large classes were commonplace and students who were not accepted into university were encouraged to apply for teacher training colleges.

NYTimes. A Solution When a Nation’s Schools Fail  “The status quo has failed,” George Werner, Liberia’s education minister, told me. “Teachers don’t show up, even though they’re paid by the government. There are no books. Training is very weak.

Times Higher Education. Netherlands and Singapore among leaders on education research

The Star Online. ‘Chinese education is for all’  …Dr Wee said there was a need to provide teachers with training to better teach the language.

UNITED STATES
Brainerd Dispatch. Franken introduces bill to fight teacher shortage  …encourage an earlier start to pathways for becoming a teacher and allow schools access to a broader range of funding to support dual-enrollment programs in education.

EdWeek.
1) Bill With More Than $2 Billion in Teacher-Training Cuts Advances in House
2) Here Are 10 Policy Lessons Teachers Should Know
3) If We Fix Student Teaching, Will We Fix Teacher Shortages?  The president of the National Council on Teacher Quality presented what she sarcastically called a “radical” solution for both improving the pipeline of new teachers and filling specific teacher shortages: “Fix student teaching.”
4) Tennessee education coalition focuses on teacher diversity  A new report released by a group of Tennessee educator preparation programs focuses on eliminating the barriers preventing diverse candidates from choosing teaching as a career.
5) Unable to Solve Teacher Pay Issue, Oklahoma Will Promote Recruitment, Retention  … outline what programs exist to help teachers, namely state-funded loan forgiveness and tuition assistance…
6) What Should Special Education Teachers Know and Be Able to Do?  Teacher-education programs have already started to shift their training to embrace the high-leverage practices…

Hechinger Report. Advocating for rural students and teachers – in frozen, fly-in-only territory  I think we need to look at how we train teachers, [and] the general public, about our history and what has happened with our indigenous community, because most people don’t really know the history.

NCTR. Recommendations for State Support for Effective Teacher Residencies

NPR Ed. Teachers With Student Debt: The Struggle, The Causes And What Comes Next  Public school teachers traditionally have had undergraduate degrees in education. But over the past decade, K-12 teachers have had a growing economic incentive to earn master’s degrees. In some cases, they’re actually required to do so.

The74. House Committee Rejects Democrats’ Bid to Restore Education Funding, Protect Teacher Training

USNews. Democrats Protest Cuts to Teacher Prep and Pell Grants

Vanderbilt Univ. Teach for America service leads to empathy  TFA is a national service program that puts college graduates into low-income communities as volunteers for two years to help disadvantaged students. It was founded in 1989, based on founder Wendy Kopp’s Princeton University undergraduate thesis.

WashingtonPost. A teacher’s anti-solution to a big problem  So if colleges aren’t preparing students for the jobs that students really want and for the employers who need to hire them, then K-12 schools must. 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. State education officials question another batch of Success Academy charter renewals  The board is not scheduled to discuss SUNY’s recent proposal to allow some of its charter schools to certify their own teachers, though that announcement drew criticism from State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa earlier this month.

Network for Public Education. Action Alert: Every Child Deserves a Well-Prepared Teacher

NYSED. ESSA July Draft  [Preparation, Recruitment, and Placement:  p. 140 ff.]

Politico. Excelsior effect: Application period for scholarship ends

NEW YORK CITY
EdWeek.A Fine Line on ‘Forced Placement’ of Teachers in New York City  Daniel Weisberg, the CEO of TNTP, a teacher training and advocacy group, and former NYC education department official, recently wrote in Time magazine, “Breaking that promise now would have only one possible result: Schools across the city would face an influx of teachers with records of poor performance.

Teachers College. Preparing and Supporting Teachers of Color: The relaunch of a program aimed at recruiting more teachers from underrepresented groups  The Office of Teacher Education at Teachers College has been awarded a five year TOC II grant by the New York State Education Department.

 

INTERNATIONAL
Hechinger Report. When it comes to teacher training, the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Canada

NYTimes. Spyware Sold to Mexican Government Targeted International Officials  The mystery began on Sept. 26, 2014, when about 100 students from a teachers’ college in the town of Ayotzinapa struck out to commandeer some buses. 

NZHerald. More than half of Auckland schools up to four teachers short  “I don’t know what the future holds but we’re potentially looking at babysitters in classrooms because we do not have the teachers to fill those vacancies.”

South China Morning Post. Hong Kong teachers oppose appointment of pro-Beijing educator as undersecretary  Cheng Kai-ming, emeritus professor of education at the University of Hong Kong, said it was “a very bad starting point” to pre-screen candidates for administrative positions for their political views…

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Federal Task Force Identifies Over 150 Ed. Regulations for Review; Comments Due Aug. 21
2) House Hearing Witnesses Stress Privacy Protections for Student Data While Ensuring Researchers Maintain Access

DeansForImpact. Showdown in Texas teacher preparation  Acting collectively, advocates for students and teachers stopped the legislation that would have weakened the quality of teachers entering Texas classrooms.

EdSurge. Does the Word ‘Teacher’ Still Describe What Educators Do in the Classroom?  “There is a thought that because people went to school, that they know what school is [and] how teachers should teach and how students [should] learn,” explains Fuhrman. “It is like having a housing secretary who lived in a house. It is not the preparation that you need. It is a great disservice to the knowledge base underlying education.” 

EdWeek.
1) Five Big Tasks for Betsy DeVos  One former state leader who was considering a post balked after seeing the president’s budget request, which would eliminate money for teacher training and slash career and technical education funding.
2) How Teacher Prep Programs Can Help Teachers Teach Math Conceptually
3) Like Trump Budget, House Funding Bill Strips Out $2 Billion for Teacher Training
4) Most Republicans Have Negative View of Higher Education, Poll Finds
5) Teachers Trained Through Fast-Track Program No Better or Worse Than Their Peers  TNTP, formerly The New Teacher Project, has trained and placed about 35,000 teachers in urban areas over nearly two decades… The teachers get on-the-job coaching and support throughout their first year.
6) Watch This Refresher on Trump’s Education Budget in Under 60 Seconds  How will Title II money for teacher training and after-school spending, which together amount to over $3 billion but which Trump wants to eliminate, fare in the House spending bill?

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Bill would allow gun education curricula in Wisconsin high schools  The bill also would require the classes to be taught by people who have proof of previous training in firearm safety.

NEA. As More Schools Look to Personalized Learning, Teaching May Be About to Change

NYTimes. DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States  This feedback was widely criticized by academic groups, including the National Science Teachers Association, who said the department was interpreting the law too literally.

Raise Your Hand Texas. Foundation Launches $50 Million Raising Texas Teachers Program To Elevate Teaching Profession  …a program to provide $50 million over the next 10 years in scholarship funding for students committed to a career in teaching, and technical support for premier Texas teacher preparation programs. 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Some New York charter schools could soon be allowed to certify their own teachers. What could that look like?  But Dirck Roosevelt, a visiting associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, says professional success doesn’t always translate into the ability to lead a classroom.

cIcu. Summary of June 22 Independent Sector Schools of Education Mtg w/Regent Cashin & Deputy Commissioner John D’Agati [attached]

HuffPost. Politics And Campaign Dollars Shape New York Charter School Policies  Politicians and wealthy business leaders with ties to Cuomo are behind the push to exempt some of the state’s charter schools from hiring certified teachers.

Inside Higher Ed. Zimpher to lead center on education pipelines  Early on, the center will focus on efforts including the creation of a statewide education data system and a “train the trainer” certification program.

Money. 711 Best Colleges For Your Money  [77 IHEs in NYS, highest of 50 US states]

NPR. SUNY charter schools committee considers their own teacher certification  New York’s public schools are grappling with a teacher shortage which many blame on the stringent requirements to become certified in the state.

NYPost. New rules for who can teach are a big win for New York kids  Sadly, most education degrees are practically worthless: Teaching is an art best learned from a master on the job, not a science to be picked up by studying theory.

NYSED Regents. July meeting agenda

Politico. Hochman leaves as Cuomo’s deputy education secretary  Hochman [TC EdD. 1990], a former Westchester County school superintendent and longtime critic of the Common Core learning standards, was appointed to the position in October 2015.

SUNY Board of Trustees
1) Archived Meetings. Proposed Teacher Cert Regs Resolution
2) Proposed Regulations of the Charter Schools Committee

TimesUnion. NY teachers with 30 hours of experience? Charter school proposal stirs debate  The proposal, which would allow high-achieving charter schools to develop their own teacher certification requirements, was quietly floated in the last hours of the 2017 legislative session…

Univ. of Buffalo. UB’s virtual reality expertise creates simulated classroom environment for aspiring teachers  The virtual reality teaching environment created by Lamb and Etopio differs from other teaching simulation platforms in that actual footage of student behaviors occurring within real classrooms will be used…

NEW YORK CITY
Bank Street Sustainable Funding Project. ESSA and Quality Teacher Preparation

NYDaily News.
1) Corporate lawyer traded high-paying gig for calling to educate low-income NYC students  So Russell quit his corporate job and applied for training at Success Academy, the first step in eventually becoming a teacher …
2) Technology teacher offers every student chance at coding, computer science classes in Queens school  She cashed in her retirement savings and enrolled in graduate school, earning a master’s degree in education and a teaching certification.

NYTimes. De Blasio’s Concessions on Charter Schools Are Disclosed  Another potentially significant change for the charter sector came in the form of proposed rules, released last month, that would create different ways for teachers at certain charter schools to earn certification and start teaching before the process is complete.

 

INTERNATIONAL
CPRE. Strategies for Strengthening the Technical Workforce: A Review of International Evidence  …UNESCO (2013) found that a main concern in the implementation of ICT in TVET was that teachers were often not prepared to use ICTs in teaching

New South Wales Teachers Federation. Commercialisation in Public Schooling  “Commercial producers have a place in the resource market for teachers but must never be considered as a substitute for quality teaching — this is what we are trained to do and we must remain the experts in this regard”.

UNITED STATES
AACTE. New edTPA Resource for the 2017-2018 Program Year  Handbooks and Templates 2017-2018 – No changes, except for Classical Languages, Elementary Education, Elementary Literacy, Literacy Specialist, Special Education, and World Language. [login required]

Brookings Inst. Stemming the tide: Are public school districts keeping the best and brightest teachers?  If an English teacher has more peer teachers with more experience, advanced degrees, and professional certification, this English teacher is less likely to move to another school across town. 

CAEP. Board of Director appointments

Chalkbeat. Has the charter school movement gone awry? A new book says yes, and it’s causing a stir  …recommendations that include expanding the number and type of charter authorizers, ensuring charters are not bound by teacher certification rules, and reducing charter school regulations.

CT Mirror. Education Commissioner Wentzell: ‘Our English Learners Need More Support’  I am really proud that our education preparation institutions are doing a much better job with this.

Deans for Impact. Why mythbusting fails: A guide to influencing education with science  Experiment after experiment has shown that matching the form of instruction to a student’s preferred “style” of learning – such as auditory or visual – does not improve a student’s understanding. 

EdWeek.
1) ‘Course-Choice’ Efforts Grow to Give Students More Options  “No matter what Secretary DeVos does, the focus needs to be on investing in our public schools, especially in training and retaining good teachers and educating students of all abilities,”…
2) Program aims to help teachers stay in profession  The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the state is creating a new academy for high schoolers considering a career in education. 

NPR. 18 States Sue Betsy DeVos And Education Dept. Over Delay Of Borrower Defense Rule

NYTimes. DeVos Is Discarding College Policies That New Evidence Shows Are Effective  Bridgepoint Education, a publicly traded for-profit college corporation, offers an online associate degree in early education through Ashford University that costs almost $34,000 in tuition, fees and supplies, most of which students finance with debt. Fewer than half of students finish on time, and the median graduate earns less than $16,000 per year. 

Stories from School. Educators Rising: Start ‘Em While They’re Young  Basically, Educators Rising works with secondary teachers to identify black, brown, and white young people–as young as 13– who have potential as future educators.

Wall Street Journal. Exclusive Test Data: Many Colleges Fail to Improve Critical-Thinking Skills

Washington Post. What should students know about religion? New guidance on teaching it in public schools.

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Some charter school teachers could become certified without a master’s under proposed new SUNY rules

InsideHigherEd. New State Aid, With Strings Attached  Private colleges in New York State criticized Governor Cuomo’s plan to give some of their students much more aid in return for limits on tuition increases and more money from institutions. 

NYSED. Statement from Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa, the Board of Regents & State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia on SUNY Charter Proposal   …ensuring that strong and effective teachers with the proper training, experience and credentials are educating New York’s children in every public school – including charter schools. SUNY’s teacher certification proposal is cause for concern…

NYS United Teachers.
1) NYSUT blasts charter school industry’s attempt to bypass teaching standards  …regulations proposed by the charter school industry that would allow some charter networks to bypass state certification standards and set up their own training programs for teachers — meaning students in publicly funded charters could be taught by individuals with as little as 30 hours of classroom instruction.
2) Stop Backdoor Teacher Certification for SUNY-Authorized Charters!

Politico. Charters move closer to new teacher-certification rules, worrying education schools

NEW YORK CITY
MotherJones. How Income Inequality Is Messing With Kids’ Brains  Dr. Kimberly Noble’s laboratory at Columbia University looks like your typical day care center—save for the team of cognitive neuroscientists observing kids from behind a large two-way mirror. The Neurocognition, Early Experience, and Development Lab…

Teachers College. Affirming Their Choice: Admitted Students Day at TC  “Whenever I worked in a school whose curriculum was inspired by TC, I loved it,” says Nassau, who will earn her master’s degree in the Department of Curriculum & Teaching, possibly with an additional focus on teaching art.