GLOBAL
Education International. Africa’s education leadership works towards union unity Sossion went on to underline the seven signals of teacher deprofessionalisation, which is another major challenge for African teacher unions, i.e. the influx of untrained teachers, the casualisation of teaching…
Deutsche Welle. OECD education study reveals gender gap and strong disparity Among young people studying to become teachers, the reverse is true: 78 percent of them are female.
NYTimes. Mexican Students Hijack Tanker Truck, Buses and Kidnap Cops The events marked the latest chapter of violence at a rural teachers college where 43 students were kidnapped in 2014 and remain missing.
UNITED STATES
Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity. An Overview of MSI Educator Preparation Programs
Center for American Progress. America Needs More Teachers of Color and a More Selective Teaching Profession States, teacher preparation programs, and alternative certification programs are taking steps to build a more diverse and selective pool of educators.
Chalkbeat.
1) Certification rules and tests are keeping would-be teachers of color out of America’s classrooms. Here’s how. A Chalkbeat analysis has found that virtually every step in the common teacher certification process risks disproportionately excluding prospective teachers of color.
2) Efforts to ‘raise the bar’ for becoming a teacher are running headlong into efforts to diversify the profession. Now what? But there has been only limited discussion of the fact that these two objectives — diversifying the profession and making it harder to enter — are often at cross purposes,
3) This top-rated black teacher may lose her job over one test. Are ‘high standards’ working? David Steiner, a professor at Johns Hopkins and a member of the Maryland State Board of Education… “What’s racist is the way we put the least well prepared teachers in the classrooms of our most disadvantaged students,” he said.
Council of Chief State School Officers. Transforming Educator Preparation: Lessons Learned from Leading States
Deans for Impact. The elusive evidence of educator-prep program effectiveness…exists! If we do not gather more actionable data, policymakers will either craft accountability policies based on questionable statistics, or follow the lead of states such as Utah and Arizona that are de-professionalizing teaching entirely.
Education Reform Now. Teacher Education Reform Now Recent history validates that the current teacher preparation program accreditor, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), is no better than other accreditors…
EdWeek.
1) Could an App Help Teachers Recognize Their Own Biases? The app will be available for free by the end of the year, according to Shah. Once completed, he hopes teacher-prep programs and school districts will use EQUIP to train preservice and even veteran teachers.
2) Kansas education board struggles with teacher shortage A teacher vacancy committee has recommended an elementary licensing process that would require a district to identify people with “great potential” to be a teacher… The process to become a licensed elementary school teacher would take two years.
3) Parents Prefer Good Neighborhood Schools Over More Choice, Poll Finds When asked how to improve teaching, 73 percent of parents said to treat teachers like professionals, raise hiring standards, and give new and struggling teachers more support and training.
4) State school board proposes lowering teacher requirements The Charleston [WV] Gazette-Mail reported Saturday that among the proposed changes are exempting education bachelor’s degree holders who meet minimum grade point averages from having to pass a basic knowledge test.
5) State School Chiefs Offer ‘Playbook’ on Improving Teacher Preparation
6) Teachers’ Pay Lags Farthest Behind Other Professionals in U.S., Study Finds “While the rest of the world has prioritized teaching and learning, and is investing heavily in equity and teacher preparation, 36 U.S. states are spending less on education than before the Great Recession,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers…
NEPC. Our Children Deserve Better: A Call to Resist Washington’s Dangerous Vision for U.S. Education The rhetoric and reforms that attack and undermine teachers serve to lower the standards for teaching, hinder effective teaching practices, create revolving doors of employment, de-professionalize teaching, and deregulate teacher preparation.
New York Post [OpEd]. The outrageously mythical ‘teacher shortage’ Mike Antonucci, director of the Education Intelligence Agency, adds that, between 2008 and 2016, student enrollment was flat but the teaching force expanded from 3.4 million to more than 3.8 million, a rise of 12.4 percent.
NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. New York’s most controversial teacher certification exam is now a little easier to pass The Board of Regents voted Tuesday to drop the passing score on the edTPA … from 41 to 38 starting in January 2018.
Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.
1) CICU Member Campus CEO Sign-on Letter: Masters-in-Education
2) CICU opposes SUNY Charter School Institute’s proposed teacher certification regulation
Education Reform Now. On Teacher Prep, Give SUNY Charter Schools A Chance to Succeed Where Others Have Failed …in general the research indicates a weak relationship between specific teacher certification standards and student outcomes.
Education Week.
1) How Virtual Reality Is Helping Train New Teachers David Cantaffa, an assistant provost for educator preparation for the State University of New York, the project funder, was surprised by the extent to which the VR made him feel transported to the classroom.
2) New York Lowers Required Score on Teacher Certification Exam A task force of more than 30 representatives from higher education and K-12 has been working on amending the edTPA requirements over the last nearly two years.
NYSED.
1) edTPA Handbook Review Survey – Deadline Oct. 1: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/edtpahandbook2017
2) Board Of Regents Approves NY’S Every Student Succeeds Act Plan
3) Board Of Regents Revises Teacher Certification Requirements The Standard Setting Panel recommended a passing score of 40 (the current passing score is 41) that would be implemented after a four-year phase-in period [passing score of 38 during 2018 and 2019].
4) Board of Regents Approves Learning Standards for the Arts
NYSED Board of Regents, Sept. Meeting.
1) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-5.17 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to Permanently Extend the Option for Certain Out-of-State Candidates to be Eligible for a Conditional Initial Certificate
2) Update on the edTPA Standard Setting Committee and Amendment to Section 80-1.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to Extend the edTPA Safety Net and Revise the Eligibility Criteria for the Multiple Measures Review Process Under the recommended phase-in period beginning January 1, 2018, the new passing score for the edTPA would be 38.
NYTimes [OpEd]. A Way to Get Great Teachers Into the Classroom So as a teacher who recently had to jump through the New York certification hoops, I was pleased to learn that the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute, which authorizes charter operators, is considering allowing charter schools to certify their teachers themselves.
TimesUnion. New York just made it easier for teachers to get certified
NEW YORK CITY
CBS New York. New York City Schools Are Inadequate On Sex Education, Stringer Says Stringer’s audit also found that 88 percent of middle schools and high schools in the city do not have a licensed health education teacher – with most of them being middle schools. Also, in middle and high schools, 97 percent of health instructors are not licensed, the audit said.
Chalkbeat.
1) Diverse charter schools in New York City to get boost from Walton money The Century Foundation and researchers at Teachers College at Columbia University and Temple University will receive additional funding from Walton to study diverse charter schools…
2) New York City wants to know: How effective is its training for pre-K teachers? The NYU study will use measures of student behavior such as self-regulation, third-grade test scores, and how often students are held back to track the impact of the city’s different teacher training programs.
National Review. How a Democratic New York City Councilwoman Became a Crusader for School Choice In this book, I’ve recounted some of what I saw: textbooks that arrived halfway through the school year; … forcing prospective teachers to waste half a day getting fingerprinted.
Teachers College.
1) Ensuring that Every Student Succeeds: TC’s Goodwin and Parkes offer advice to New York State on implementing ESSA New York … must do more to afford aspiring teachers substantial time in the field to gain deep and detailed classroom knowledge; to ensure that its teaching force mirrors students’ diversity; and to remove certification requirements that discourage both teacher diversity and excellence.
2) New TR@TC website
