Month: October 2017

GLOBAL
ATEE. Winter Conference 2018 February 15th and 16th, University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht.

FreshEd. Decolonizing Teacher Training in Pakistan [Podcast]

Hechinger Report. On the ground in Singapore, with a sharp perspective  Shortly before I completed my teacher training 15 years ago, my vice principal gave me some advice…

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE InTouch: ‘What Makes a Good Teacher?’  These brief videos inform the public about educator preparation and ways to advocate for, get involved in, and support the education profession.
2) Diane Ravitch to Deliver Closing Keynote at #AACTE18
3) Federal Update Webinars: September 2017, October 2017 [AACTE login required]
4) UNC Greensboro Celebrates Continued Funding for Tech-Focused TQP Work  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.

American Educational Studies Association. 2017 AESA Critic’s Choice Book Award. Teacher Performance Assessment and Accountability Reforms: The Impacts of edTPA on Teaching and Schools  The adoption of nationalized teacher performance exams has raised concerns about the influence of corporate interests in teacher education, the objectivity of nationalized teaching standards, and ultimately the overarching political and economic interests shaping the process, format, and nature of assessment itself.

Blog Talk Radio. Colleges Of Education’s Innovative Approach To Produce Special Ed Teachers  [radio interview]

EdWeek.
1) Do State ESSA Plans Have Strong Connections to Higher Education?  In particular, states have committed to strengthen K–12 and higher education alignment through their ESSA plans in the following ways:… Supporting teacher preparation and professional development activities to expand the number and reach of effective teachers in advanced coursework.
2) Five Steps to Launching a Schoolwide Social Justice Movement
3) How Should We Reform Teacher Education?  Virtual reality classrooms should be used in teacher education programs.
4) What We’ve Learned Teaching Teacher Candidates About Equity  Future educators are frustrated that they have not been adequately prepared for discussing issues related to justice, but they are excited to begin learning about it. Without significant opportunity to explore issues of equity and justice, future educators miss opportunities for growth and development.
5) With Latest Education Investments, Gates Pivots Again  … and $1.7 million to the Relay Graduate School of Education to develop a data system for tracking the teachers it prepares.

InsideHigherEd. Expectations, Race and College Success: Study suggests high school teachers’ attitudes are not colorblind and influence who succeeds in higher education  … findings show the importance both of increasing the number of nonwhite schoolteachers and also of educating all teachers about bias and the importance of high expectations.

NYTimes. The ‘Problem Child’ Is a Child, Not a Problem  Matt’s behavior started to turn around in fifth grade, after his parents began using Collaborative Problem Solving (C.P.S.)… Now an eighth grader, Matt has adjusted well to his new school …. He wants to go to college and become a special-education teacher like the ones who have helped him. 

Southern Regional Education Board. Are Teachers Really Prepared To Teach Reading?  The National Council on Teacher Quality finds additional evidence that preservice training for reading instruction is not adequate in many teacher preparation programs.

U. S. Congress. Educator Preparation Reform Act: A bill to improve quality and accountability for educator preparation programs. Introduced in Senate as S1694 by Jack Reed (D-RI) and in the House of Representatives as HR3636 by Ruben Kihuen (D-NV)

U. S. Federal Register. Secretary’s Proposed Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grant Programs [Public comment period open until Nov. 17]

The74. How Arkansas Is Teaming Up With Teachers, Facebook & Other Tech Titans to Rethink Computer Science Education  Local universities are working to help train the aspiring computer science teachers… Arkansas Tech became the first college in the state to offer a computer science education major, which blends existing computer science courses with education classes.

WashingtonPost. As DACA winds down, 20,000 educators are in limbo  Regardless of what Congress does, Rodriguez plans to apply to a master’s program that will help him earn his teaching certificate. He plans to apply to the University of the Redlands in January.

NEW YORK STATE
North Country Public Radio. SUNY Chancellor defends changes to charter school teacher certification standards  Dr. Kristina Johnson, who began her job as Chancellor in September, says SUNY will continue to hold the 185 charter schools that it regulates to high standards. But she does not disagree with a Board of Trustee committee’s decision to allow charter schools to develop their own certification plans for teachers.

NYSED. 2017-18 Professional Standards and Practices Board Members

NEW YORK CITY
Wall Street Journal. Nonprofit Aims to Inspire Teachers and Honor Their Vocation  “We want to treat teachers like professional intellectuals…”

GLOBAL
EdSurge. Why the World’s Youngest Continent Got an Edtech Accelerator  Here are the eight companies in Injini’s inaugural cohort: Accelerated (Ethiopia): teacher training services that helps educators use technology effectively…

Hechinger Report. In Finland, it’s easier to become a doctor or lawyer than a teacher — Here’s why  With such selective admissions — it was harder to gain entry to the University of Helsinki’s teacher education program (6.8 percent acceptance rate) than the law program (8.3 percent acceptance rate) or the medical school (7.3 percent acceptance rate) in 2016 — and rigorous preparation, one might expect Finland to suffer teacher shortages not unlike those seen in the U.S. 

UNITED STATES
AACTE. Teaching Bullying Prevention, School Climate, and SEL: Seven Research-Informed Principles for Schools of Education  If universities and colleges could teach these principles to future teachers, administrators, and other school personnel, many students who might have become victims of bullies will never have to live through those experiences…

AMLE2017. Symposium on Middle Level Teacher Education [Nov. 7, Philadelphia]

Chalkbeat. Gates Foundation to move away from teacher evals, shifting attention to ‘networks’ of public schools  The final quarter of that $1.7 billion will go toward research into how kinds of technology could improve student learning and ways to improve math instruction and career preparation.

EdSource. Cal State receives federal grant to prepare more Latinos to become teachers  A new $8.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the California State University will… allow for more recruitment of teacher candidates at high schools and community colleges.

Education First. Who Teaches the Teachers?  [Client: Gates Foundation]

Education Week.
1) Do Schools Need Certified Teachers? Do Children?  [OpEd] So, we wonder…is relaxing teacher certification requirements, the answer to the shortage or to the problems and challenges we have as educators?
2) High-Achieving Students Don’t Want to Be Teachers. What Can Change Their Minds?
3) Substitute teacher shortages create challenges for districts  Iowa created an alternative licensing program for substitute teachers several years ago in an effort to increase their ranks, but rural parts of the state continue to struggle with a shortage…

Teacher Education Transformation Centers. If We Want Excellent Teachers, We Need Excellent Teacher Educators [Client: Gates Foundation]

Truth for America. Should Teach For America be kicked out?  TFA tax returns over the last four years show revenues over a billion dollars…

NEW YORK STATE
Albany News 10. Lawsuit filed over NY teacher certifications  Currently, state law requires that teachers have a master’s degree, yet the committee’s plan requires neither a master’s nor a bachelor’s degree.

Education Trust-New York. One-third of all New York schools have no Latino or Black teachers, new report from Ed Trust–NY reveals  There are immediate steps that state leaders can take to improve teacher and school leader diversity and strengthen public education in New York, including: Strengthening the educator preparation pipeline for future teachers and school leaders of color

Lohud Journal News. REPORT: Westchester schools lack teacher diversity  “We need to promote the teaching profession as a viable career for our young people of color,” [Yonkers Superintendent Quezada] said. “They need to see themselves as future teachers and administrators.”

NY Daily News. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie questions rule allowing charter schools to certify teachers  “Our position is the same as it was when the legislation was passed: We believe the legislation’s intent did not allow for SUNY to adopt regulations that are inconsistent with current laws governing charter schools, including laws related to teacher certification requirements.”

NYSATE/NYACTE. 2017 Annual Conference Program, Saratoga Springs, NY Oct. 18-20

NYSED. 8 Things every educator should know about New York State’s plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act  Working with districts and higher education, the state will create tools and other resources that will increase communication between preparation programs and the districts that employ their graduates.

NYSED Regents. Board Of Regents Acts To Help Teachers Displaced By Hurricane Maria Get Temporary Certification To Work In NY

Politico New York. Charter certification rules overhauled  Dirck Roosevelt, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who is more critical of charters than Suransky, said the updated proposal was still “teacher education lite.”

Syracuse.com There’s a big teacher-student diversity gap in Syracuse schools, report finds  That program, the Syracuse Urban Teacher Program, recruits high school students to shadow teachers, take college courses two days a week in their junior year and teach portions of class by their senior year.

The Buffalo News. Diversity lags in teaching ranks in Buffalo area schools  In Niagara Falls, Laurrie said, the district has started several initiatives in recent years, including a “grow your own” program, offering scholarship dollars and partnering with Niagara County Community College to provide a teacher’s academy.

 

GLOBAL
Education International. International Day of the Girl Child  As education unions, it is part of our core mission and mandate to ensure gender perspectives are integrated at every level: within teachers initial training and continuous development programmes, as well as in the curricula and in all education-related policies.

The Hill. [Darling-Hammond, Tucker OpEd] If you want a world-class education system, then empower our teachers  First, the recruitment of prospective teachers must be intentional and systematic. Leaders in high-performing systems recruit academically capable students into teacher education who also possess a passion for teaching and an ability to connect with young people.

Times Higher Education. Video: what does good university teaching look like? Top UK university lecturers give us their top teaching tips

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Deadline Extended! Apply by Oct. 20 for AACTE Awards
2) edTPA Conference Registration Deadline Extended to Oct. 20
3) New Task Force to Study Clinical Preparation of Special Education Teachers

Chalkbeat.
1) Meet first Tennesseans in a new education leadership program for people of color  About 14 percent of new teachers in Tennessee training programs identify as non-white, compared to 36 percent of the state’s student population.
2) Read these 4 great education stories by new ‘Genius’ grant winner Nikole Hannah-Jones  2014: “Segregation Now” As a school’s black population increases, the odds that any given teacher there will have significant experience, full licensure, or a master’s degree all decline.

Education Week.
1) Growing Number of States Embrace Career Education  Virginia now allows school boards to waive some licensure requirements for the teachers they want to hire for career and technical education classes.
2) Helping Preschool Teachers Shake Off Fear of Science Education  Teacher training programs and professional development for teachers who are already in the field could benefit from an infusion of science education…
3) Should Teachers Make as Much as Lawmakers? Calif. Voters Could Decide  …”unlike legislators, being a teacher requires a college education, an advanced degree, and ongoing professional training,” he said “and, unlike legislators, teachers often work in dangerous, challenging, and substandard conditions in schools that can be poorly maintained and woefully underfunded.”
4) Yet Another Group Sets Out to Accredit Teacher-Prep Programs  …the emergence of a new accreditation group, the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation, or AAQEP, seeking to give teacher-preparation programs its stamp of approval.

Congress.GOV. H.R.899 – To terminate the Department of Education. Two Republican Reps. [R. Norman (SC), T. Rokita (IN)] sponsored bill 9/26/2017.

Inside Higher Ed.
1) Innovative Teachers for Tomorrow’s Careers  Our nation needs strong teachers in every math and science classroom, writes E. Gordon Gee, but too few STEM experts choose to apply their talents to this important career path.
2) Leadership Matters for Transfer Success  …researchers from the …Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College visited six high-performing transfer partnerships — including six two-year and eight four-year schools — to understand how higher education can better serve undergraduate transfer students.
3) Teaching Teachers to Teach Online  Colleges use a variety of strategies to train subject-matter experts in effective online instruction. One surprise: in-person training is huge.

The New & Observer. Many rural NC counties don’t have enough teachers. Can pay bonuses help change that?  A new program is offering education majors at N.C. State University a big bonus if they commit after graduation to working in some rural school districts that struggle to attract enough teachers.

Washington Post. Why the school ‘accountability movement’ based on standardized tests is nothing more than ‘a charade’  The movement led to classrooms dominated by test prep and a severe narrowing of the curriculum to a primary focus on subjects being tested…

NEW YORK STATE
Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Teacher testing revised  “The edTPA is still under development; that’s part of the problem,” said Jamie Dangler, co-chair of the edTPA task force and vice president for academics for United University Professions, the state’s main union for college faculty.

Chalkbeat.
1) New York unions sue, accusing charter schools of lowering standards for teachers
2) SUNY faces legal threat against proposal to let charter schools certify their teachers Critics of a controversial proposal to allow certain charter schools to certify their own teachers threatened legal action on Tuesday if officials vote to approve the plan at their meeting Wednesday morning.
3) SUNY revises controversial proposal to let some New York charter schools certify their own teachers  In the revised proposal, prospective teachers will be required to sit for 160 hours of classroom instruction, which amounts to about a month of full-time work. However, the time required for teaching practice will drop from 100 to 40 hours…SUNY’s plan does require aspiring teachers to be enrolled in a college’s teacher education program.
4) The votes are in: Some New York charter schools can now certify their own teachers  In charter schools overseen by SUNY that apply to train their own teachers, prospective teachers now will only have to sit for the equivalent of a month of classroom instruction and practice teaching for 40 hours before becoming certified.

Education Week. Committee OKs alternative requirements for charter teachers  Opponents include Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa, New York State United Teachers and United University Professions. 

New York Daily News. Teachers unions sue over charter school’s move to certify own educators  “They should stick to organizing and leave the legal analysis to us lawyers,” said Belluck, an attorney who serves on the SUNY charter committee as an unpaid volunteer.

NYSED Regents. October 16-17 meeting agenda

New York State United Teachers. Amended charter certification requirements still unacceptable

NYTimes.
1) Some Charter Schools Can Certify Their Own Teachers, Board Says  In 2016, in exchange for granting Mayor Bill de Blasio an extension of mayoral control over schools, the Republicans in the State Senate, to whom Ms. Moskowitz has close ties, inserted broad language in the legislation giving SUNY the power to promulgate regulations for the schools it oversees.
2) Unions Sue to Block ‘Watered Down’ Rules for Charter Teacher Training

Politico. Merryl Tisch is back, will have say in how charter schools certify teachers  “As chancellor, Merryl Tisch presided over the Common Core debacle; the arrival of Pearson testing and [former state education commissioner] John King Jr., and the troubled edTPA teacher certification process,” NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn said, referring to several other controversies during her tenure. “As she moves to the SUNY Charter Schools Committee, we ask, ‘What can go wrong?’”

SUNY Charter Schools Institute. Regulations of the SUNY Board of Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee  [updated proposal]

Times Union. SUNY OKs charter teacher certification plan  The SUNY charter schools committee, voting in New York City, approved the plan by a vote of 4-1 on Wednesday, with the stated goal of making it easier to become a teacher at New York charter schools in light of a national and statewide teacher shortage.

United University Professions. SUNY’s charter school teacher training plan skirts standards, accountability

Wall Street Journal. New York Charter Schools Win Plan to Certify Teachers  Former Chancellor Merryl Tisch, a charter supporter appointed to the SUNY board of trustees last summer by the governor, joined the charter committee last month, just in time to vote yes.

NEW YORK CITY
New York Post. Protesters demand ‘accurate’ Columbus school curriculum­  Bed-Stuy parent Felicia Alexander… “These teachers view our students as menacing, as dangerous, as threatening. They view our kids as less likely to succeed.” Alexander said instructors need to be trained to “understand the backgrounds and the diverse cultures of our kids” in order to effectively teach them.

 

GLOBAL
Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE). Conference 2017 [Oct. 23-25, Dubrovnik, Croatia]

Center on International Education Benchmarking. Respect for Teachers Highest in China, South Korea and Singapore  Countries that have high levels of respect for teachers are more likely to encourage strong students to enter teaching and to offer strong teacher training.

Chalkbeat. Want more young people to aspire to become teachers? Try paying teachers more  “In countries where teacher salaries are higher, 15-year-old students are more likely to expect to work as teachers,” the researchers Seong Won Han, Francesca Borgonovi, and Sonia Guerriero conclude, using data from the OECD

Education Week. The [U.S.] Teacher of the Year Went to Ethiopia to Train Educators—and Learned a Lot

UNESCO. World Teachers’ Day – 5 October 2017  …bring together teachers, trainers, policy-makers, as well as researchers and other education stakeholders to celebrate teaching, academic freedom, and what we need to do to ensure quality higher education and a sustainable future for the teaching profession.

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Creating High Teacher Quality in Teacher Prep Programs- Radio Talk With AACTE Members An online Education Talk Radio program last month featured AACTE members in a discussion of how their educator preparation programs contribute to high teacher quality.
2) Nominate Leaders for AACTE Awards by Oct. 12
3) New Report Rings Alarm Bell on Teacher Shortages  Teachers who enter the profession through alternate routes are 25% more likely to leave the profession than those who have had full preparation… Teacher preparation programs have experienced a whopping 35% decline in enrollment in the last 5 years.
4) Podcast Interview Explores Implications of New Science Standards for Preparing Teachers

AAQEP. AAQEP Board Adopts Policy to Recognize Accreditation from Other Accreditors

Chronicle. The Crisis of Civic Education [OpEd by Derek Bok] Professors are also much freer from outside pressures than public-school teachers in determining the content of their courses and the materials they assign their students. Colleges, then, have a vital part to play.

EdWeek.
1) Accreditation for Teacher Prep Needs a Makeover, Say Former Ed. Officials  “Because the current teacher education accreditor has shown it cannot and will not reform itself, a new type of accreditor, not dependent on schools of education and their personnel, but instead on the employers of graduates from schools of education and teacher preparation programs, should be created.”
2) A Guide to State ESSA Plans: Goals, Teacher Quality, and More  In their plans, states generally outlined ongoing reforms to certification, teacher preparation, and professional development rather than proposing brand-new initiatives.
3) Here’s How Teachers’ Racial Attitudes Compare to Those of Average Americans
4) Illinois Eliminates Some Requirements for Teacher Licenses  Some administrators say those changes have helped fill jobs in areas with teacher shortages. But advocates for tough licensing standards say eliminating coursework and testing requirements may not guarantee educators have the credentials needed to work in public schools.
5) Is The Cat in the Hat Racist?  Martin, who has also been a teacher-educator, also believes that programs preparing teachers need to engage with similar questions …“If the teachers don’t have training in cultural sensitivity and diverse children’s books, they have a disconnect going into the classroom—and they have a disadvantage. And they don’t know it,”
6) Louisiana education report: Rural teachers get less training  The report says 13 percent of classes are taught by uncertified or out-of-field teachers in urban and suburban school districts, while that number grows to 21 percent in rural districts.
7) More emergency teaching certifications approved in Oklahoma  Under the certificates, individuals can be employed prior to completing education or training requirements. Most of those individuals are newcomers to education, but some are certified teachers who lack certification in the subject matter or grade level they’re needed for.
8) New tech to prepare Wyoming students for teaching careers  The University of Wyoming is planning to use an “augmented reality” program to prepare the teachers of tomorrow for their future work in the classroom.

NEA Today
1) “All I Want to Do is Teach And Help My Kids,” says DACA Teacher  …teachers originally hired through Teach for America (TFA), which has actively recruited DACA recipients.
2) What Would Thomas Jefferson Say to Betsy DeVos?  The reformers, who came on the scene in the 1830s, take these schools and aim to improve them. They started to establish teacher training schools.

New York Post. Why We Need to Start Teaching Tech in Kindergarten [OpEd by Ivanka Trump] …starting with K-12 curricula, but also continuing through vocational, skill-based training and apprenticeship programs…

NCTQ. Best Books for New Teachers (Part I)

North Carolina State Univ. TIP, NC State Education Establish $10K TIP Teaching Scholars Award Program  “This partnership with The Innovation Project enables us to create a pipeline of highly qualified pre-service teachers who will work in some of the districts facing the greatest teaching shortages…”

Stanford Univ. SCALE.
1) 2017 National edTPA Implementation Conference [San Jose, CA, Nov. 3 – 5; Registration Deadline Oct. 12]
2) edTPA Connections to CAEP
3) New to edTPA? edTPA 101 [YouTube promo]

Urban Institute. Diversifying the Classroom: Examining the Teacher Pipeline  Even if all black college graduates became teachers, the number of black teachers would only barely exceed the number of white teachers. Teacher diversity gaps are constrained by a limited number of diverse college graduates.

Washington Post. Here’s a great way to get kids to learn. Unfortunately, too many schools don’t do it.  Today’s “reformers” believe direct instruction can be made to work if teachers will teach to subject-matter standards and kids will try harder to remember what they’ve been taught.

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. 22,000 New Yorkers will get new college scholarship from the state after 94,000 applied

NPREd. ‘Biggest-Ever Free College’ Program Reaches 6 Percent Of New York Students

Politico. Students at private colleges still awaiting word on Enhanced Tuition Award  Because of the restrictions and timing of the program, most of the state’s more than 100 nonprofit colleges and universities decided not to opt into the program.

NEW YORK CITY
NYCDOE.
1) Alternative Routes to Certification
2) Teach NYC! Conference 2017  Hosted by the NYC Department of Education, Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality, the second annual Teach NYC! Conference invites you to join us and find your pathway to becoming a teacher in New York City.  [Nov. 15]

Teachers College.
1) Getting Started with Digital Literacy. A webinar for K-8 educators with special guest Detra Price-Dennis…
2) Teacher as Activist: Supporting Immigrant Students in Urban Classrooms

The74. Exclusive: Documents Show NYC’s Education Department Failed to Answer 526 Public Records Requests Over Past 3 Years  Aaron Pallas, an education and sociology professor at Teachers College… filed a request in July 2011 for documents…he had never received a response from the DOE, just monthly extension letters.