Month: December 2017

NOTE: Teacher Ed News will resume the week of Jan. 1, 2018

GLOBAL
Education Week. A Novel Way to Improve Teacher Prep: Give Teachers Better Curriculum  …countries like Singapore and Finland tend to base all of their preparation around vetted, high-quality curriculum in a way that the United States and other countries, like Australia, do not.

Premier Pathways. Budget 2017: £100m National Centre for Computing to train 8,000 new teachers

RNZ. National standards ditched by government  It said the government was also stopping the transfer of responsibility for teachers’ professional development courses and training to the Education Council. The paper said the Education Minister wanted to consider instead the development of a national advisory service to oversee all centrally-funded training.

Study International. Why AI could be the ultimate education enhancer  No longer will teacher numbers rely on people choosing to train for years, no longer will poor training programmes lead to sub-par education, and education quality will not depend on individual teachers’ abilities.

Viv Ellis. The avatars are coming! But is it innovation in teacher education?  The spark that lit my interest was a discussion at Teachers College during the Educating the Teacher Educators research project in which colleagues left me dumbfounded when they showed me some of the US programmes exploiting…avatars and simulation technologies in pre-service teacher education… it was only a matter of time before one turned up here in England… 

 

UNTED STATES
AACTE. December Federal Update Webinar [login required]

Chalkbeat. Four takeaways from Betsy DeVos’s summit on innovation in K-12 education  …concerns raised about state testing requirements and teacher certification rules.

Education Post. Teacher Shortages Demand More Rigorous Teacher Prep, Not Less  Many states have found solutions other than abbreviated or diluted undergraduate degrees to help prepare teachers fully and more quickly.

Education Week.
1) DeVos’ Team Tells N.Y., Florida, Other States They Have Work to Do on ESSA
2) Education Department’s Budget Includes Some Words Barred at the CDC  The budget asks for “$2 million for Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) to provide evidence-based professional development activities and prepare teachers and principals from nontraditional preparation and certification routes to serve in high-need [districts].”
3) Listen Up! State Teachers of the Year Share ‘Education Epiphanies’ in Podcasts  Indiana Teacher of the Year Jitka Nelson … is taking a sabbatical from the classroom to share expertise on teaching English-language learners with colleges of education… Her podcast explains how teachers can better teach their own ELL students.
4) Math Doesn’t Have to Suck. Here Are Three Ways to Make It Better  I got better at teaching math, mostly because I had to. I paid way too much money out of pocket to take a course at Bank Street College of Education on teaching math conceptually.
5) The Teaching Profession in 2017 (in Charts)  Still, a researcher notes that the pace of inclusion has outpaced the number of teachers who are trained to teach students with special needs. 

Hechinger Report. Impatient with universities’ slow pace of change, employers go around them  In addition to long waits for programs to be approved by faculty and accrediting agencies, for example, many schools can’t find enough people qualified to teach computer science.

Inside Higher Ed. Enrollment Slide Continues, at Slower Rate College enrollments in the U.S. decline for a sixth straight year — although at a slower rate 

New York Times.
1) Graduate Students Escaped Tax Increases, but They Still Feel a Target on Their Backs
2) Teaching Activities for: ‘Uproar Over Purported Ban at C.D.C. of Words Like “Fetus”’

The Atlantic. The Changing Landscape of Student Protest in Higher Education  The tax-bill overhaul mobilized a broad coalition of activists, offering first glimpses of what Republicans may be up against when they tackle financial-aid reform next year.

 

NEW YORK STATE
My Brother’s Keeper. Changing the Narrative

NYSED News. Statement From State Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia on Initial USDE ESSA Feedback

NYS Governor Cuomo. AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs for certified teachers already holding a graduate degree …SUCH GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATION OR SUBSTANTIALLY EQUIVALENT ADMISSION EXAMINATION REQUIREMENT SHALL IN NO CASE APPLY TO CERTIFIED TEACHERS OR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS WHO ALREADY HOLD A GRADUATE DEGREE.

 

NEW YORK CITY
ABC Eyewitness News. Overcoming the hurdles of PE education in NYC schools Through a new initiative called PE Works, Mayor De Blasio has committed $100 million dollars to expanding PE curriculum and ensuring certified teachers are at every public school.

Chalkbeat.
1) In new study of school-district effectiveness, New York City falls just below national average  “Growth is way better than achievement,” said Douglas Ready, an education and public policy professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. “We know low-income students start school behind — the question is what do school districts do with the kids they get?”
2) Plans to shutter schools will force more than 400 New York City teachers to search for new jobs  Both the education department and United Federation of Teachers say they will work to match teachers to open positions. Every year, the city hires about 6,000 new teachers.

NY1. City continues to seek men of color to teach in schools  The city says it’s almost reached the goal. Three hundred and fifty male teachers of color have been hired. Five hundred and fifty more are in the pipeline.

New York Times. Carmen Fariña, Head of New York City Schools, Is Retiring  Amy Stuart Wells, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College … a member of the city’s school diversity advisory group, said Ms. Fariña’s department has paid more attention to the issue than past administrations… Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, said that … “She does believe a lot in the wisdom of practice, the idea that experience imparts knowledge about how to do this kind of work of educating children that one really can’t get other ways,”

GLOBAL
AACTE. #AACTE18 Preconference Event to Bring Focus of ‘Global Lens’ to Educator Preparation

Education International.
1) Is teaching still a profession where you are?  …we now can’t assume to hold on to the gains of decades, or rely on the manifest evidence of better student outcomes arising from proper teacher preparation and moderated judgment.
2) UK: Workload driving teachers out of profession – union survey   However, “many do not feel confident of being able to remain in teaching in the longer term and would not recommend a career in teaching to others”…

NL Times. Gov’t halves tuition for teachers-in-training to fight teacher shortage

Queen’s University [CA]. Community-based Aboriginal Teacher Education Program expands to full-time model

 

UNITED STATES
ACE/AACTE et al. Letter to the House Education and the Workforce Committee in Advance of the HEA Bill Markup

Bloomberg. Tentative Tax Deal Scraps Hit on Tuition for Graduate Students  A provision to treat graduate school tuition waivers as taxable income won’t be in the final House-Senate tax package

Chalkbeat.
1) America’s teachers don’t move out of state much. That could be bad for students.  The study finds that people in other professions, like medicine, are freer to move and have certifications that easily transfer between states. But the idea of a national “bar exam” for educators hasn’t ever gained traction.
2) ‘Low pay and low prestige’: How Colorado superintendents want to lift the teaching profession  Over the past five years, Colorado has seen a nearly 23 percent dip in the number of students completing education preparation programs in Colorado colleges and universities. Growth in non-traditional paths — such as teacher residencies — hasn’t made up the difference.

EdWeek.
1) Are States Tracking Teacher Shortages? Generally, No.  Teacher-preparation programs tend to overproduce graduates with elementary education degrees, and yet many secondary science and special education positions go unfilled. But college of education faculty often balk at the idea of telling students what they can and can’t study.
2) House Panel Backs Higher Ed. Rewrite Ending Teacher-Focused Grants  …the legislation repeals Title II in current law that governs teacher preparation. The PROSPER ACT also ends TEACH grants, which provides grants to undergraduate and graduate students who agree to teach subjects like math and science in high-needs schools for a certain number of years.
3) Proposed Higher-Ed Revamp Could Shake Up Student Aid, Teacher Prep   …the Teacher Quality Partnership grants, which are designed to improve teacher-prep programs and now receive $41.3 million, would lose their authorization under the legislation from Foxx and Guthrie. And the bill would end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which allows teachers and others in government jobs to have their student-loan debt forgiven under certain circumstances.

Inside Higher Ed.
1) Apparent Relief for Grad Students  Lawmakers from the two chambers of Congress agreed to drop provisions that would treat graduate student tuition benefits as taxable income and repeal student loan interest deductions.
2) GOP Pushes Ahead on Higher Ed Act  One would have made recipients of the new single federal student loan proposed in the bill eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. That amendment failed 20 to 19…

NYTimes. Can Kindness Be Taught?  Since the curriculum was introduced in August, more than 15,000 educators, parents and others from around the world have signed up for it.

Washington Post.
1) Proposed tax for graduate students killed, student loan interest deduction saved in congressional bill
2) Never mind Trump’s visit. Mississippi’s new Civil Rights Museum is a game changer for education. An investigation by The Hechinger Report and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found a lack of training, instruction and resources available for teaching civil rights in Mississippi.

 

NEW YORK STATE
NYS Assembly. Bill A3676A Signed into law  Relates to admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs for certified teachers already holding a graduate degree… Each program may exempt no more than fifteen percent of any incoming class of students from such selection criteria

NYSED Clinical Practice Work Group. Updates on group charge, membership, meetings

NYSED Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) Task Force. Updates on group charge, membership, meetings

NYSED Regents. [December 11-12 meetings]
1) NYS Board of Regents Early Childhood Workgroup’s Blue Ribbon Committee Final Budget Recommendations  Recommendations Total $37 Million…Provide $2.5M to adopt and implement a competency-based approach in pre-service teacher preparation programs and in-service professional development for new and existing educators and leaders
2) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-4.3 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to Grade-Level Extensions for Certain Candidates Who Hold a Students with Disabilities Generalist Teaching Certificate
3)  Discussion of Whether Educator Preparation Programs Should be Considered Continuously Accredited if They Apply for Accreditation Through an Alternative Professional Association that is Seeking Recognition from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the United States Department of Education
4) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-3.4 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Mentoring Requirement for Professional Certification
5) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-5.13 to the Regulations of the Commissioner to Allow for Greater Flexibility in Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs
6) Proposed Amendments to Part 30 of the Regents Rules and Section 52.21 and Part 80 the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to a New Certification Area and Tenure Area for Computer Science
7) Proposed Amendment to Add a New Section 80-5.26 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to Allow a Temporary Certificate for Teachers Displaced from Puerto Rico and/or Another U.S. Territory as a Result of Hurricane Maria to Teach in New York State
8) Proposed Amendment to Section 145-2.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Eligibility Criteria for the Tuition Assistance Program
9) Update on the edTPA Standard Setting Panel 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

GLOBAL
Association for Teacher Education in Europe. Winter Conference 2018 [Feb. 15,16; Utrecht]

Brock University. [CA] Brock prof to lead International Society for Teacher Education  Susan Tilley, a professor in Brock’s Faculty of Education, has been elected the new Secretary-General of the International Society for Teacher Education (ISfTE).

The Australian. Teacher training must focus on school requirements  The 2014 Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group review established stricter quality assurance of teacher education programs and selection of entrants. The new literacy and numeracy test for teacher candidates puts pressure on universities to ensure their trainees have a basic level of knowledge.

 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) House HEA Bill Would Repeal Title II, End TEACH Grants
2) TQP Grantees Discuss Program Transformation on Radio Show

Center for American Progress. What You Need to Know About the House Higher Education Act Bill  The largest text change in the bill is the wholesale elimination of Title II, which currently addresses teacher preparation programs. In its place, the PROSPER Act inserts a new section on apprenticeships.

Chalkbeat. A ‘portfolio’ of schools? How a nationwide effort to disrupt urban school districts is gaining traction  … dramatic changes to schools; recruited outside advocacy, teacher training, and charter groups; and spent millions to help launch new charter and district schools… pushing for policies like common enrollment, and recruiting national education groups like Teach for America, Relay Graduate School of Education, TNTP, and Stand For Children.

Education Week.
1) Can We Better Define and Identify ‘STEM Deserts’? This Nonprofit Is Going to Try   NMSI also helps establish math and science teacher-preparation programs on the model of UTeach, developed at the University of Texas at Austin…
2) Higher Ed. Overhaul Would Change FAFSA, Along With Teacher-Prep Oversight  The PROSPER Act would end Title II of the current higher education law that deals with teacher preparation… educator-preparation programs would no longer have to submit data to the federal government… The Teacher Quality Partnership grants would also lose their authorization if Title II in the current law is repealed.
3) Making Teacher Recertification Meaningful [featured series of nine articles]
4) Teachers Would Lose Loan Forgiveness Programs in Higher Education Bill  The PROSPER Act would eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that currently allows for the cancellation of higher education debt —under certain conditions—for teachers … In addition, the bill would end loan forgiveness for teachers under the Perkins Loan Program…

Inside Higher Education.
1) Senate Passes Tax Bill With Major Implications for Higher Ed
2) Who Changes Majors? (Not Who You Think)  … percent of bachelor’s degree pursuers who entered college in 2011-12… 37 percent in education…

National Skills Coalition. House Higher Education Act reauthorization bill introduced  The PROSPER Act repeals Title II of the HEA, which is the only federal initiative focused on strengthening higher education-based teacher preparation, and replaces it with a new apprenticeship grant program. This program authorizes the Secretary to issue grants on a competitive basis for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 4 years, to partnerships between businesses and educational institutions that are working to provide work-based learning opportunities for students. These grants, authorized at a funding level of $183,204,000, will require a 50% match from the grantee. 

New America. Holding the PROSPER Act Accountable  Title II of the PROSPER Act is certainly one of the greatest departures from the Higher Education Act, as postsecondary programs aimed at enhancing teacher quality are eliminated and replaced by a grant program to expand access to “in-demand apprenticeships.”

U. S. Committee on Education and the Workforce. PROSPER Act [Reauthorization of HEA, Introduced Dec. 1]. (a) REPEAL.—Title II (20 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is repealed… PART A TRANSITION.—Part A of title II (20 19 U.S.C. 1022 et seq.), as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act, may be carried out using funds that have been appropriated for such part until June 30, 2018.

Washington Post. GOP higher ed plan would end student loan forgiveness in repayment program, overhaul federal financial aid  It would also wind down the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant, a federal program that provides money to students willing to work in high-needs schools or teach subjects in desperate need of educators for four years. The bill calls for no new grants after June 20, 2018.

 

NEW YORK STATE
City and State New York. Bullying, the DREAM Act and ‘money money money’  And the battle over the charter school cap may end up on the back burner in lieu of a dispute about training requirements for charter school teachers.

Teacher Education and Special Education. I Failed the edTPA. [by A. Kuranishi, TC alumnus; C. Oyler, TC Prof.] …the authors examine possible explanations for why Adam (first author), a New York City public school special educator, failed the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment required by all candidates for state certification.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. How Eva Moskowitz is remaking public education as we know it, for better and — if we aren’t careful — much worse  While those who pursue the profession in other countries are provided with the infrastructure crucial to educating kids effectively — a clear sense of what students need to learn, the basic materials necessary to help them learn it (such as a curriculum), and a decent training system — teachers in the U.S. are left stranded.

New York Times. She Breaks Rules While Expecting Students to Follow Them  Every teacher is required to follow Success’s pedagogical formula and “not create chaos by marching to the beat of her own drum.” And yet this double standard — in which Moskowitz celebrates her own feisty disobedience while attributing the success of the students in her schools to their dutiful compliance — is never explored…

The New Yorker. Success Academy’s Radical Educational Experiment: Inside Eva Moskowitz’s quest to combine rigid discipline with a progressive curriculum.  Teachers do not develop their own lesson plans; rather, they teach precisely what the network demands… Success’s teachers operate within tightly defined boundaries, with high expectations and frequent assessment.

GLOBAL
Hechinger Report. What France can teach us about how to educate the most vulnerable 2-year-olds  “In preschool, there’s a pedagogy; the (teachers) have master’s degrees; there’s a language focus,” he adds. “It’s much better for low-income children.” (The teachers of 2-year-olds face the same requirements as all public school teachers in France

International Forum for Teaching Educator Development [InFoTED]. InFoTED blogs

New York Times. Beijing Kindergarten Is Accused of Abuse, and Internet Erupts in Fury  “Our professional and high-quality teachers and principals and, more important, our established system to effectively train, grow and retain teaching staff and management talents underpin our high-quality education services,” the company said in its prospectus.

UK Parliament House of Lords [Tuesday 28 November 2017]. Oral Question 1 Improving initial teacher education in order to ensure a high standard of teaching of art, craft and design subjects

The Open University, Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa [TESSA]. Impact of TESSA

 

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat. McCormick’s wishlist for the Indiana legislature: diploma fixes and mandatory kindergarten  Seek more flexibility in teacher licensing to allow current teachers to teach more subjects and prospective teachers to skirt red tape. Provide more training for teachers on the new ILEARN test and potential graduation pathways plans.

Education Week. TFA, Alternative Programs Marginally Better Than Traditional Teacher Prep, Study Finds. The new analysis, published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, looked at a dozen studies of teacher-preparation programs conducted between 1998 and 2015. (The researchers screened more than 700 studies on preparation programs from peer-reviewed journals and the federal What Works Clearinghouse for inclusion in the analysis…

Hechinger Report.
1) Could we improve America by treating 2-year-olds better?  Twenty-seven states allow fewer than five unrelated children to be watched in a home by a care provider with no license or training, according to Child Care Aware. Only 11 states require a license for anyone receiving compensation to watch even one child who is not their own.
2) That day you thought you had it all together, then everything fell apart? You weren’t wasting your time: A look at the learning process of teaching

Inside Higher Ed. A Call to Reform Undergraduate Education  University systems and individual campuses, academic departments and disciplinary associations all have roles to play in advancing teaching, according to the academy. Master’s and doctoral programs should integrate “meaningful and explicit” teacher training opportunities…

Louisiana Dept. of Education. Nearly 500 Louisiana Educators Train To Become Mentors To Future Teachers  Starting this week, nearly 500 expert educators across the state will begin training to become mentors to aspiring teachers completing their preparation in Louisiana. 

University Business. College teachers-in-training prep with virtual students  The University of Wyoming now uses an augmented reality platform with a simulated class as part of its teacher education program.

UW College of Education. Grant to build Washington’s bilingual educator capacity  A new $2.4 million grant to the University of Washington College of Education from the U.S. Department of Education will target that gap by recruiting approximately 60 elementary teacher candidates to earn their bilingual endorsement.

Washington Post. Why it’s a big problem that so many teachers quit — and what to do about it  If we did this with high-retention pathways into teaching — like teacher residencies that train teachers well and provide them mentoring — the demand would drop further each year as these teachers stay at high rates rather than cycling through teaching jobs.

 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Is the Board of Regents hostile to charter schools? Depends upon whom you ask.  …[Chancellor Rosa’s] opposition to the teacher certification proposal had nothing to do with the source of the proposal — a charter authorizer — but because, she said, she believes the idea is an affront to the teaching profession and will allow unqualified teachers to enter classrooms.

NYS Assembly. Notice of Public Hearing: The Excelsior Scholarship and the Enhanced Tuition Awards Programs [Dec. 12, 10am, Albany]

 

NEW YORK CITY
Teachers College.
1) Community Schools Policy Symposium [Dec. 14, 8-10am; incl. TC Pres. Fuhrman, Prof. C. Riehl] Join Teachers College and Children’s Aid to learn about the late‌st research on community schools and the implications of this research for education policy in New York City and New York State.
2) Teacher Diversity: Policy & Practice. [Friday Dec. 8, 4-6pm; incl. TC profs. Y. Sealey-Ruiz, D. Price-Dennis] Two panels bring together diverse voices from teachers, academics, advocacy organizations, and the government to discuss teacher diversity policies and thier implementation.

WNYC. Local Teen Sex Educators Lose Federal Support  …88 percent of middle and high schools do not have a teacher licensed to teach health education, and only about 65 percent of teens surveyed in 2016 said they knew where to go for reproductive health resources.