Month: January 2018

GLOBAL
Education Matters. Student teachers’ attitudes towards teaching Religion  The School of Education at NUI Galway has carried out the first ever study in Ireland exploring the attitudes of applicants and entrants to primary teacher education programmes towards teaching religion…

TES.
1) Dramatic drop in new teacher recruitment coincides with 150% boost to DfE advertising spend  The fall comes despite a significant increase in Department for Education’s spending on advertising and PR in an effort to recruit new teachers – £14 million last year, up from £5.6 million in 2014-15: a 150 per cent increase.
2) How to train a teacher – Professor Sam Twiselton talks to Tes Podagogy  The director of the Sheffield Institute of Education talks about behaviour training, how to be a good mentor and criticisms of ideological bias

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) 70th Annual Meeting. March 1-3, Baltimore [registration discount ends Feb. 1]
2) Advocacy Action Alerts
3) January Federal Update Webinar [login required]

Chalkbeat. Here are the initiatives Memphis’ education philanthropists will focus on in 2018  Rather than recruiting teachers from outside of Memphis, Teacher Town’s original focus, Robinson said the fund is strengthening partnerships with local universities and teacher preparation programs

EdWeek.
1) Need a STEM Teacher? This District Trains Its Own  …the Guilford County school system in Greensboro, N.C. The 72,000-student district became the first in the state to open an in-house licensure program in 2008—and it’s still one of only a handful of districts across the country with such a program.
2) Latino Male Teachers: Building the Pipeline  Teacher residency programs, like NxtGEN, have emerged as a particularly effective way to recruit diverse teaching candidates, including first-generation college students, students of color, and mid-career changers.
3) Often, Teachers Are Hired Based on Word of Mouth. Here’s What That Means  A recent study by the Frontline Research and Learning Institute…  “Hiring should be focused more on credentials and experience, and less on word of mouth,” they wrote.
4) Staffing Schools in No-Stoplight Towns  All that makes finding top talent tough, especially considering that most of the state’s teacher-preparation programs are located in urban areas… some success with alternative-certification programs that help adults with bachelor’s degrees—sometimes farmers or bankers—become teachers
5) Teacher Recruitment and Retention: It’s Complicated
6) Would Giving STEM Teachers More Leeway to Experiment Keep Them in Schools?  This week, the national network 100Kin10, which has pledged to train and retain 100,000 STEM teachers by 2021, announced $1 million in funding to five groups…

Hechinger Report. TEACHER VOICE: It’s time to shatter the silence about race  [by S. Cherry-Paul, TC doctoral student] Teachers need sufficient training in this specific area of education to feel confident and prepared when delivering these lessons.

NEAToday. Preparing the Next Generation of Educators for Leadership  Teachers with little or no preparation are more than twice as likely to leave teaching as those who are fully prepared.

The Atlantic. A Root Cause of the Teacher-Diversity Problem  The indication “that qualified black teachers are not hired today just because of the color of their skin is crazy, and we should be having a conversation about that—not just about getting more African Americans to major in [education] and get a teaching certificate, but about our understanding of implicit bias in hiring,” she said.

 

NEW YORK STATE
NYS Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching. Annual Report presented to NYSED Board of Regents.

NYSED. State Education Department Now Accepting Applications for Two New My Brother’s Keeper Grant Programs

NYSED Board of Regents January Meeting, Higher Education Committee. Following the 60-day public comment period required under the State Administrative Procedure Act, it is anticipated that the proposed amendments will come back to the Board of Regents at its May 2018 meeting. If adopted at the May 2018 meeting, the proposed amendments will become effective in May, 2018.
1) Proposed Amendment to Section 52.21 of the Commissioner’s Regulations Related to Accreditation – This amendment will allow institutions that are currently accredited by NCATE, TEAC, or CAEP to apply for accreditation through an accrediting association that is seeking recognition from CHEA or USDE, but has not yet achieved recognition status, and still meet the “continuous accreditation requirement” set forth in Section 52.21
2) Proposed Amendment for Emergency Action to Section 52.21 of the Commissioner’s Regulations Related to Graduate Admission Examination Requirements – The proposed emergency amendment implements Chapter 454 of the Laws of 2017 which was signed into Law by the Governor on December 13, 2017. The amendment removes the requirement from the Commissioner’s Regulations for 1) certified teachers and school administrators who 2) already hold a graduate degree to take either the GRE or a substantially equivalent admission examination
3) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-1.5 of the Commissioner’s Regulations Related to Certification Exam Safety Nets – The amendment will eliminate the requirement that candidates must complete all other certification requirements on or before June 30, 2018 to be eligible to use one or more of the safety nets. The amendment also extends the safety net for Part Two: Mathematics of the Multi-Subject Grade 7-12 Content Specialty Test until such time that a revised Part Two becomes operational.

NEW YORK CITY
Teachers College. Learn About the New Teaching Innovation Center  CITED was collaboratively imagined and set in motion by A. Lin Goodwin, TC Vice Dean and Evenden Professor of Education… The Center is co-directed by Souto-Manning and Ellis.

GLOBAL
ATEE. 2018 ATEE Spring Conference ‘Designing Teacher Education and Professional Development for the 21st Century: Current Trends, Challenges and Directions for the Future’ [BIALYSTOK: 7-9 June]

NIE News [Singapore]. Empowering Change in Nepal through Education  Alumna Reshu Aryal Dhungana … completed her Master of Arts in Leadership and Educational Change—a joint masters programme by NIE, NTU, and Teachers College, Columbia University… Another distinguished alumnus of the Master of Arts in Leadership and Educational Change programme, Alan Lim…

TES. Uni launches £100k scholarship scheme to help local schools train teachers  The University of Buckingham has launched a £100,000 scholarship scheme giving local schools the chance to train teachers and school leaders.

The Sydney Morning Herald. Fewer students make the grade for teaching courses as new standards take effect  Victorian students are abandoning teaching courses as tough new entry standards come into force.

 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE Commission Issues Proclamations for Effective Clinical Educator Preparation  In the report, A Pivot Toward Clinical Practice, Its Lexicon, and the Renewal of Educator Preparation, the AACTE Clinical Practice Commission describes a “cacophony of perspectives” across today’s teacher preparation programs regarding what constitutes clinical practice.
2) Researchers Propose Theoretical Model to Embed Social Justice in Classroom Practices, Teacher Preparation

Chalkbeat. Tennessee’s mediocre teacher training programs prompt ‘interventions’ with university presidents  …Tennessee, state officials are holding meetings with top brass at universities where they say programs have grown out of touch with the needs of K-12 classrooms.

Education Week.
1) Betsy DeVos Approves 11 ESSA Plans, Including New York’s
2) How (and When) Researchers Should Speak Truth to Power: Four guidelines for academics who want to participate in heated education debates
3) Teacher Ed. Group Calls for More High-Quality Student Teaching  The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s Clinical Practice Commission released a report today with 10 proclamations on how to better incorporate evidence-based clinical practice in teacher preparation programs.
4) The 2018 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings  …identifying the university-based scholars in the U.S. who are doing the most to shape educational practice and policy. Simply being included in this list of 200 scholars is an accomplishment, given the tens of thousands who might qualify. (incl. 12 from 3rd-ranked TC: Bailey, Brooks-Gunn, Cohodes, Emdin, Fuhrman, Henig, Kagan, Levin, Pallas, Scott-Clayton, Wells, Wohlstetter)
5) TFA Alumni Principals are the Harshest Critics of TFA Teachers

Hechinger Report.
1) Diversity at the front of the classroom could mean more diversity among future scientists  Robert Goodman, executive director of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning, is particularly proud of his program’s track record with diversity. About one-third of the physics and chemistry teachers the program trains are black or Latino, “which compares to close to zero percent for conventional teacher prep programs,” he said.
2) Eclipsed by urban counterparts, rural nonwhites go to college at equally low rates  “If you need future bilingual teachers, guess where they are,” Winchester said. “They’re sitting in your high school seats. You’ve got to get students of color through college in order for them to become teachers.”

InsideHigherEd. Profanity, Not Pedagogy  Court rejects terminated professor’s First Amendment suit against LSU, saying there’s no meaningful connection between her vulgar language and training teachers.

KQED. Transforming Physicists, Engineers into Teachers at New MIT Program

Tennesseean. Tennessee education officials vow to better the state’s teacher preparation programs  Much of the attention being paid to Tennessee’s teacher preparation programs is thanks to the Tennessee State Board of Education launch of a database that rates how well educator programs prepare future teachers. 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Facing a state budget crunch, Gov. Cuomo proposes modest 3 percent education boost  Cuomo put forward a $769 million increase in school aid during his executive budget address on Tuesday, less than half of the $1.6 billion sought by the state’s Board of Regents.

Gov. Cuomo Executive Budget FY 2019 Proposal.
1) K-12 Education graphic
2) Higher Ed graphic

NYSED.
1) Board of Regents January meeting, Higher Education Committee agenda
2) Public comment period on proposed regulations.  Send comments to: Kelly Grace, NYS Education Department, 89 Washington Avenue, 975 EBA, Albany, NY 12234, email:[email protected]

a) Alternative Teacher Certification Program Models (P)

b) Grade-Level Extensions for Certain Candidates Who Hold a Students with Disabilities Generalist Certificate (P)

c) Requires Teachers to Complete a Mentoring Program During Their First Year of Teaching (P)

d) Creation of New Certification Area and Tenure Area in the Classroom Teaching Service for Computer Science (P)

3) Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching January meeting agenda
4) Recruiting educators to participate in Item Review for the redeveloped New York State Certification Examination in Multi-Subject: Secondary Teachers (grade 7-Grade 12) Mathematics Content Specialty Test (CST) [March 6-7].
5) Updates on the NYSED Clinical Practice Workgroup’s Discussions and Next Steps. register for the January 25, 2018 Webinar

Politico New York. Cuomo’s budget trims school aid hike, overhauls transportation spending  “With a $4 billion deficit, you can’t possibly get anywhere near where you want to be on education and health care unless you raise revenues,” Cuomo said.

 

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat.
1) A Chalkbeat roundtable: The promise and perils of charter networks like Success Academy  Success Academy appears to welcome an increasing number of bright young people to learn and execute the scripts, and then watch as they move on to their real careers after they burn out in three years. The consequences of this trend are chilling to imagine.
2) New York City will add dual language options in pre-K to attract parents and encourage diversity  Among the greatest barriers to achieving that is finding qualified teachers…teachers who are native in a foreign language may only be certified in their home country, and it can be hard to transfer that certification to New York.

NYTimes. Some Bright Hopes for New York’s Schools  In fact, the city needs to move more urgently on three fronts: ending profound racial segregation; closing failing schools while opening better ones; and finding more effective ways to train good teachers, retain the best teachers…

Teachers College. Center for Innovation in Teacher Education and Development (CITED), a joint center between Teachers College, Columbia University and King’s College London, co-directed by Prof. Mariana Souto-Manning (Teachers College) and Prof. Viv Ellis (Kings College London). Email: [email protected]  Twitter: @CITeachED
Learn about opportunities to get involved in the work of CITED and about the pre-AERA symposium (April 12 and 13, 2018). Info sessions:

1. Wednesday, January 31st, 12:45-1:45pmin 305 Russell
2. Wednesday, January 31st, 7:15-8:15pmin 309 Russell
3. Friday, February 2nd, 2:00-3:00pmin 302 Russell

GLOBAL
Kyiv Post. Ukraine to prepare human rights education program for Ukrainian schoolchildren, students  …the program would cover five areas, in particular, the inclusion in the normative-legal acts of the state of relevant references to human rights, the implementation of programs with the priority of human rights, including in the sphere of education, the training of teachers, professors in the field of law, and technical maintenance of the education process.

New York Times. One Target in Beijing’s Migrant Crackdown: Schoolchildren  Teachers often lack formal credentials and rarely follow a standardized curriculum.

South China Morning Post. Teacher shortage hinders Xi Jinping’s dream to make China a great sporting nation  In Shandong province, middle and primary schools were short by the same number – 10,000 – the government revealed a year ago. It issued a directive in December 2016 aimed at improving sports education within three years, promising better benefits for physical education teachers and more training opportunities.

The Times UK. Crisis in teacher recruitment as applications fall by a third  The government has missed its teacher-recruitment targets for the past five years despite spending hundreds of millions of pounds on training new teachers.

UNITED STATES
AACTE. Clinical Model Engages Teacher Candidates, University Faculty as Members of School Community

Chalkbeat. What we’ve learned: 5 lessons from education research to take into 2018     1. Teacher certification rules can have negative side effects.

EdWeek.
1) As End of DACA Looms, an ‘Anxious Time’ for Immigrant Educators and Students  Teach For America began hiring the so-called “DACA-mented” teachers in 2013, and nearly 200 undocumented corps members and alumni have taught in the nation’s K-12 schools, reaching tens of thousands of students.
2) Opening Gavel: Your Guide to States’ 2018 Legislative Sessions  Severe teacher shortages in many states have led to calls from both teachers unions and school accountability hawks for legislators to rethink their approaches to teacher certification, evaluations, and pay.
3) Trump, Congress, and Education in 2018: Eight Big Questions  And the higher education legislation governs teacher preparation and college access. For instance, a bill pending in the House would end a teacher loan-forgiveness program. 
4) You’re Teaching Subject Matter Wrong: An open letter to educators from the material they teach  As a human being, you already possess the ability to reason critically. You were born with it. It is time for you to open that gift and use it in teacher-preparation programs, professional-development efforts, classrooms, and instructional materials.

Hechinger Report. Can putting the least-experienced teachers in the highest-risk schools ever result in success?  Teachers in remote rural settings are routinely called on to do things not taught in teacher preparation programs, according to Catharine Biddle, a professor at the University of Maine who specializes in the study of rural schools and communities. 

Inside Higher Ed. Why Don’t Educators in Higher Ed Take Education Classes?

NCTQ. Learning About Learning: What Every New Teacher Needs to Know

The Nation. Charter Schools Are Reshaping America’s Education System for the Worse  According to Carol Burris of NPE, charter schools “want the funding and the privilege of public schools but they don’t want the rules that go along with them.” She cites charter initiatives’ having developed their own certification policies, as well as disciplinary codes and academic standards…

Washington Post. Efforts grow to help students evaluate what they see online  Advocates say the laws are a good first step that must be paired with updates to teacher education programs, funding for professional development and other changes throughout the education system.

 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Cuomo offers few new education plans for 2018, but says poor schools need more funding  Train teachers in computer science: A new $6 million grant program would pay for teacher training in computer science and engineering.

Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, Upcoming Webinars.
1) Updates on the NYSED Clinical Practice Workgroup’s Discussions and Next Steps [Register for Jan. 25]
2) A New Quality Assurance Framework for Educator Preparation [Register for Feb. 1] [Register for Feb. 7]

NY Governor Cuomo. State of the State 2018. Under the Governor’s leadership, New York has modernized teacher preparation programs and teacher licensing requirements and required 100 hours of high quality professional development to prepare all new teachers to succeed.

 

NEW YORK CITY
City Limits. CityViews: How NYS Decided to Lower Teacher Standards for Some Charter Schools  In short, SUNY schools can now hire anyone, regardless of qualification, into a school with good Math and ELA scores. Administrators from schools “in good standing” will be the arbiters of who gets permanent SUNY-only licenses—even if those administrators have no certifications, degrees or training in Education themselves.

NY Daily News. CUNY sees record number of prospective students with 11% jump in applicants