Month: February 2018

GLOBAL
NYTimes. Lego Builds Foundations in China Classrooms as Old Markets Slow  “We are engaging with the government,” Jacob Kragh, general manager of Lego in China, told Reuters in an interview in Beijing, adding this was mostly related to “curriculum development and teacher training.”

OECD. Centre for Educational Research and Innovation [calls for participation] …exploring how to foster and assess students’ creative and critical thinking skills in higher education, including teacher education

The Canberra Times. ACT government calls for teacher education courses overhaul in review submission   The ACT [Australian Capital Territory] government has called for an overhaul of teacher education courses, listing tighter selection processes, better quality offerings and increased consistency as a possible solution to Australian students’ stagnating literacy and numeracy results.

The Tribune [India]. Pedagogy most critical factor affecting quality of education, says expert   A two-day teacher education congress on ‘Teacher Education: Challenges and the Road Ahead’ began today at Panjab University (PU) today.

 

UNITED STATES
AACTE. President Trump Releases FY19 Budget Request  Key Education Programs in FY19 Budget Request

Program	FY19 Budget Request
ESSA Title II-A State Grants	Eliminated
Teacher Quality Partnership Grants	Eliminated

Bostonia.  Teaching’s Diversity Problem: Travis Bristol is working to keep male teachers of color in public schools   Arauz credits Bristol [TC, PhD 2014]—his teaching and his example—for his own achievements, which include a BS from Cornell University and a master’s in healthcare education from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Chalkbeat.
1) Three of Tennessee’s largest teacher training programs improve on state report card   Tennessee has graded programs that train teachers since 2009 but redesigned its report card in 2016 to provide a clearer picture of their effectiveness for stakeholders ranging from aspiring teachers to hiring principals.
2) In debt, with too many unlicensed teachers, Indiana College Preparatory School loses charter   The school was hiring many substitute teachers, city documents show, failing to employ enough teachers licensed in their subject areas to meet state requirements.

Chronicle of Higher Education. Who’s Teaching the Teachers?   It’s also worth noting that the resistance to addressing pedagogy in graduate education may be practical, as well as philosophical: Teaching someone to teach is hard.

Education Dive. Report: Community colleges play important role in preparing early educators

Education Week.
1) Computer Science for All: Can Schools Pull It Off?   To fill the void, [Janice] Cuny helped launch an effort to train 10,000 new computer-science teachers.
2) Educators Say ‘No Way’ to Trump’s Suggestion of Arming Teachers  Many educators said they are already stretched thin with both time and resources and aren’t prepared for the extra responsibility of being trained to fire a weapon.
3) Make Computer Science a Graduation Requirement, Says College Board   Clearly, such mandates would probably increase the number of AP exams given, generating considerable revenue for the College Board. But the group says it would be willing to help defray the costs of matching textbooks, exam fees, and teacher training…

Hechinger Report. How a growing number of states are hoping to improve kids’ brains: exercise   As a result of this new attitude, at least 14 state legislatures considered new laws in 2016 that would increase the amount of physical education or recess schools are required to offer or raise the bar for qualifications for physical education teachers

Inside Higher Ed.
1) ‘Poorly Paid’ Professors   Faculty members earn 15 percent less than others with advanced degrees, study finds. They work equally long hours.
2) Restructuring the Education Department  Proposed reorganization would eliminate office of under secretary, which oversaw higher ed policy for much of the Obama and George W. Bush administrations

Maryland. House Bill 1657  Teachers and Teacher Preparation Programs – Maryland Reading Standards Matrix – Established

NYTimes.
1) Agency-By-Agency Highlights of Trump’s 2019 Budget  On the chopping block is $5.9 million in teacher preparation and aftercare programs.
2) School Shootings Put Teachers in New Role as Human Shields  “You know, if I go through my college transcripts — master’s degree, doctorate courses, all that — I know for sure there are no courses that say: ‘Shooter on Campus 101,’”…

Salon. Schools, sex and scandals: See it all at the movies …schools and teacher preparation programs alike are rattled by the scandals, little has altered in the way that we prepare teachers for the personal, emotional aspects of their profession… national accreditation bodies for teacher preparation programs have included “dispositional” elements in their requirements of how practicing teachers are evaluated.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri teacher preparation program ratings aim to help keep teachers on the job   On Thursday, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released its second annual performance scores for teacher preparation programs.

The 74. New Analysis: ‘No-Excuses’ Charter Schools Produce Huge Gains for Kids — and Could Close the Achievement Gap   Those practices, survey author Sarah Cohodes of Columbia University’s Teacher College asserts, can be transferred successfully to traditional district schools.

The Mercury News. Teacher shortages persist in California and getting worse in many communities   Over the past two years California has spent nearly $70 million on a range of initiatives to tackle the shortage, including a program that underwrites the cost of a teacher preparation program for classroom aides and other paraprofessionals already working in a district.

TrustEd. ‘Schools within schools’ recruit next generation of teachers  To stave off plummeting numbers and recruit fresh talent, several districts and states are actively recruiting aspiring teachers while they are still enrolled as high school students in their schools.

U S Department of Education. 18 of 31 senior staff positions vacant

WAFB. LDOE launches campaign to recruit next generation of teachers  The “Be a Teacher LA” campaign, which was announced during a special event attended by elected officials, educators and advocates, seeks to increase the number of high school graduates and college students who enroll in an undergraduate teacher preparation program and ultimately lead Louisiana classrooms.

 

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Board of Regents. Professional Standards and Practices Board Approval of Bylaws  The Board approved an amendment to the PSPB Bylaws to increase the number of members from 28 to 31 and to require reporting to the Board of Regents each year and not restricted to only the month of July

NYS Legislature Regent Candidate Feb. Interviews  [Chancellor Rosa, Regent Chin interviewed for reappointment]

GLOBAL
EduInternational. Uganda: unlicensed schools continue to operate, defying Government’s decision   … the for-profit education provider Bridge, who refuses to comply with the authorities’ request to meet national minimum standards on infrastructure, curriculum and teacher qualifications.

Hindi News. हिमाचल सरकार ने लांच किया टीचर ऐप, शिक्षक सीखेंगे पढ़ाने के नए तरीके

NLTimes. Dutch to cut university tuition in half for first-time students. Those wanting to become teachers can get the discounted price for two years, which the government hopes will address the current teacher shortage in the Netherlands.

TES (UK).
1) DfE allows unlimited resits for teacher entry tests.  Ministers have sought to ease the teacher recruitment crisis by allowing unlimited resits of the professional skills tests that must be passed before anyone can enter initial teacher training.
2) ‘If Damian Hinds doesn’t prioritise the recruitment and retention of teachers our economy will suffer’  Figures released before the end of 2017 show the number of applications to initial teacher-training has dropped by a third compared with the previous year.

The Sydney Morning Herald. From tradies to teachers: The plan to ‘shake up Australia’s schools’  A national review of teacher registration … will look to streamline the process for becoming a teacher around Australia, with a view to making it easier for people in trades and other professions to switch careers.

 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE Annual Meeting [March 1-3, Baltimore] February 20 Last day to register online (thereafter, registration is on site only)
2) New Partnership Pilots Inclusion of Community Colleges in AACTE Membership   About 800 community colleges nationwide offer some type of teacher preparation, including many programs that lead to bachelor’s degrees and licensure as well as others that prepare candidates to move on to 4-year institutions.

Chalkbeat.
1) Last-minute proposal would let up to 10 percent of teachers in Indiana district schools be unlicensed  Under this proposal, districts could hire teachers who hold alternative licenses that require little more than bachelor degrees, like the license allowed for charter schools, or no licenses at all
2) Trump’s proposed education budget: more for school choice, less for teacher training. Teacher training advocates in particular have bristled at proposed cuts to Title II.
3) What a $10,000 fellowship for rural teachers will and won’t do to address teacher shortages  In addition to making up to 60 $6,000 stipends available each year, it would also allow people pursuing alternative licensure to apply for the benefit in exchange for a commitment to teach in a rural school for at least three years.

Edutopia. Teacher Recruitment Starting in High School  From Mississippi to Hawaii, new programs recruit high school students to become teachers.

EdWeek.
1) Here’s How States Are Using Title II Funds to Strengthen the Teaching Profession  3. Making Teacher Licensure and Certification More Useful Too often, licensure tests are not meaningful measures of teaching abilities, but rather “bureaucratic hurdles,”…
2) In Wake of Parkland Shooting, Proposals for Arming Teachers Likely to Resurface  While districts generally require extensive training for educators who would be armed at school, this type of legislation generates a lot of outrage and concern from educators.
3) Latino Teachers Face Stereotypes, Are Asked to ‘Prove Their Worth,’ Report Says  The report points to grow-your-own programs as a way to recruit and retain more Latino teachers
4) Teachers say curriculum update to include more black history  The fact that many schools don’t spend enough time on the subject, he said, can be blamed on other factors as well, chiefly a lack of training for teachers.
5) Trump Seeks to Cut Education Budget by 5 Percent, Expand School Choice Push.  In order to achieve those proposed spending cuts, the president copied two major education cuts he proposed last year: the elimination of Title II teacher grants …
6) When Students Assault Teachers, Effects Can Be Lasting  “Mainstream teachers rarely get training on how to de-escalate violence in the classroom,” said Espelage, the University of Florida professor. “Some of the training we give to special ed. teachers, I think we need to give to all teachers.”

Hechinger Report. Teachers, how does it feel to be oppressors?   Colleges of education and teacher certification programs must do more to address the psychological bases of racism, patriarchy and white privilege.

Houston Chronicle. Programs, workshops, even graduate degrees help K-12 teachers get fluent in STEM.  Patricia Reiff directs the [Rice] university’s Master of Science Teaching Program, which allows K-12 teachers to take courses or even earn a graduate degree.

Language Magazine. Bill in Congress Aims to Help ELL Teacher Shortage.  The Reaching English Learners Act has been introduced in Congress in hopes of creating a solution to the national shortage of ELL teachers.

Medium.  Marquette University’s College of Education is paving the way to address the teacher supply challenge.   Eckman, associate professor and chair of educational policy and leadership, says the team wanted to develop a streamlined, efficient graduate program for non-education majors who realize they want to become teachers later in their college years or after starting other careers.

Monmouth University. Monmouth Dean is Revolutionizing Teacher Training Programs   The program that he has created at Monmouth begins placing prospective teachers into schools as early as possible as undergraduates. And he wants his education majors to embrace substitute teaching.

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. New York education officials move to block rules allowing some charter schools to certify their own teachers  The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, seeks to overturn regulations approved by the State University of New York in October allowing charter schools it oversees to design their own teacher-certification programs.

InsideHigherEd. Putting Money Where His Mouth Is? New York governor Andrew Cuomo has made huge claims and drawn sharp criticism with his higher ed policies.  “I definitely think there’s a fair question of whether the dollars behind these proposals match the scale of what people imagine,” said Judith Scott-Clayton, an associate professor of economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

NPR Ed. The Gap Between The Science On Kids And Reading, And How It Is Taught  …skilled reading is associated with children’s spoken language, grammar and the vocabulary they already know. It’s about teaching kids the correspondence between the letters on a page and the sounds of words. This basic science does not go into the preparation of teachers.

NYPost. Regents putting vested interests ahead of New York’s kids  The new rules, OK’d by SUNY’s Charter Schools Committee in October, only apply to SUNY-governed public schools. But they’re still a threat to the players (education schools and teachers unions) who win under the old rules.

NYSED.
1) Clinical Practice Work Group Recommendations and request for input.    
2) Creation of New Certification Area in the Classroom Teaching Service for Computer Science– Comment period ends Feb. 26
Send comments to: Kelly Grace, NYS Education Department, 89 Washington Avenue, 975 EBA, Albany, NY 12234 <[email protected]>

Politico New York. Education Department, Regents file complaint over SUNY charter teacher certification  The state Education Department and Board of Regents on Thursday filed a complaint in Albany County Supreme Court challenging controversial teacher certification changes made by SUNY’s Charter Schools Committee.

Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching. November 2017 meeting minutes.  December 2017 meeting minutes

Wall Street Journal. New York Education Officials Challenge Charter Schools’ Right to Certify Teachers.  The SUNY board’s Charter Schools Committee voted in October to let high-achieving charters certify their own staff, if candidates got 160 hours of instruction in behavior management and other skills; had 40 hours of experience in the field under a supervisor’s eye; and passed one exam.

NEW YORK CITY
NY1. Daisy Zheng: Volunteer tutor helps city students break through  Breakthrough New York is a non-profit organization that’s been around for nearly 20 years in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan… And for Zheng, that goal is to one day become a teacher.

NYTimes. ‘Smart Is Something You Get’: How a Bronx School Succeeds  Ms. Sorden … is augmenting her master’s from Columbia University’s Teachers College with a doctorate in education from St. John’s University. 

GLOBAL
Deutsch Welle [DW]. German elementary schools ‘rent’ male teachers  The Rent a Teacherman program aims to put more men in elementary schools…Christoph Fantini, head of the teaching program at the University of Bremen, told DW. “They have simply never seen a man in this position, so they don’t know how to address him properly.”

DutchNews.NL. Two in five workers would consider becoming teachers  Around 40 per cent of working people interviewed said they were interested in teaching…

TES.
1) Exclusive: Teacher trainers ordered to rethink entry standards to ‘maximise recruitment’  Teacher trainer providers have been told they will be checked to see if they are rejecting suitable candidates – after a drastic drop in applications.
2) The Nobel Peace Prize winner and the Canadian prime minister talk about the impact of education on girls around the world at the World Economic Forum  “We’re empowering women so that they can bring change in their local communities, whether it’s through teacher training [or] giving e-learning…”

 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE Awards to Recognize Excellence in Educator Preparation
2) AACTE Board Reaffirms Importance of National Accreditation for Educator Preparation
3) AACTE’s Evolving Relationship With Accreditation

Education Week.
1) 10 (More) Reasons Why the U.S. Education System Is Failing  10. Teacher-preparation programs don’t teach neuroscience.
2) N.M. Teacher of the Year, a Dreamer, Attended Trump’s State of the Union. Here’s Her Story   I’m getting my master’s in education [UNM] with a focus on reflective practice. I’m just there to become a better teacher.

InsideHigherEd.
1) More Evidence of a Drop in International Grad School Enrollment  Breaking down the data by discipline, the fields of study reporting the greatest percentage declines in new international graduate students this year were education (-16 percent), arts and humanities (-12 percent)…
2) Senator Wants Quick Progress on Higher Ed Law  Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, said Tuesday that work drafting a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act would begin “within the next few weeks.”

NYTimes.
1) With DACA in Limbo, Teachers Protected by the Program Gird for the Worst  …with teachers’ help, she secured private scholarships for a graduate school program for special education teachers who wanted to teach the hearing-impaired.
2) School Shooting Simulation Trains Teachers for the Worst  Teachers across the country will soon be able to train for an active shooter on school grounds using a computer simulation that includes realistic details like gunfire, shattered glass and the screams of children.

Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching Hard History  The nation needs an intervention in the ways that we teach and learn about the history of American slavery. While that intervention will require some work by state educational departments, teacher preparation programs, school boards, textbooks publishers, museums, professional organizations and thought leaders, we are confident that change can come.

WBOI 89.1.  [Indiana] Lawmakers Move Bill To Get More Teachers Into Schools  With a teacher shortage in the state lawmakers want to help license more teachers by waiving some testing requirements some educators see as a barrier to getting into the classroom.

 

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED News and Notes. NYSED Proposes More Flexibility in Meeting Safety Net Requirements for Teacher Certification

NYSED Office of Higher Education. January Newsletter

• Continuous Accreditation Requirement for Educator Preparation Provider
• Graduate Admission Examination Requirement
• Certification Exam Safety Nets
• Clinical Practice Work Group
• DASA (Dignity for All Students Act) Task Force
• Recruitment for the Multi-Subject: Secondary Teachers (Grade 7-12) Mathematics Content Specialty Test (CST) Item Review Committees
• Continued Recruitment for the Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) in the Arts

New Rochelle Patch. Cuomo Proposes Free College Education For NY Dreamers

 

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat.
1) This NYC teacher was skeptical of training programs like Teach for America — so she completed a teaching residency instead  So when she heard about a new teacher residency program at New York University based on the medical model where doctors-in-training begin practicing medicine under supervision of an experienced mentor, she jumped at the chance.
2) Who’s who on New York City’s School Diversity Advisory Group  Members [incl.]: Amy Stuart Wells, Teachers College, Columbia University