GLOBAL
Center For Innovation In Teacher Education And Development (CITED). Performativity, Presentism and Practice: New Teacher Survival and Development, with Dr. Adam Unwin, UCL, Institute of Education, London, UK. [29 January, Teachers College, New York City]
Federation University. Teaching our next teachers – educator awarded Fulbright Scholarship. Associate Professor Robyn Brandenburg, the Associate Dean of Research in the School of Education, will spend three months at Montclair State University in the United States to research the effectiveness of teacher education programs designed to meet Teacher Performance Assessment Standards (TPAs). She will look at the impact TPAs have on teacher educators, pre-service teachers and mentors in schools.
Rising Sun Overport. KZN teachers jet off to study in Columbia University A group of 20 top academics (mostly teacher educators) from three South African universities, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban University of Technology and the University of Zululand are participants of an intensive four-year programme, Accelerated Academic Leadership Development Programme (AALDP)… Now, in their third year of study, the educators will be flying to the Teachers College, Columbia University for a five-month residency.
The Hindu. Playing with learning: On status of early childhood education …surveys such as ASER call for a deeper look at how governments approach funding of institutions and teacher training for better outcomes. It is as important to let teachers feel invested in anganwadis as play-and-learn centres aiding children in acquiring cognitive skills, as it is to provide physical infrastructure. Building human resource capabilities would depend on teachers being recruited on the basis of aptitude, their training in credentialed colleges and assurance of tenure of service.
The National UAE. Thousands of UAE teachers sit licence test By the end of this year, any teacher wishing to work in the country will be required to have taken and passed the exam… To be awarded the licence, teachers need to two pass two examinations: one on ‘pedagogy’ or approaches to teaching and another specialist exam on the subject they teach.
UNESCO. International Day of Education [24 January]
UNITED STATES
Education Dive. Teacher prep, equity top list of ‘hot’ literacy topics According to the survey, teachers were slightly more likely to say they were trained to teach reading using a “literature-based” approach rather than a phonics approach — 69% compared to 63%. Fifty-nine percent said their program emphasized phonemic awareness. But regardless of the method, only about a third or fewer of the respondents said their pre-service programs did an “excellent” or “very good” job teaching them that method.
Education Week
1) An Exit Interview With John White, the Nation’s Longest-Serving State Schools Chief White… distanced himself from the education reform activity of the last 10 to 15 years at the national level… That movement, he said, intentionally focused on policies concerning curriculum and teacher training and how to make sure schools could succeed in those areas at a large scale.
2) New Mexico switches to new licensing test for teachers New Mexico has opted for a new teacher candidate exam system that will mean a higher price tag for those taking the test for the first time… But officials tell the Albuquerque Journal that the new system will provide more support to test takers and retakes will be free.
3) Preservice Teachers Are Getting Mixed Messages on How to Teach Reading Yet an Education Week analysis of nationally representative survey results found that professors who teach early-reading courses are introducing the work of researchers and authors whose findings and theories often conflict with one another, including some that may not be aligned with the greater body of scientific research.
4) Teachers Are Divided on Whether Phonics Is Getting Too Much Attention, Survey Says Sixty percent of all respondents think that teacher-preparation programs aren’t preparing teachers to deliver effective reading instruction. These concerns have also been reflected in Education Week’s reporting, which has found that teachers often leave their preservice programs without much clarity on evidence-based practices.
5) This Teacher Spent a Day as a 4th Grader. Now She’s Rethinking Her Career It was a required assignment for a school leadership program I’m completing at Teachers College, Columbia University… Mindfulness and self-awareness training have been a big part of my principal-preparation program, and I believe these techniques could help teachers.
LPI/AACTE. Preparing Educators for Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Classrooms [Webinar 3pm Jan. 30]
NCB Chicago. Pritzker Announces Continued Expansion of Early Childhood Programs “Our teachers are properly trained,” said Karen Ross-Williams of the Christopher House, a group of schools in Chicago that helps children in low-income families get access to quality educational resources. “That’s the other key piece. We don’t just throw them in and say ‘swim.’”
Regional Educational Laboratory Program. Study Provides a Clear Picture of Alaska’s Educator Turnover Challenge … findings suggest policymakers may want to focus on increasing the supply of homegrown educators, as those who were prepared in Alaska were more likely to stay at their school.
UNC School of Education. School to develop ‘deeper learning’ pedagogies in two EdPrepLab-backed projects School of Education faculty will collaborate with researchers at three other campuses to develop “deeper learning” pedagogies in educator-preparation programs in two projects backed by the Educator Preparation Laboratory, or EdPrepLab… The projects will build upon and extend efforts at the School of Education to incorporate experiential learning practices in the Master of Arts in Teaching program…
San Francisco Chronicle. Diversifying the teaching profession requires confronting history … following the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville teacher strikes in New York City when white teachers clashed with black and Puerto Rican communities over control of the schools, city leaders identified the hiring of teachers of color as a salve, funding recruitment initiatives and easing certification rules. In this moment, a temporary pathway opened: Thousands of black and Latino adults entered New York City’s schools as paraprofessionals and teachers on temporary licenses.
NEW YORK STATE
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Hiring teachers of color is an investment in student success, group says Educators for Excellence has since asked the State Education Department to double the funding for My Brother’s Keeper Teacher Opportunity Corps — a state grant program that partners with teacher preparation programs to recruit, train and support new teachers of color entering the profession – to $7 million.
North Country Now. SUNY Canton Early Childhood program lands SUNY TeachNY grant funding SUNY Canton faculty members in the Early Childhood program are integrating video capture into student teaching experiences and internships, and have received a grant to aid the program… The video capture technology will allow students and a college supervisor to record, observe, critique and assess the student teaching experience virtually.
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat.
1) NYC educators: With budget cuts looming, tell us what you think about teacher training Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes to save money next fiscal year by slashing teacher training costs by $31 million.
2) Teaching the teachers: $13M grant to help NYC students learning English While teacher preparation programs in the state require some credit hours in language acquisition, it’s not nearly as extensive as earning a certification in Teaching English to Students of Other Languages. Last year the state moved to require more credit
Teachers College. 37th Annual Winter Roundtable! Teaching To Transform [February 28th-29th]
