GLOBAL
EcoFin Agency. The future of education in Africa: aligning education to Africa’s development goals The school curricula in many African countries is outdated and does not reflect the major changes that have occurred during the past few decades in Africa and the rest of the world. The most visible consequence of this the poor quality of teachers on the continent. It also creates a cycle of poor learning which is not nearly helpful in the labor market. Students study outdated materials and eventually become teachers who educate young students using an outdated knowledge base.
NYTimes.
1) Una escuela temporal para los niños en busca de asilo: Los esfuerzos por educar a los niños en la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos se han visto frustrados por la pandemia. Fundó su propia organización sin fines de lucro, llamada International Activist Youth, y reclutó a otros estudiantes universitarios para ayudar a enseñar.
2) Struggling With Lockdown, Schools Relearn Value of Older Tech: TV Salvador Herencia, the technical secretary of Investment in Childhood, a civil society group, remembers listening to lessons on the radio as a child. He later worked for the national tele-education system, becoming part of a generation of educators and writers who contributed content as a way of extending schooling to poor Peruvians.
The Guardian. Australian tradies and teachers to be able to work across borders under new licence rules Under the federal government’s latest red-tape reduction reforms, teachers, real estate agents, electricians and plumbers will be among the workers to have their occupational licences recognised Australia-wide. The move comes as unemployment is estimated to peak at 10% by the end of 2020.
World Economic Forum. Resetting the way we teach science is vital for all our futures …Our educational systems around the world were failing before COVID-19 and will continue to fall behind unless we change the way we teach and learn science.
UNITED STATES
AACTE. Moving Educator Preparation Forward During the Pandemic …virtual reality technology offers access to field-tested classroom simulations, which provide evidence-based results for improving skills essential to working with human development. The collaboration provides teacher candidates an opportunity to complete clinical field experiences remotely without compromising their health and safety.
AACTE/SCALE.
1) edTPA®: June – July 2020 Newsletter
2) Webinars For edTPA Community [sign-in required]
Completing edTPA in Virtual Learning Environments webinars
edTPA Overview for Mentor and Cooperating Teachers webinar series
edTPA 101 and Task-by-Task Deep Dives webinar series
ATLAS/FAVSTE: A Tool and a Framework for Using Video in Teacher Preparation. A group of [science] teacher educators, working under the leadership of NBPTS, has been using the ATLAS (Accomplished Teaching, Learning and Schools) library as a tool and the FAVSTE (framework for Analyzing Video in Science Teacher Education) as a framework for maximizing the efficacy of video tasks. [incl. TC Sr. Lecturer J. Riccio] Webinar Recording Day 1 Webinar Recording Day 2 ATLAS Resources
Chalkbeat. As families seek help with remote learning, some Newark schools offer an alternative to ‘learning pods’ Unlike private pods, the public versions are free and held in communal spaces such as libraries, recreation centers, and schools where students can take their online classes under the watchful eye of trained adults.
Education Week.
1) An Open Letter to Well-Meaning White Teachers: Three ways to center Black progress in the classroom 1. Talk about systemic racism, not individual stories. 2. Talk about history in today’s context. 3. Talk about navigating and disrupting racism.
2) COVID-19’s Harm to Learning Is Inevitable. How Schools Can Start to Address It For districts, the primary challenge to ensuring grade-level access for all students before turning to remediation is the cultural belief among some educators that they should “meet students where they are” in part by introducing some lower-level content. It’s an idea that permeates some reading programs (“just-right books”) and is implicitly a theme in the work of frequently taught theorists in teaching programs (“the zone of proximal development”).
Edutopia. Educators Turn to Bitmoji to Build Community and Engagement Available through the Bitmoji app, these customizable, mini-me avatars have become stand-in teachers running virtual classrooms, enforcing rules and expectations, collecting assignments…
NYTimes. Pods, Microschools and Tutors: Can Parents Solve the Education Crisis on Their Own? Instead of hiring teachers, some families are hoping to share the teaching among the parents… One of the dads, who owns a tech company, might teach coding, while Phillips, who is an editor, will teach reading and writing. The parents will ideally teach “whatever they’re good at, or know about or care about,” … If parents are hiring a teacher, they should make sure their credentials include a bachelor’s degree in education and that they meet state requirements said Meg Flanagan, an educational consultant… Consider also hiring a teacher who is Black, Indigenous or a person of color (B.I.P.O.C.), and asking them to implement a social justice-themed curriculum, said Nikolai Pizarro, an educator, author and mother in Atlanta..
Washington Post.
1) ‘A national crisis’: As coronavirus forces many schools online this fall, millions of disconnected students are being left behind “My teachers can teach virtually, but my students can’t access it virtually,” Akins said. Instead, staffers in the high-poverty district delivered homework along with weekly grocery packages. “Now you’re relying on the parent to help teach, or the student to teach themselves.”
2) High school students are demanding schools teach more Black history, include more Black authors What American children learn depends almost entirely on where they live, because every state has different requirements. Many teachers say they feel ill-prepared to teach about the subject, and textbooks often provide scant — or skewed — information… Unlike with subjects such as math and science, there is no nationally agreed upon set of standards for teaching social studies and history — each state is allowed to craft its own requirements
NEW YORK STATE
Albany Times-Union. Malatras named SUNY chancellor as faculty votes no confidence in board Only once before — in 1999, when faculty felt that political appointees were meddling with teaching plans — have the faculty held no confidence votes against the board.
Inside Higher Ed. Governor’s Adviser Lined Up to Lead SUNY: The State University of New York Board of Trustees will likely forgo a national search for a new chancellor despite faculty opposition. The State University of New York Board of Trustees is expected to appoint Jim Malatras as the system’s chancellor today, forgoing a national search to fill the open position with a key confidant of New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
New York Post. SUNY Board set to appoint Cuomo right-hand Jim Malatras next chancellor: source. The 42-year-old, a key official on Cuomo’s COVID-19 task force who sat beside the governor during his daily press conferences, is set to be appointed chancellor of the State University of New York after the board of the state college system decided to scrap a national search to fill the post…Malatras earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the State University at Albany. He also served a stint as chief of staff to former SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher.
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. De Blasio tells educators to step up and serve. They say the mayor is making that hard. “Educators chose the profession because they love kids and they care about kids, and they know kids are suffering right now,” de Blasio said. “It’s time to say, public servants rise to the occasion and answer the call… With class sizes of roughly 10 students, the Manhattan principals said they need double or triple the number of teachers. Despite asking on a “near-daily basis for months” how to fill those gaps, they’ve received no guidance…
