GLOBAL
Global Partnership for Education. Teacher Leadership in the time of COVID-19: At the Global Education Meeting, ministers and experts renewed calls for the international community to support teachers as they lead responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. … teacher education institutions and district offices can support female teachers so they advance into leadership positions by targeting them during pre-service and in-service training, and, in so doing, building their leadership competencies and skills.
International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030. Teachers of today on teaching in the future. The Forum recommended that models of teaching, teacher training, and professional support for teachers must evolve as the meaning of a ‘foundational education’ shifts… It also called for teachers’ education to be adapted to brace for coming crises, which could result in more large, linguistically diverse, and virtual classrooms.
Mail & Guardian [South Africa]. Pre-service teachers adapt in a pandemic. This year the University of Johannesburg piloted a course with final-year Bachelor of Education students at the Soweto campus… The course was planned prior to Covid-19, so the pandemic complicated the execution of the course, but it also presented an opportunity for us to glean our own lessons about facilitating pre-service teachers’ learning in the context of emergency remote teaching.
Microsoft News. Language learning in Canada needs to change to reflect ‘superdiverse’ communities Language teacher education and teacher professional development must include anti-bias training that extends beyond equity issues of race, gender, class, religion and ethnicity to address the suppression of other languages in the language learning classroom. In this way, we can ensure teachers understand that affirming students’ linguistic identities is integral to their engagement and to their future success.
NZHerald. Education Ministry: End to primary teacher shortage, but problems in secondary schools. It said the pandemic had affected the supply of teachers. “We anticipate even higher teaching retention rates, more Initial Teacher Education (ITE) graduates, more qualified teachers interested in returning to the workforce (including those returning from overseas), and fewer international students resulting in reduced demand.
UNITED STATES
American Assoc. of College for Teacher Education.
1) AACTE and Edthena to Offer $500,000 in Grants for Teacher Preparation Video Observations. AACTE member institutions may apply by December 7, 2020, to receive up to $25,000 for implementing video observation technology to support their teacher candidates during COVID-19 and beyond.
2) John Henning Counters Opposition to Critical Race Theory in Teacher Preparation It is appropriate for teacher preparation programs to discuss this theory as part of their coursework because of the increasing racial diversity in schools. Most teachers are White females (around 80%) and critical race theory provides teachers, whether they are White or another race, with perspectives that allow them to gain insights into their students.
3) Town Hall on Critical Race Theory [Webinar Nov. 19 3pm EST]
Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation. 2021 Quality Assurance Symposium [All Virtual Feb. 23-25, 2021]
Atlanta Daily World. Amoy Walker of the Atlanta Girls’ School Named Teacher of the Year by GISA Walker joined AGS in 2019 where she teaches sixth grade English and seventh grade humanities and serves as Middle School Curriculum Coordinator. She received a B.A. from Stony Brook University and went on to earn her M.A. from the Teachers College at Columbia University [MA ’06 Social Studies Education].
Education Week.
1) How Biden Could Steer Education Spending Without Waiting on Congress Here are a few other grant programs the Biden administration could use to push its policy preferences when awarding grants, along with their current funding:… Teacher Quality Partnership ($50.1 million): These grants focus on teacher training and recruitment as well as increasing diversity in the teaching workforce.
2) N.C. watchdog agency critiques teacher diversity efforts. The Program Evaluation Division’s review of activities by state officials, local school boards, charter schools and educator preparation programs describes initiatives to attract and retain Black and Hispanic candidates for K-12 classrooms… But the report’s authors conclude recent state initiatives — such as those originating from the Department of Public Instruction or Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper — either don’t explicitly target people of color or are too new or preliminary to be evaluated.
Learning Policy Institute. Sustainable Strategies for Funding Teacher Residencies: Lessons From California … in 2018-19, California appropriated $75 million dollars to establish the Teacher Residency Grant Program. Under this program, teacher residencies can receive a competitive grant of up to $20,000 per resident to launch or expand programs to recruit and prepare teachers in high-need areas.
National Review. To Tackle Critical Theory in the K–12 Classroom, Start with Colleges of Education Colleges of education have cornered the market on teacher training, even though they’ve seen enrollment declines in recent years. But it is in the colleges of education that prospective elementary and secondary teachers are steeped in the philosophy of Critical Theory, which manifests itself in K–12 schools through lessons on “Confronting Whiteness in Our Classrooms” and the 1619 Project.
NEA Today. The Teacher Shortage Can Be Addressed — With Key Changes. Teachers often have master’s degrees, even doctorate degrees, and yet they earn far less than other college graduates. This problem, commonly called the “teacher pay penalty,” has grown far worse over the past three decades, EPI has found. Currently, teachers earn about 20 percent less, on average, than their non-teacher college graduates. With this kind of pay — coupled with the student debt that many teachers must take on to pay for their advanced degrees — a career in teaching doesn’t pay the bills for a middle-class life. As a result, 59 percent of teachers took on second or third jobs in 2016…
Washington Post.
1) ‘Telepresence’ robots are making virtual school feel a little more like real school. There are several telepresence robots on the market. Pre-pandemic, they were most commonly used in higher education and for teacher training. But manufacturers of these devices say that starting in June, sales to K-12 schools skyrocketed.
2) With DeVos out, Biden plans series of reversals on education For the Education Department, the transition committee is being led by Linda Darling-Hammond [TC faculty 1989-1998]…several people said. Darling-Hammond, who was considered for education secretary by President Barack Obama in 2008, is under consideration again… Other names mentioned by people familiar with the process include … Betty A. Rosa, interim commissioner of education in New York state…
NEW YORK STATE
NYSED. Regents Meeting for November 16, 2020
* Definition of “University” in New York State- Department staff will present an overview of the current definition of “university.”
* Proposed Amendments to Sections 52.3, 52.21, 57-4.5, 70.4, 74.6, 75.2, 75.5, 76.2, 79-9.3, 79-10.3, 79-11.3, 79-12.3, 80-1.13, 80-1.5, 80-3.15, 80-4.3, 83.5, 87.2, 87.5, 100.2, 100.4, 100.5, 100.6, 100.10, 100.21, 119.1, 119.5, 125.1, 151-1.4, 154-2.3, 17
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. NYC public schools have lost 31,000 students this fall, preliminary data show. “Unstable staffing patterns, unstable dollars, often lead to worse outcomes for kids,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College… Bay Ridge dad Simeon Stolzberg decided to formally home-school his third grade son… Stolzberg spent his career working in public education, including as a charter school principal, so he felt prepared to teach his son.
NY1. She Failed a Teaching Test and Lost Her Career. A Federal Judge Says It Was Discrimination. DeZonie didn’t get to see her teaching career grow because she failed a state certification exam used by the city, the Liberal Arts and Science Test. She wasn’t alone: Black and Hispanic teachers failed it at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts. A lawsuit filed 24 years ago said the test, intended to measure knowledge of liberal arts and science, was discriminatory. In 2012, a federal judge agreed…The city has been ordered to pay more than $450 million to about 1,700 teachers so far. Thousands more claims still must be heard. The case has dragged on so long, the original judge died.
Teachers College.
1) A Veteran’s Journey to Teaching: For Peter Kim (Ed.D., Applied Linguistics), leadership in both the military and the classroom are about ‘instructing, teaching, counseling and guiding’ For Kim, who earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan and his master’s at Farleigh Dickinson University, the shift from teaching to earning his doctorate at Teachers College was connected to the College’s role as an “epicenter of pedagogical research and practice” — and its place in New York City, “where millions of non-native speakers come to learn English.”
2) Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring: COVID’s Psychological Fallout in Schools Mary Mendenhall, Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of International & Transcultural Studies, who is a leading authority on preparing teachers to work with refugee and displaced populations, argues that everyone has a stake in better supporting teachers.
